Nathan Dean, co-pastor of Edgewood Church in Atlanta, Georgia, reflects on the evangelistic ministry of Jesus and calls the moderate Baptist world — accustomed to the suppression of evangelism — to more than silent philanthropy and intellectual stimulation.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is a young organization, denominationally speaking, and is an off shoot (or a break off) organization of the Southern Baptist Convention. Just like a young person primarily constructs the different aspects of their identity as either a reflection of or a reaction against the different aspects they see in their parents, so CBF has constructed its identity as a reflection of or a reaction against the different aspects of its parent, SBC. For both a young person and a young split-off organization, this is only natural and it is our first and primary point of reference.
One of the ways I believe we as an organization and a movement of people have reacted against the ways of our “parents” is in the area of evangelism.
“Evangelism” – the very word is taboo in many moderate Baptist circles and gatherings; its mention conjures visions of theologically narrow-minded, socially abrasive, heralds of damnation. The reaction of course is, “We don’t want to be anything like that.”
This perception of evangelism in the vast majority of cases is inaccurate, and the reaction is always unfortunate. When it comes to evangelism, we as moderate Baptists in many cases have thrown the baby out with the bathwater in favor of theologically silent philanthropy or cloistered intellectual stimulation/conversation.
In Mark 1 and Luke 4, Jesus does one amazing miracle after the other. The next day when the crowds are hungry for more (and understandably so), Jesus tells his disciples, “No, that’s not why I’ve come. I’m going to keep traveling and telling people ‘the Message’ or the Gospel because that is why I have come” (paraphrase). If we were honest, many of us would have kept healing people and setting them free of demonic oppression. After all, what could be better or more important than that?
According to Jesus, the Gospel is better than that, the Message is more important than that. Miracles were always signs of the message or illustrations or demonstrations of the Gospel. They were there to support the point, but they weren’t the point. The point was and is the Gospel. Jesus was an evangelist who believed that it was through the Gospel that he had come to proclaim, that God would change the world from the inside out, one heart, one person at a time.
If we don’t find ways to tell people the Gospel, to be evangelical, then our work will be forgotten just like the hundreds of other miracle working moral teachers that populated the ancient near-eastern world are also almost completely forgotten. The Gospel or the Message, is more divisive than good works alone, but it is the only lasting thing that we Christians have to offer this world, it’s the only thing that really matters.
It is a great loss when a Christian is deceived into forgetting this and loses touch, in a personal and emotional way, with why Jesus vitally matters to them and to this world – they lose their passion, perspective and purpose.
The same is true for a church or a denominational organization. When either of these fades in its passion for evangelism, bringing the Gospel to a lost (Jesus’ word, not mine) and broken world, it too begins to lose its passion, perspective and purpose. It finds itself in a losing competition for market attention with religiously unaffiliated helping organizations. It struggles to answer the basic questions that any organization needs to answer: Why do we exist? Who are we? What do we do or can we do better than anyone else? What do we have that the world needs most? What is our catalyzing purpose and focus?
May God help us to remember, love, and share the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Nathan,
Thanks for your comments. I think this is a conversation we should have. I have a different take on some things although I do agree with your primary idea. I disagree with your analogy in which CBF is described as rebellious teen reacting “against the different aspects of its parent, SBC.” That is far to simplistic and feels in some ways demeaning. My estrangement from the SBC is only with the greatest of sorrow and struggle. Moreover, I feel the SBC had long before left me. If the SBC is my “parent” then I am an abandoned child, not a petulant adolescent. Quite honestly I do not see the SBC as my parent, but more as a sibling with whom I have both deep love and profound disagreement. You might want to keep that in mind when trying to communicate your overall message on the proclamation aspect of evangelism.
Secondly, One of the primary reasons I chose to un-identify with the SBC was because evangelism is so important. The date of my departure coincides with the culture war the SBC declared on the Walt Disney Company because they welcomed gays into their theme parks. As I would introduce myself to new people (I was at that time a Navy chaplain) and they would ask me what kind of chaplain I was I found myself saying, “I’m a Southern Baptist, but not THAT kind of Southern Baptist.” End of evangelism; right there. Instead I was (in their eyes a narrow-minded bigot). The day I was able to say I was a Cooperative Baptist was a great liberation for me and did not set up an immediate barrier to the gospel.
Finally, and I know you already know this from looking at your web site, evangelism must be deeply connected between telling and doing. Those who “reacted” to an evangelism that was all talk and no walk (missional involvement with people) are to be applauded. They sensed that something was deeply wrong not only in how we reached out to people with the gospel, but more importantly with our fundamental understanding of the gospel. You see we have been called to share the good news of Jesus. But the world to which we must share the good news is gospel hardened. It is not that they don’t want good news, but that they have been so often abused and mistreated by Christians spouting a condemning message. What starts out as good news somehow gets changed by the well meaning, but misguided. And what comes out instead of good news is another message: “Become like me, accept my values, get saved, and conform or you will burn in hell.” That really isn’t good news. And it isn’t what Jesus told people. His message was about God’s love, care, and grace. His was a message of hope for the sinner who could never live up to the self-congratulating, pharisaical standard of righteousness. So when we are called to take the good news into “all the world” we already face an obstacle; and that is people don’t want to hear it. But we gather too, don’t we? We gather to be with one another; we who really do understand that God’s grace isn’t about our sinless perfection, but about God’s forgiveness. I can almost sense it every time we meet together. The underlying question is always the same, “How can we take the gospel to others in a genuine, Christ honoring way?”
Nathan thanks for raising this discussion. Keep up the good work you are doing in Atlanta and with the CBF family.
Nathan,
An excellent and needed word for a body perhaps undermined by its adjectival description, “moderate.” Retired Leroy Seat has suggested a better word “Radiant” Baptist and sharing the good news of God’s love is essential to its meaning. Years past Elton Trueblood shared the problem of sharing simply “cut flowers.” Thanks for the good needed word.
Nathan and Chuck,
Good points by both of you. CBF in reality is the parent of the SBC, since it carries the historic values of cooperation and trust which made the SBC one of history’s greatest mission organizations. The SBC is dying because one can’t use coercion as a means to gain cooperation or trust. Trust flourishes where there is trustworthiness, consistency, respect, and the love to value creativity and diversity in the lives of others. CBF is a child in terms of organizational age, and in terms of experience in attempting to stay focused on the main thing in a world that is changing before a strategy and organization can even be implemented. CBF, and the SBC, and almost every “denomination” active right now, are children without the financial base to carry out the things they feel are needful to represent Christ in a coordinated, larger way. The economy has tanked, money is tight, the culture of supporters has changed from giving funds for others to do things, to using the money to do it yourself. It is not an easy day to attempt to grow a church nor a new collaborative organization successfully.
But Nathan is correct, as is Chuck, that we as Baptists are losing our identity and calling, which should be to be involved in incarnational communication of the life-changing message and power of Christ. If we claim to be attached to the vine, but produce no lasting fruit, such a branch will be cut off from the vine. Church planting is important, but Jesus brought people into relationship with God first, then he called those people to naturally gather together to share their gifts and ministries to reach others without Christ. The SBC is side-tracked by marketing, church planting, social agendas, power, and fund-raising, thereby communicating a hollow Christ who looks good but has questionable and incongruent values.
CBF is getting side-tracked by similar social agendas which distract from, and supplant, the major mission that Jesus put us, as the church, here to accomplish, i.e. proclaiming the majesty and love of Jesus, and helping people experience new life in Him. By making poverty, justice, or women in ministry major agendas, we are putting all our energy into becoming known for secondary things that distract from the mission of lives being transformed by meeting Jesus.
In a small, new, and/or underfunded organization, the organization cannot do everything. In fact it can only do a few things well. In my opinion, CBF organizations should focus on people becoming connected to Jesus, gathering together in Christ’s love, and being encouraged to bring others to Jesus. That is the message and mission of Jesus. While doing this, model the values of Christ (which will address the secondary issues naturally). The hardest thing for any of us is to stay focused on the main thing, when so many other valuable things woo us to make them the main thing. Jesus said that we are chosen to bear much fruit, and that such fruit would be the kind of fruit that would remain.
CBF needs to be known for being the redeeming presence of Christ, not for pushing progressive cultural fads.
Good subject and discussion.
Nathan: I wonder what you mean by the word “Gospel.” I delivered a sermon not long ago called “Which Gospel Shall I Preach” that articulated a difference between 1) the Synoptic Gospel, which is the Good News of the Coming Kingdom, 2) the Johannine Gospel, which is believing in Jesus and having eternal life, and 3) the Pauline Gospel, which is justification by grace through faith (see link below). For some people that word simply means the good news that you don’t have to go to hell when you die, but I don’t think that’s the gospel Jesus was preaching. So, I’m curious as to how you would define the word and what the content of your gospel would be.
Thanks for raising this important concern. I once heard Ron Sider say that if we offer people a cup of cold water but don’t do it in the name of Jesus we’ve only given them half the gospel.
* http://fbcrichmond.org/sermons/11-07-31-sermon.htm
Chuck,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I appreciate a great deal of what you had to say. I believe the “Gospel Hardened” culture or Gospel inoculated culture that you referred to is the main reason why the mission field that we work in is such a difficult one. As we all move further and further into a post-Christian culture, this will be a significant hurdle for us all to grapple with.
I did not (intentionally at least) bring the idea of a “rebellious teen” to the conversation, but using family systems analogies can get a little tricky sometimes. There are a lot of messy details regarding who left who but history will show that the SBC was founded over a century ago and that the CBF organization came out of the SBC and was founded several decades ago.
This human tendency of choosing to reflect or react against different characteristics we see in our parents is not limited to dysfunctional family systems, abusive parents, and rebellious teenagers. The most healthy among us, from the most healthy systems, do this in our path to constructing and discovering our own identity.
I think the metaphor of parents and siblings can both apply for different reasons. I hope it is clear which side I am on. I am very glad people broke off and formed the CBF, they formed a system of free churches that affirms women in ministry, my wife being one.
The main point I want to convey, is that our our conservative evangelical brethren have and feel a Gospel Imperative (though we may not agree with it) and Jesus had a Gospel Imperative and we individually and corporately need to find ours.