Evangelicals consider new
ways to share the Gospel
By Charles F. Burge, The Layman, August 19, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Jehovah’s Witnesses, nattily attired in business suits and skirts and attending their own convention, mixed with more than 1,000 Presbyterians garbed in Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops at the Long Beach Convention Center on the second day of Presbyterian Global Fellowship’s Inside-Out Conference in Long Beach, California.
While megachurch pastor Rick Warren was a no-show due to personal matters, PCUSA evangelicals found encouragement and instruction in learning new ways to share their faith from the speakers and seminars offered during the PGF’s third Inside-Out Conference.
The Rev. Clark Cowden of San Diego Presbytery set the tone for the day when he said, “The North American church has ‘missional amnesia’ – we’ve forgotten who we are and what we are called to do.” He called it the “Jason Bourne syndrome” and played a series of clips from the popular film series to illustrate the loss of Biblical purpose in many American churches. “We don’t know who we are anymore and we have to figure it out,” said Cowden. “We don’t leave the place where we’ve been planted; we stay exactly where we are, in the muck and the mess, and figure it out. … We’re Presbyterians, we’ve been ministering together for 500 years – we can do this – let’s go.”
In plenary sessions, speakers and video clips challenged attendees to be “missional” and look for new ways to serve those around them in their everyday world. For instance, Brenda McNeil Salter shared an impassioned message on the meeting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman from John 4. She told the audience that “there are people like this living around us everyday…looking for ways to fill the hole in their soul.” She encouraged the audience to be ready for opportunities for ministry even when not expected.
Seminars were divided among three subheadings – Inwardly Strong, Outwardly Focused, and Faithfully Connected. They considered practical, tangible ways for attendees to help their communities.
Rev. Vic Penz of Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta brought a team to discuss a laity-based method of evangelism and discipleship. Called “My 95,” the program was based on a survey that discovered the average church member spent 95 percent of his time outside of normal church activities and needed encouragement and equipping to be effective for Christ in everyday activities.
“God’s people living in the world is what matters most,” said Penz. “The great heroes of the Bible were not priests or religious workers, but simple, everyday people.”
Another seminar was titled “Turning the Titanic: Missional-Minded in a Large Church Setting,” by the Rev. Dave Peterson of Memorial Park Presbyterian in Houston. He said his team has been developing “a job description for church members” that gives people some idea of what is to be expected. “This has been a process for us,” said Peterson. “You keep moving as you go, adjusting as you go.”
The conference drew young and eager attendees looking to make an impact through missions. Local church worship bands provided a variety of energetic contemporary music to each plenary session, encouraging vigorous clapping and even shouting. Young men with shaved heads and goatees and women with discreet tattoos gathered at the book tables, combing through titles regarding the emergent church and missional thinking. A “late night coffee house” held Friday night featured a dialogue with two authors popular with younger readers – Lauren Winner and Alan Hirsch.
One example of long-time Presbyterian interest in overseas missions was Sandra Kim, 40, a member of Hollywood Presbyterian Church, who hopes to graduate from Fuller Theological Seminary next year. She speaks English, Korean, French and German and wants to serve in urban missions: “My grandparents came to faith by Presbyterian missionaries to Korea, and I want to serve the Lord after graduation in counseling or chaplaincy.”