Evangelical Presbyterians gather
to discuss missions and evangelism
By Charles F. Burge, The Layman, August 15, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Evangelicals in the Presbyterian Church (USA), tired of denominational infighting and politics and wanting to focus on missions, gathered August 14 in Long Beach, Calif., for the third annual Presbyterian Global Fellowship Inside-Out Conference. They shared share stories, promoted evangelism and missions, and encouraged each other in new ways of doing ministry.
More than 1,000 thousand registrants from 34 states and four continents gathered to hear keynote addresses from evangelical authors and speakers with the intent of “transforming mainline congregations into missional communities following Jesus Christ,” said the organizers.
“This is to help work out some of the wackiness of the denomination,” said conference co-host Rev. Mark Brewer of Bel Air Presbyterian Church. It reflects the disenchantment evangelicals within the PCUSA have had with the 218th General Assembly which took place 300 miles up the coast in San Jose.
Kelly Kannwischer, executive director of PGF, said, “It is the prayer and hope of PGF that we are a movement … that follows (Jesus Christ) into the world, that partners with Him, and proclaims the love of Jesus Christ by serving His children.”
Dress was informal and the average age of participants was well under 60. An eight-piece contemporary band of young people warmed up the crowd for 40 minutes with worship choruses, concluding with two hymns: Amazing Grace and Jesus Paid It All. The participants were on their feet and sang lustily, with many hands raised in praise.
The emphasis of the night was on deeds. Speakers and video spurred the crowd to engage in missional activity in a variety of ways. A humorous video ended by saying “stop thinking and start doing,” setting up the first plenary speaker, the Rev. Mike McClenahan, senior pastor of Solana Presbyterian Church and conference co-host.
McClenahan provided clear examples of missional activity within his congregation, sharing stories about how people found ways to meet needs creatively in their community through what he called “sermon-based small groups.” He told of how one small group solicited toiletries outside of a retail store and delivered the goods to a local rescue mission.
“The best part of the story is that they didn’t just ask one person to drop off the toiletries, but they took their children with them and introduced their children to the children at the rescue mission.”
McClenahan also introduced a layman from Iglesia Hispana in San Diego, Christopher Yanov, who has distributed nearly $3 million in college scholarships for middle and high school students from low-income at-risk Hispanic homes.
Calling the crowd “red hot Presbyterians,” author and missions strategist Alan Hirsch addressed the importance of a proper Christology in the role of missional activity. He spent time poking fun at popular caricatures of Jesus and stressing the need to turn to the Bible for understanding who Jesus is. “Christology determines missiology, which in turn determines ecclesiology,” said Hirsch. “Show me your Jesus and I will show you who you are.”
Hirsch also warned about organizational structure that is not flexible enough to meet the needs of ministry. “You Presbyterians are in trouble because you have defined yourselves by your structure.” He said, “What we need are missionally responsive, culturally adaptive, organizationally agile multiplication movements,” and stressed the need for employing the Ephesians 4 model of “equipping the saints for the work of ministry.”