One Last Excerpt from Reclaiming The E Word

This is the last excerpt from my newest book, titled Reclaiming the E Word: Waking Up To Our Evangelical Identity, which is due out in the spring. This book reports on the results of a "deep dive" I did, along with a team of researchers from the ELCA's Dept. of Research & Evaluation, into several of the fastest growing, large congregations in my denomination. All of them lean right, theologically and otherwise, and in the current Bible wars would probably be more inclined to ask "What does the Bible say?," as folks in the literalist/traditionalist camp would do, than the question I'm more inclined to ask, which is: "What is God saying to us today through the Biblical narrative?"

There are, in fact, of bunch of things about me that would make the leaders of these big churches uncomfortable. And vice versa.

But I came away from this research project WAY more interested in what we have to learn from these folks than I am in "fixing" anything I may think they may have wrong. Each one of them has been built on the idea that to be a Christian is to be evangelical. That is, they really believe - and have organized around the idea - that we have good news to share with the world. Frankly, I was inspired by my visits to these congregations. And I very much appreciated their willingness to have us peeking over their shoulders. I believe that, if we dare to listen, they can help wake us up to some very important things.

This is an excerpt from the final chapter, which is called "Waking Up To Transformational Power":

I am convinced this is one of the reasons the congregations we studied are thriving. People in these congregations are encouraged, in teaching and preaching, to anticipate that something will happen as a result of their encounter with Jesus Christ. And, when something does happen, those stories are shared and celebrated.

Transformation is expected.

This is not my experience in most mainstream congregations. In fact, too often we suffer from painfully low expectations, even about the simplest things.

For example, recently, as I was doing an “asset mapping” exercise with a large group of congregational leadership teams, one team just sat there not participating, looking glum. When I asked them what was going on, they explained that they had done the first part of the exercise. They had listed all of the “assets” they had – talents, friends, community connections, financial resources, passions, facilities, skills, and other resources they could use to do creative ministry in and for the sake of their communities – but they couldn’t figure out what those things added up to. In other words, they couldn’t decide what to DO together with all the gifts God had given them.

“Why is this so hard?” I asked, looking at the impressive list of resources spread out before them.

“Because we’re so burned out with everything we’ve been doing,” one of them admitted, “that we can’t possibly imagine anything new.”

With those five sad words, this discouraged bunch unknowingly diagnosed the condition that makes reclaiming the “E” word so elusive for so many mainstream Christians: We can’t imagine anything new.

When Jesus sent his disciples out of their first real, solo adventure, he told them “to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (Luke 9:2). In other words, he said:

Go tell everybody that, because of me, anything is possible!

Tell them that God is on the loose and at work in the world!

Tell them that a new reality has begun!

And live your life like you believe this is totally true.

What’s new is at the very center of the evangelical message we have been given to share with the world. For example, I believe that today our job is to tell everybody who will listen that, because of Jesus, there are no more “lines” between people of different races, that we are all children of the same heavenly Parent. It’s our job to tell people that God has blessed the human family with plenty of resources to go around and that we are responsible for making sure everyone has what they need. It is our job to tell people that the true measure of our lives isn’t how much power or wealth we have but, rather, that we are loved unconditionally by the One who created us all and that we are free, therefore, to serve one another in love. And it is our job to live our lives like we believe all of this is true.

(c) Kelly A. Fryer, "Reclaiming The E Word: Waking Up To Our Evangelical Identity," 2007.

I'm not sure yet what the next "letter" will be in the reclaiming series. I'm thinking maybe it ought to be the B word (Bible).

Any thoughts?!

Comments

[allifepastor]

Go for it!

[Anamcara]

Kelly, the "B" word's a good one, no doubt. But tackle the "S" word ... ssssstewardship! You'll incorporate most of Scripture in the process. Is there a more pervasive challenge not only to the church but to the well-being of humanity, of all creation? The world is too much about use and abuse when the need is for caring, conserving and nurturing. We are too much captives of consumerism and disconnected from the freedom and joy of sharing and being generous. Tackle stewardship in its breadth as a whole, living response to the Gospel, and in its depth as the spark and essence of every little thing we do ... as the way of being Christ has called us to in the world. The "S-word" ... and you're just the one to do it! I'll order my pre-publication copy as soon as you put it up on Amazon. God's blessings and peace to you in this season of Thanksgiving! And thank you for the "F-Word" and the "E-Word" and all of it. It's a fresh breeze of Spirit airing out some places that desperately need airing.