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‘Radical response of love’: Crossing boundaries to share the gospel Robin Russell, Jan 15, 2010
PHOTOS BY ART RUSSELL/arrmedia.com
At the 2010 Congress on Evangelism in New Orleans, United Methodists heard ways to share the Good News with those who need to hear.
By Robin Russell Managing Editor
NEW ORLEANS—In 1990, Rudy Rasmus was saved from a life of running a bordello with his father. Two years later, he and his wife launched St. John’s United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas, with just nine members.
The church has more than 9,000 members now—3,000 of whom are homeless—with 400 baptisms last year. Mr. Rasmus credits the church’s evangelistic mindset—a “radical response of love”—for the growth.
“People who need the system most are crying out for change in how the system works,” he told about 615 attendees at the Congress on Evangelism, Jan. 5-8.
One of the keynote speakers at the annual event, sponsored by the Council on Evangelism and the General Board of Discipleship with the support of the Foundation for Evangelism, Mr. Rasmus told the audience that before he became a Christian, he didn’t have much use “for church or church people.” He recalled sitting in a church pew for five years waiting to see if the gospel really was true.
“There was something about this Jesus that began to change my heart,” he said. “I could no longer do or say things I used to do or say!”
He’s never forgotten his experience of finding God’s grace. He calls evangelism “love with skin on it.” And he sports a beaded goatee to make unchurched people feel more comfortable at St. John’s.
“People really need Jesus. People really want Jesus. So what’s the biggest barrier? Church folk. More specifically, preachers—which is why I wear the beard and look like a musician.”
He reminded conference attendees that Jesus came “not to condemn the world but to save it,” and that means acting more out of love than fear. St. John’s works with the marginalized and the poor, he said, yet there are no bars on the church’s windows. In the 18 years he’s been pastor, the church has never had a break-in.
“Whatever we’re afraid of grows large in our minds. It is that much more difficult to see that person as neighbor,” he said. “It’s time for a revolution. And Jesus was the ultimate revolutionary.”
Racial boundaries
The conference drew United Methodists from across the connection—clergy and laity who are particularly interested in evangelism and outreach. Several young adults attended on a scholarship for the first time.
Bishop William Hutchinson (Louisiana) welcomed attendees to New Orleans, where he said United Methodists have had to learn to overcome racial, ethnic and social status boundaries as they rebuild their devastated city together.
“The lives of the people in this great city have been disrupted and changed forever. . . . New Orleans as you knew it, no longer exists. . . . Cities all along the Gulf Coast were laid waste. The houses of worship were not spared.”
Residents who were dispersed from their homes and then scammed by unscrupulous contractors have had to depend on their faith communities for help, Bishop Hutchinson said. Yet some churches were reluctant, at first.
“There was to be no mixing of the established neighborhoods. . . . We don’t cross over into those other neighborhoods—even in the faith community,” Bishop Hutchinson said. “You want us to do what? Merge ourselves to that church? We don’t even speak to the people of that church, much less merge our worship services with that church.
“It’s so easy to go back to the way things were. If post-Katrina New Orleans has taught us anything, it has taught us that we have to return to life by another way. We cannot do it like we once did.” Beyond the borders
Bishop Minerva Carcaño (Desert Southwest) took it a step further and said United Methodists in the U.S. must remember their calling and look beyond their own national interests to rebuild the church.
“We have forgotten what we are building,” she said. “There are too many of us who think we are called to build a mighty U.S. As good as it may be, it will never compare to God’s kingdom, a kingdom that alone can restore us from our human sin, that rebuilds us in the image of God, that renews our spirit. . . .”
That kind of attitude often rears its head—even among churchgoers—in response to immigration issues, she said. After speaking “the very words of Scripture about how we should treat the foreigner among us” at a recent immigration rally, for instance, her office received “thousands of faxes from United Methodists condemning me for what I had said. . . . The consistent message to me from my good United Methodist brothers and sisters was, ‘What kind of American are you?’
“Since when is it our primary job as principled Christian leaders to be builders of temporal, national states? Scripture calls us to be good citizens, but it is always in the context of building the reign of God.”
She challenged conservatives and liberals alike to share the gospel by ministering “to the 12 million undocumented workers in this country, most of whom are Hispanic.”
“We are called to be a moral voice in this world, a voice that says unequivocally it is not just about me, it is about us. It is about the common good.”
Gender and character
William Paul Young, author of the best-selling novel The Shack, said he’s often asked why he depicted God as a large, African-American woman. It’s one way, he said, to reveal the character of God to people who may have gender issues.
By portraying the relationship within the Trinity, Mr. Young said he tried to show there is no hierarchy, only mutual submission. “Submission is a relational issue, not a power issue,” he said.
“God is not male or female. God is spirit. Imagery is there to help us understand the nature and character of God. He’s a father, but he’s not male. He’s also a nursing mother. The One who nourishes us, cherishes us, feeds us.”
With six million copies in print since its release in 2007, the book is still on the NY Times best-seller list. Mr. Young said in an interview that he is now working on a screenplay for a movie version.
“Folks, I am so far over my head, you have no idea,” Mr. Young told the crowd. “Anyone around us knows it’s a God-thing. Jesus is still healing people on the Sabbath.”
Many people have told him that The Shack has helped them overcome obstacles in how they view God. He has received more than 75,000 e-mails from readers.
“The No. 1 question we have in relation to God is, ‘What is his character—can I trust him?’ If we get the character of God wrong, we get everything else wrong,” he said.
Generational boundaries can be crossed through the use of alternative worship forms—including drama—said the Rev. Jim Walker, co-pastor of Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburg, Penn., and an ordained United Methodist elder.
“Sometimes you have to speak their language,” Mr. Walker said during a presentation. “They’ll come to church if they know they’re included.”
To illustrate, he re-enacted the story of Zaccheus from Luke 19. Removing his shoes, Mr. Walker paced the stage barefoot using an empty chair as his sole prop to represent Zaccheus, the tax collector.
“Look at him, he’s just disgusting. But can you look deeper inside his heart, his black, crumpled-up, calloused heart? He has been consumed by greed. . . .
“The only thing worse is that Zaccheus is me. Zaccheus is you. Maybe you don’t get consumed by money . . . maybe we get consumed by alcohol. Maybe by church or ministry. It becomes all about you and what you have and your thing.”
Though Zaccheus represents individuals who are trapped by sin and false delusions of power, God is still whispering in their ear, telling them He loves them, Mr. Walker said. But it takes courage for people to respond, he added.
“You want to see Jesus, you have to get yourself out on a limb. The whole church needs to get out on a limb. Invite those who can’t pay you back—the poor, the tattoos, the weirdos, the freaks. And you will be blessed.”
Cultural influence
In a workshop on youth and faith, the Rev. Kenda Creasy Dean, an associate professor at Princeton University and an ordained United Methodist elder, shared survey results that showed most teenagers in America do not adhere to orthodox Christianity. Instead, they believe in a “moralistic therapeutic deism”: God wants us to be good and feel good, but otherwise God stays out of the way.
“This idea has colonized churches to the point that it has supplanted Christianity,” she said. “Is what we’re teaching indistinguishable from society? If so, there’s no reason to go to church.”
Declining numbers of youth in United Methodist and other mainline Protestant churches, she said, show that parents have not passed along their faith. What’s more, many adults reflect more of the culture than their faith.
In every generation, she said, the mission is “to translate God’s love to human beings in a way that can be understood by those who have no knowledge of God.” Yet translation, she added, is a “power move” that can threaten those in charge.
“If we translate in a way that young people get involved, it may not be the way we like it. It’s putting it into the hands of those who don’t know ‘the way we do things,’ and that’s OK. The gospel is for them, too.”
Young adults respond
Jeffrey Hooker, 25, pastor of Immanuel United Methodist Church in Waltham, Mass., a first-time attender at the Congress, said there are no youth in his congregation. But he still plans to use some outreach ideas he learned in a workshop: “Do youth-group things” with older adults—go bowling, have a pizza party and encourage them to bring a friend.
“A light went on in my head,” he said. “We’ve got to change the culture of the church. ‘Evangelism’ is a dirty word in religious circles. It’s really just the calling of people, calling out the lost to be saved, offering a truth you can share.”
Kara Eidson, 27, an associate pastor at First United Methodist in Lawrence, Kan., and a provisional elder who hopes to be ordained in June, said she struggles with the “in-your-face” style of evangelism that includes handing out tracts “to save everybody regardless of whether they already attend a church.”
“I’m very passionate about reaching out to the unchurched,” she said. “I want to see us getting more involved in building relationships. We want to reach those who serve with us.”
Generational boundaries
In morning Bible studies, Bishop Will Willimon (North Alabama) stressed that the church shouldn’t ignore those who are younger than the average membership. After all, he said, Jesus was a young adult, yet he carried the “full revelation of God.”
He urged United Methodists to do more than simply “caring for the people who were previously saved in another generation and calling that ministry.”
“Why have we set up a whole organization to benefit the spiritual needs of one generation?” he asked. “. . . We’ve lost a sense of the Cross as the radically transforming sign of embrace of God.”
Bishop Willimon urged United Methodists to practice the “spiritual discipline” of spending at least an hour a week with someone who’s not a Christian. “How sad when we crank down ministry to those who have already heard and who are no longer shocked by the gospel,” he said.
“We’re in the middle of a supernatural movement of a God who is determined to get back what is His. Nothing is going to stop the movement of the Holy Spirit. And one great thing about being a Christian is you get a front-row seat on the machinations of an amazing God.”
PHOTOS BY ART RUSSELL/arrmedia.com
“People really need Jesus. People really want Jesus. So what’s the biggest barrier? Church folk. More specifically, preachers—which is why I wear the beard and look like a musician.” 
“God is not male or female. God is spirit. Imagery is there to help us understand the nature and character of God. He’s a father, but he’s not male. He’s also a nursing mother. The One who nourishes us, cherishes us, feeds us.” 
Cultural influence 
