Feedback
to
“Bringing
them with us to 10%”
Here’s
some of the feedback received by Andrew Cameron
after his talk at the Anglican Church League’s
AGM
August 2002
Social networks. What makes it unthinkable for some people ever to raise Jesus with non-Christian friends? One person who asked around found that it boils down to a very deep fear of losing social relationships. Rather than simply condemning this response, to take it seriously would look perhaps at the following.
Friendship is one of God’s many created goods, and therefore the impulse to keep friendships is not necessarily an evil. Indeed many people feel very lonely, and whatever friendships they have are hard won and not to be threatened lightly. And whereas many pastors have a role-related privilege extended to them in sharing the gospel - people expect ‘'that sort of thing’ from a minister - often no such privilege is accorded to ‘average people’ (or at least they feel that it is not). Also, whereas pastors have opportunities to form new relationships when they move, people who are living in an area over a long period adopt silence as a strategy to enable them to live alongside others in peace, over the long haul.
The problem needn’t be insurmountable though, particularly if we can discern modes of evangelism that serve to ‘add value’ to a relationship. That is, perhaps people are too quick to assume that evangelism threatens relationships, since with skilled evangelists, often the reverse is the case: those with whom they speak actually feel as if they have been loved and taken seriously.
Do we need, then, to help people discover a new vision of evangelism along these lines? Can we perhaps collate and publish some stories drawn from people who have been ‘blessed’ in this way through the ministry of friends, and who have found that the friendship is now even better since they have turned to Christ? This doesn’t remove the element of risk from evangelism; honesty requires the admission that evangelism will indeed be the rock upon which some relationships founder. But that is hardly a foregone conclusion! (Perhaps, too, we could survey majority regulars about the kinds of events that are easiest for them to invite others to. Ministry teams are increasingly aware of their accountability to provide such high quality events that no breach of trust occurs when someone’s friend does come. Are there other ways to keep communicating and living out this accountability?)
Wealth. NSW has 35% of the GDP, over 41% of Australia’s high income earners, and over 37% of middle income earners. Sydney has 75% of our millionaires. Although this is a grab-bag of statistics, I am sure that a more careful statistician could make the point we all know: the cost of living in Sydney commits Christian people to a rate race.
Presumably, in order to reach the 10% goal, it matters that Christian people stay in Sydney. Therefore we need an articulated and liveable way of speaking to majority regulars on wealth-creation and work, including a Christian view of real estate. However I submit that currently, preaching here is ad-hoc. The perception of many majority regulars is that although they are often exhorted against housing idolatry and careerism, little theological sense is made of the financial burdens that are upon them in this arena.
A proper theological account will be dialectical. On the one hand, the Scriptures warn of the complacency (and worse) that comes upon the materially satisfied. On the other hand, there is a place for a thankful and contented reception of God’s material benefits, with the kind of thankfulness that translates into responses of warm-hearted generosity (not just financially) to the cause of God’s kingdom. (The concept of ‘stewardship’ is most often used to speak positively on the matter, but I suspect it is a little thin to take the weight of all our questions, and that in any case Scripture has more to say.)
There is certainly more that can be said theologically. The main point is simply to flag that majority regulars often experience a guilty defensiveness about this area. For some of them, it is hard to accept (a) that their freedom in Christ extends to this area, and (b) that their efforts carefully to navigate between hard choices is respected by their mentors and pastors. Whether or not these perceptions and feelings are well-founded, it remains very difficult to take such a person with us.
(If you think of some other areas which will help “majority regulars”, email them to Andrew.Cameron@moore.edu.au. We’ll post other responses here as they come via Andrew.)
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