I was thumbing through a recent minister's magazine and came across an advertisement for missionary activity. The headline was "blah, blah, blah...so all can hear." The point was being made that we, as Christians, will do anything for someone to hear the Gospel. And while that is true, the headline/tagline did not resonate with me the way I think it was supposed to.
Honestly, I am not motivated by a compelling/urgent emphasis of preaching a sermon or telling a Jesus story to a stranger so that they can 'hear' before they die. I know this was the understanding of early Evangelicalism, and I shared it pretty early on in my ministry years. I was motivated by the thought (presupposition) that the people of the world were in desperate need to hear and respond to the "Sinner's Prayer." There was this narrow, passionate belief in this 'silver bullet' approach to missions/ministry...and it drove our practice of missions/ministry.
Whether it was formal sermons, street preaching, humanitarian aid, etc., Evangelicalism's approach has been, and continues to be, driven by doing whatever is necessary to get people to hear and respond to the 'altar call' or 'Sinner's prayer.' But, I'm not on that bus anymore....
Sometime during the later part of our church planting years in NYC, I noticed a slight shift in my theology on salvation. Reading through the Bible (Old and New Testament), I noticed that salvation was not a single-moment event. Yes, it had a beginning, but it was hard to define and there certainly wasn't a moment of completion this side of eternity. Those who were 'saved' in Scripture, knew it; but, they didn't take it for granted or assume that the privilege was without consequence or commitment. Those who did make that mistake, always suffered and lost. In short, I came to understand that 'salvation' in Scripture was the gift and ministry of the church: the covenant community of God. Salvation 'began' with participation/identification in the local body of believers, and was enjoyed so long as the members maintained right relationship with God's law and each other. A sermon or prayer might get you in, but it was certainly not the 'end' by any stretch.
The result of this understanding changed everything for me. Instead of preaching or teaching to lead people to a point of individualism, every message and event was geared to an invitation to join the church community. Yes, repentance was the first and major emphasis, but I didn't end with 'REPENT!' It was more like "Leave that, and join this." And the effects of this were awesome! Now, instead of preaching or doing outreaches only for the "lost," we were doing things that spoke to both the Lost and the Saved (the church). Everyone was being called into, encouraged, corrected, and given opportunity to respond to our message. Additionally, people understood that 'church' was no longer an option, but the means of their salvation! You couldn't say to yourself, "Well, I prayed a prayer; Repented and asked Jesus in my heart; so, I'm good," cause that wasn't the message or evidence of what we were saying or doing. People knew that if they wanted to 'do' Christianity, then they had to join with the "Christians" in worship, life and practice.
As a minister, I'm still motivated by the understanding, need, and burden to proclaim the Gospel to the world around me; but, how I interpret the words, "so all can hear," is radically different than what it once was. I'm no longer motivated by individualism, but by the opportunity and reward of community. And I am so very, very glad for the change.
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