When I had the privilege of regularly celebrating the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper with congregations, after the liturgy we call the Great Thanksgiving I would say:
“As United Methodists we celebrate open Communion. What this means is if you can say ‘yes’ to the invitation to the table, you are welcome to share in the Lord’s Supper with us whether you are a member of this church, a member of another church or not a member of any church. Children are welcome to share in the Lord’s Supper with us. We leave that decision up to their parents or grandparents.” Then I issued the invitation to the table: “Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who repent of their sin and wish to live in peace with their neighbor. If that’s you, we invite you to share in the Lord’s Supper with us.”
John Wesley, the great evangelist and founder of my denomination, once said, “I invite to the Lord’s table all I invite to the Lord.” We know Wesley invited everyone to saving faith in Jesus Christ. In keeping with that understanding of my faith tradition, I often described myself as a maitre d’ who led folks to their table in the restaurant rather than the bouncer at the velvet rope who decided who did or did not get into the club.
Several other things were important to my ministry. First, I believe a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ makes a now and forever difference in the lives and eternal lives of people. In the depths of my heart I hope God is a universalist, that all will be eternally saved, as I do not want anyone to spend eternity apart from God. But while I do not take scripture literally in most instances, I do take it seriously and I have never read and interpreted it to say that. So, it was my duty to proclaim the biblical truth as best as I could and to encourage people to experience the assurance of salvation which I understand requires faith in Christ.
I was privileged to lead over 400 youth and adults in the liturgy of their first public professions of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior over the years, but I did not “save” any of them. Coming to faith or conversion to Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit and salvation is a gracious gift of God through Jesus Christ. My job was to relentlessly apply gentle pressure through faithful teaching and preaching, trusting that when the time was right the Holy Spirit would do its thing.
I had a passion for evangelism, but the seminary I attended did not offer any instruction, much less an entire course, in the theory and practice of evangelism. I am proud to say I spoke from the floor at the 2000 General Conference at which we added a requirement of a course in evangelism for those seeking ordination in our denomination. This was in response to a professor from one of our official seminaries who spoke against our “burdening” them with an additional course requirement. Thankfully, the majority of delegates did adopt the requirement. But I completed my seminary studies in the early 1990’s, so I had to educate myself on evangelism. I attended as many conferences and continuing education events and read as many books as I could on evangelism.
One of my evangelism educators was George G. Hunter III. I read several of his books, but the one that had the most impact on me was The Celtic Way of Evangelism. In fact, it became an assigned text when I had the honor of teaching evangelism in our Extension Course of Study School for part-time pastors. The gist of Dr. Hunter’s exposition of the way St. Patrick and others converted my pagan Celtic ancestors was not to insist they believe the right things before being admitted into the church, but to invite them to participate in the life, routine and rituals of the church trusting that the Holy Spirit would do its thing and lead persons to saving faith in Christ. Contrast that with recent reminders that St. Nicholas (the real one) punched out a heretic who believed the wrong things.
Given the post-pandemic, politically and generationally polarized state of the church, I think it is past time for churches and their clergy to emphasize evangelism again, particularly that practiced by St. Patrick.
The Curmudgeon’s Corner 