Thank you for your comment. I think what most of our speakers were saying is that evangelism only for the sake of church growth is a gimmick that is not true evangelism. True evangelism is sharing the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. This will inevitably result in church growth, but the focus is on the evangelion, not on the institution.

There was lots of talk about church growth — both numbers and depth — at the conference. Check out the workshops page and some of the resources there. I especially commend the excellent Invite Welcome Connect program created by Mary Parmer (http://www.invitewelcomeconnect.com).

Hopefully we’ll have another one of these conferences, and I hope you can attend to see the ways in which lots of Episcopalians are eager for their church to grow as we all cultivate our gifts of sharing the Good News.

Peace,
Scott Gunn+

[Ed note: The contents of the post were written by Frank Logue, who was quoting others who spoke at the conference.]

You said in this posting what I heard time and again during the conference, namely, that evangelism is not about growing our churches. If that is so, who will help our churches grow, and when?

We all know growth is needed if the Episcopal Church is to survive as a viable institution. Just visit the parishes in our rural area of Southwestern Virginia. They are losing members and, as a group, lack any clear sense of direction on how to rebuild themselves as health, viable contributors to the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.

It struck me during the conference that the people I heard saying, in effect, that our parishes don’t matter that much — were themselves, as a group, on the staffs of dioceses and perhaps the national church which are supported by payments from these shrinking and sometimes dying local churches. In short, the speakers are pretty much isolated from what is happening in the local churches, at least those I know and deal with.

OK, I wholeheartedly agree this. not a numbers game. Doubling our membership is not a desirable goal if we don’t change how we think of ourselves and our mission to this fragile world. In that, the PB has it righ, and I strongly support what he is trying to do in reorienting our thinking.

Yet I heard conference speakers talking as if bringing the Gospel of Jesus to people we meet on the street, and leaving them there, was an acceptable goal. One said whether these people ever come to a church, much less an Episcopal church, does not matter — so long as they come to know Jesus.

Back to my original question: Who will tell our parishes how they can grow and become healthy enough to meet the challenges posed at this conference? And when will this happen? Sadly, it did not happen in Dallas.

Peace+

Jack White
St. Thomas Church
Diocese of Southwestern Virginia
Abingdon VA
276-619-3831
jackwhite@whitelawoffice.com

My parish (All Saints’- Morristown, TN) has always been big on outreach. We have just recently begun (during a protracted time with no rector, but with guidance from some very good interim and long-term supply priests) to take church out into the neighborhood close by, specifically the projects. We started taking a monthly Bingo and lunch to the projects, but it was so popular, we invited them to do it at our Parish Hall. Parishioners donate prizes (cleaning supplies and other things they can’t purchase with food stamps, and $10 cards to area stores), and everybody sits down and eats together. We are developing relationships with these folks, and a few of them have come to services. Whenever we have an event, we invite them to be a part of it. It’s a good start to what I hope will be a rich movement to take Jesus to the people, especially when our rector search process is done. Thanks for streaming this conference. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

Episcopal Church needs to get comfortable w/ the “E” word. This conference is a big start for the effort. Thanks for doing this.