We've covered what the authors of Get Their Name considers elementary evangelism (sharing your faith through acts of service), and middle school evangelism (sharing faith within a small group atmosphered). There are many, many ways that I've seen elementary and middle school evangelism practiced by several at Community, from the elementary evangelism of sharing a link to our FaceBook page on individual timelines, to the middle school evangelism of sharing your faith in response to this blog.
We are now ready to talk "high school" evangelism, a way of sharing faith that takes us further out of our comfort zone, but builds upon what we've been practicing in sharing God experiences in small groups. "High school" evangelism is sharing our faith in worship - sharing our recent experiences with God for the edification of the persons with whom we are worshipping. In our tradition, as in many, this is called sharing your witness.
Although FAK lift up the power of sharing testimony in worship, they also urge a strong caution - the person sharing the testimony needs to be prepared when sharing with a larger group. Most of the issues related to unprepared testimony involve sharing a rambling story that people in worship may get lost in, and not actually hear the God experience that the speaker is wanting to share. But there are other issues of sharing content that would be inappropriate in worship. Inappropriate content could mean using language and/or situations that would cause those worshipping to stop listening to the person sharing their story becasue they are shocked by what they hear, but more often, it is the sharing of personal unresolved issues where the speaker ends up "processing" their feelings associated with those issues on the congregation.
FAK suggest a couple of methods to prepare each of us to engage in high school evangelism:
1) Allow for your small group to be an "incubator" for testimony. If you hear someone share a personal story that edifies the faith of a group, that person can be asked to share that same story in worship.
2) Recording testimonies digitally to be played in worship. In my opinion, there is a lot of power in having someone share their story live in front of the congregation. At the same time, "live in front of the congregation" is intimidating to many... that's the main reason why we haven't had many testimonies during our worship services. Recording testimonies allow for the person sharing to present their story by video, without having to speak in front of a large group. It also allows the speaker to hear their own testimony, and to make sure that it is the story they want others to hear.
Bob Farr shares that when he pastored Church of the Shepherd, he would try to have a two-minute video of a faith story aroudn offering time. Farr would tie the faith story into the offering, and explain how sharing our gifts makes faith sharing and other missions possible. I've seen other churches (First UMC in Sikeston, Granger Community Church) do this on a consistent basis at various points in their worship services.
Sharing our faith in this way is rooted deeply in our Wesleyan heritage. Whenever they preached out in the open field, John and Charles Wesley would often have other non-clergy folks share their testimony - they were called "exhorters". The Wesleys recognized the power and effectiveness of people sharing their personal experiences with God, especially for those who were new and curious about seeking a relationship with God. Preaching was important in the worship experience, but so was the sharing of one's faith.
Some questions for us to consider...
- Do you have, or do you know of someone who has, a God experience that would be powerful to share with the congregation in worship?
- What difference do you believe regular faith sharing would make to the worship experience at CUMC? In the lives of the worshippers? In the life of the congregation?
A very scary situation for most people. For most of us talking/presenting to a group is not so difficult. Espousing facts or third party events is easy. We do our slide presentation, read from our script, answer a few questions and walk away. But the person witnessing is going much deeper and speaking from the heart. The person sharing is being very vulnerable and may not think their story "worthy" of being shared, or they may feel "judged" based on what they are saying. How difficult is it to even get people to share prayer requests, even in a small group? Some people just do not want to be, or appear to be, that vulnerable, especially in front of a large crowd. Some of whom they may not know.
ReplyDeletePeople also may believe their story has to be one, all encompassing, light shines down, angels singing epiphany moment. When our lives can really be made up of many smaller faith stories coming together to make us who we are in Christ. I know my faith life and story is a bunch of starts, stops and in betweens. I stepped back from the faith when I went to college. I came back when Jennifer and I were planning a family. I stepped back again during certain pastoral periods and when my family life got more hectic. I came back closer as the kids got older and I became involved in activities that included them as well. I stepped back when that got overwhelming. I came back after a Walk to Emmaus weekend and stepped away again after my career started accelerating. Recent events have brought me closer and I praying and working to stay close this time. The point is people may feel witnessing is about one God moment, not how our spiritual life can ebb and flow.
Another blocker may be we are just so out of practice about witnessing we do not know where to start. It's somewhat like prayer. How many of use really knew how to pray when we started? How many still struggle to pray because they feel unworthy or do not know what to say or do not think they have time? (BTW, starting Feb 12 @ 6:30, class on prayer life: "The Circle Maker" for four weeks. Yes a shameless plug.) When really all you have to do is talk to one of your best friends who, in this case, happens to be God.
Do I believe sharing faith stories is important, absolutely!!! How do we go about getting others to share? My thought would be to start in our small groups and work out from there. Get people used to the idea that sharing a story is not out of the ordinary. Give them examples by role modeling and as people share help them to better be able to communicate the story to others. For anyone who knows me, I have to hear myself say something several times before I am comfortable with what I am trying to express, especially when speaking from the heart. We need to be be comfortable giving people a "secure" space to practice their witness statement and that starts with small groups.
I think Brian brings out some really great points about how it can be difficult and scary, and how we can use models to get people used to the idea. We are so used to putting up a front of our best possible self, that we forget the amazing power and strength of admitting our flaws. One of my former teachers used to say half the reason so many musicians struggle with performance anxiety is their teachers. Professionals, unwittingly, teach our students to fear mistakes. When really, a mistake is just a chance to learn... For a non-musical example, most of us learn very young to check if the stove burners are hot before we touch them or put anything on them. As adults, we don't live in fear of the burners or the heat, we just use the information our hand gives us as we put it near the burners to help us decide if we want to touch it. We learn from our mistakes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this idea of not fearing mistakes was being taught at a state university, I think his words are a great application of grace. If we accept that none of us are perfect, then it's much easier to learn from mistakes. Mistakes (i.e., sins, flaws, problems, issues, etc.) can be chances for God's glory to shine in our life, and for us to learn more about how much God loves us. Granted, this is not an easy lifestyle to embrace - especially when we see reminders of our mistakes everywhere we look. Our challenge, as Christians, is to look at those reminders and remember God's grace in our life. This mindset is quite opposed to most of what society teaches us, so it needs constant encouragement.
I will admit - I love the idea of short testimonies. I have been so blessed by the chance to get to know more members of the Council better. Some of their short examples of how God has worked in their life has been so encouraging to me. (I won't share them, as they aren't my stories.) Our journeys are so long that it can be very difficult to see progress. Trusting and sustaining faith through the long-haul is not easy. Testimonies, short and long, help us pay attention to God working in our lives, which is incredibly motivating.
My personal testimony is one that is difficult to share with the entire congregation, as it falls into the category of potentially distracting people with the issues I've faced, some issues should not be shared with young children. However, I will be praying about smaller aspects of my life with God that I can share during worship. I hope each of us would do the same.
In Christ,
Jackie
Thank you Brian and Jackie. You both speak well of the fear and the pressure that is often experienced when sharing your faith witness with a much bigger gathering of people. Within our small groups, I'm wondering if there is an intentional way to encourage sharing testimonies outside of the small group. It would take some good modeling from all of us who are leaders.
ReplyDelete