by Steve | Jan 3, 1986 | Archive - 1986
Archive: Why I Must Evangelize
by Bishop Woodie White
It is sad that the issue of evangelism has become a point of contention in the Church. So often the topic has served more to divide than unite us. We have made it more complicated than it ought to be.
Perhaps part of the problem has arisen because of our tendency to compartmentalize the Gospel. Evangelism belongs to the whole Church, all the people of God. Yet, we have for too long permitted it to become the responsibility of certain segments within the Church. We have functioned in such a way as to say, “Evangelism is what conservatives or evangelicals do, and social ministries are what liberals and social activists do.” This is an unnecessary and unfaithful dichotomy.
All of the Body of Christ must recover its responsibility to be evangelists. Christ’s command is to all. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Evangelism is the heart of the Church. It is not optional but obligatory. It is not secondary but primary. It is not an action of the few but a ministry of the faithful. Evangelism does not belong to a group with a particular theological persuasion, but rather is a command of Christ to all. Indeed, evangelism is not what preachers do on behalf of the laity, it is what we all are to do in the name of Christ.
To evangelize is to announce the Good News: Jesus is Lord! To evangelize is to invite others to know Him and follow Him. To evangelize is to denounce all that is contrary to the wilt of God. To evangelize is to announce the kingdom of God as present and as coming!
The Christian evangelist always begins with the Story—the Good News that Jesus is Lord. But the evangelist must always end with his or her story—what this reality means in a single life: I was once blind but now I see. I was once selfish but now I share. I was once prejudiced but now I embrace all of God’s children. I was once closed but now I’m opened. I was once captive but now I’m liberated. I was once concerned about my own little community, but now I am concerned about God’s world. The evangelist can authenticate the Story because it has made a difference in his or her own life.
Perhaps we are failing at the task of evangelism because we don’t or can’t tell our stories. If people around us cannot see any evidence that the Good News has made a difference in us, they are not likely to be convinced that we are convinced that the Good News is either true or good. I believe that until the laity of the Church, as well as the clergy, begin to assume their rightful responsibility as evangelists, we will simply be talking about evangelism and not doing it.
Why do we evangelize? We evangelize because it is the nature of the Church to evangelize. It was our Lord’s final command. We evangelize because the Story in our lives is so full, so compelling, that we dare not keep it to ourselves. We evangelize because we believe this Good News will make a difference in a person’s life and will make a difference in its impact on society as well. For the Good News not only changes lives, it changes structures.
I look at my world and I know why I must evangelize, for I see too much brokenness, enmity, aloneness, greed, selfishness, racism, sexism, classism, oppression, social disintegration, family decay, violence, and war—in a word, sin. What the Christian says to all of this is, “Come, let me show you a better way!”
Catching up with the Baptists
We do not evangelize to catch up with the Baptists. We do not evangelize to get more people to pay conference apportionments. We do not evangelize to gain “our” population-percentage share. These are all self-serving, institutional concerns which suggest that we care more for the Church than for people. It was for people that Christ died.
In our evangelism we ought not give the impression that we are more interested in saving our Church than in saving souls. We must be careful about the language we use. We should not sound like corporate America. We are pointing to a Savior, not a slogan.
The church that seeks to take evangelism seriously must not be afraid to use Biblical and theological language. Often we sound like sociologists, not theologians. People don’t want more analysis, they want answers! And while we don’t have all the answers, we do have some. Dare we speak in confidence that which we confidently know, and yet remain open to the leading of the Spirit as we acknowledge that we know only in part?
Relevant evangelism is always contextual. That is, it speaks to people where they are, in their context. Relevant evangelism makes the Gospel understandable in the environment where it is announced and shared.
Evangelism is holistic, like the Good News we announce. It is a word for the whole person—physical, social, spiritual. It is not the task of evangelism to remove people from the world but to help them know how to live in it. “For God so loved the world. … ” Evangelism with integrity is never escapism but engagement, a wrestling with the realities of life utilizing the resources of the Spirit.
I believe the Good News announced and lived out will make a difference. But it is not our task to assure success. It is our task to believe the Good News, announce it, and live it. We can’t guarantee how many numbers will be added to a congregation or a denominational role. But as evangelists, we must keep telling the Story, and pray that men and women and boys and girls will hear it, see it, and respond.
Soda fountain story
In the fall of 1953 I met a young woman at a soda fountain. At the time I was having severe difficulty with organized religion. She was an articulate and dedicated Christian. She knew how to talk about her faith. The more I railed against the Church, the more she talked about Jesus. The more I talked about the hypocrites in the Church, the more she talked about Jesus. The more I pointed to the failure of the Church, the more she talked about Jesus. She won. Praise God!
Maybe we are using our evangelistic witness to talk about the wrong things. Perhaps we are giving answers to questions no one is asking. It may well be that people are looking for bread and we are giving a stone. The Good News is: Jesus is Lord! Whatever else may follow, and there is much, this is where the Story begins.
Every local congregation, every lay person, every clergy person is an evangelist. The Church will not and cannot survive without evangelism. Millions who live in a torn and fractured world need to be made new and whole. The world of strife and demonic forces needs to be reshaped into a place of reconciliation, justice, and compassion. People need to hear the Story, the Good News. But they will not and cannot if those who know it best are too complacent, too timid, or too busy to tell it.
Bishop Woodie W. White was elected to the church’s highest office in 1984. He serves as resident bishop of the Central and Southern Illinois Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Before his election, he was general secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race, based in Washington, D.C.
by Steve | Jan 2, 1986 | Archive - 1986
Archive: How To Lead Someone To Christ
Timeless insights from the best-known Methodist of this century
By E. Stanley Jones
How do we help others find conversion? For the end of evangelism is to produce an evangelist. You haven’t really got a person “in” until you get him “out”—helping others to conversion.
In the Hollywood Presbyterian Church, one of the great churches in America, in the hall for youth is this motto up at the front: “To know Him, to help others to know Him.” These are the alternate beats of the Christian heart—to know Him, to help others to know Him. You cannot continue to know Him unless you are helping others to know Him.
These attitudes are necessary if you are to help others to know Him:
1. Anyone who really desires to win others to conversion can do so. When I say “anyone” I mean anyone. Only those who debar themselves are debarred. A businessman of St. Louis has set aside one day a week to call on people to win them to Christ. He and his wife won 120 the first year.
People of any age can win others. A little girl of 10 years of age won 18 other children.
A youth of 17 said to a lawyer of 80, “Which team of evangelism do you belong to?”
The lawyer replied, “Why, I don’t belong to a church.”
The boy replied, “Why don’t you do it now? You haven’t got much time to do it in.” This got the lawyer. The next Sunday, he marched down the aisle with the lad and gave himself to Christ and the church—80 and 17!
The first thing then to fix in your mind is: “Anyone can do it! Then I will do it!”
2. Everyone is made for conversion. In the very structure of one’s being he is made for conversion and needs it—and deep down wants it—for his own fulfillment. Every person feels a sense of incompleteness, of frustration, of missing his life-mark, until conversion comes. When it comes it has a sense of homecoming upon it.
A little girl away from home for the first time in a camp was seen at bedtime with tears upon her cheeks, and the camp counselor said, “Are you homesick?”
“No,” replied the little girl, “I’m not homesick, I’m heresick.” Deep down every person, whether he realizes it or not, is “heresick,”—there is a nostalgia for God, the homeland of our souls.
This is not something imposed on the soul—it is ingrained in the very structure. The watermark in paper is not stamped on it—it is a part of its very structure. So we are made by Christ, for Christ, and when we find Him we find ourselves.
“All things have been created by Him [Christ] and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). The touch of Christ is upon all creation and everything is made in its inner structure to work in His way. And when it does, it works rhythmically, harmoniously, at its best. When it works some other way it works its own ruin. We are incurably Christ-bent. We want Him even when we think we want something else.
When you go to a person to win him to conversion, remember you have an ally in his heart who will take your side. It’s two against one—always.
3. It’s three against one, really. The Holy Spirit is dealing with every living person. Through conscience, through the pressure of higher ideals, through the impact of better people upon us, and directly, the Holy Spirit is at work. He was there before you. “He shall convict the world of sin”—shall convict concerning what we have not been and done; “and of judgment to come” shall convict of God’s last word, judgment.
The Holy Spirit is your faithful ally. It’s three against one: you, the Holy Spirit, and the innate longings of the person! It’s a pushover, except in the most hardened cases, and even they are often brittle, easily broken.
4. So go to the person with a positive expectation of winning the person. Don’t go with any apologies, any hesitations, any tentativeness. Be affirmative without being rude.
I went into a store and asked for a certain type of collar, and I asked with these words: “You haven’t a certain type of collar, have you?”
The clerk replied, “Why so negative? Yes, I have it.”
Francis of Assisi used to sympathize with the thieves and robbers, saying he was sorry for them for they couldn’t give expression to the holiness within them. Did they respond!
5. Don’t be inhibited by a feeling of your own unworthiness. Of course you are unworthy, who isn’t? However, you are not asking people to follow you, but to follow Christ. We are imperfect witnesses to a perfect Savior. As C. T. Niles says, “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” You are not the issue—He is!
You don’t have to be a saint to do this work, but you do have to be sincere. I attempted personal work when I was a church member without conversion and was met by the reply: “You are only religious during revivals.”
It was true. I did not attempt it again until I was converted. Then the first person I spoke to was converted—my grandmother, at 82 years of age, was my first convert. She wanted what I had found. The beggar is a beggar still, but he must be able to tell where he found bread.
6. Don’t be surprised if there seems to be an initial resistance. But you must have an ultimate faith that you will win the person. We don’t easily open our lives to others. There is a tendency to close up. The fact is that there are two instincts within us. One is to close up against any intruder, and the other is to disclose ourselves if we can find someone sympathetic and understanding.
If you run into a manifestation of the operation of the first instinct, don’t give up and say that the person is impossible. Stay around until the second instinct begins to operate. For deep down, people want nothing so much as to tell some sympathetic person their inmost longings and needs.
7. When the person reveals his or her needs, don’t be misled by a marginal need—the need to straighten out this, that or the other. The real need is conversion. Often the person will try to put you off with reformation instead of going on to transformation.
A friend was counseling a woman who had certain “problems.” When we started to tell her about her problems, the friend gently stopped her and said, “Before we go into the problems, may I ask, have you surrendered yourself to Christ?”
The woman replied, “No, I don’t think I have. ”
“Then,” said the friend, “let’s settle that first. ”
They went to their knees and the woman arose a changed and happy person. “Now,” said the friend, “Tell me about your problems.”
The woman laughed. “I haven’t got any. That was it.”
The friend telling about it afterwards said, “I’ve found out how to save time in dealing with people—get them converted first and then deal with their problems. When you do this their problems have usually vanished.” That leads to the next step:
8. Aim at the surrender of the self, not the surrender of this thing, that thing, the other thing. We may surrender these things in lieu of surrendering the self. The real crux is the surrender of the self. Until that is done, nothing is done. Usually the person is glad, deep down, to get himself off his own hands, for the self on our own hands is a problem and a pain. In the hands of God it is a possibility and a power.
9. In lieu of surrendering the self the person may raise this, that, or the other religious question. He may try to get you into a discussion about points of religion and this doctrine or that doctrine. Don’t bite at that bait, for you’ll get hooked on marginal issues. The end in view is not discussion, but decision. The only real decision is a decision to surrender the self.
10. When you come to the point of decision, get the person on his or her knees. Getting on the knees signifies the fact that the issue is not now between the counselor and the counselee, but between the counselee and God.
When you get to your knees suggest that you will pray first, and then the seeker will pray. In your prayer you can pave the way to surrender and faith by telling God that you are grateful it is going to be done.
Then ask the seeker to pray. If the seeker will pray out loud, well and good, but if he or she hesitates and says, “I don’t know how to pray,” then suggest that the person pray a prayer after you—sentence by sentence. And you pray the prayer in the first person, as if the person were praying: “Dear Lord, I come to You just as I am. … ”
After you have prayed a prayer of repentance and self-surrender and faith, ending on the note of believing that acceptance has taken place, then you pray a prayer on your own, thanking God that the greater transaction has been done, that he or she belongs.
When you arise from your knees take the hand of the person in congratulation, repeating a verse like this: “All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you ” (Mark 11:24). Call attention to “have received,” not “will receive.”
Then urge upon the seeker: “Don’t look in, you’ll be discouraged; don’t look around, you’ll be distracted; don’t look back, you’ll be paralyzed; look at Jesus, and you’ll have peace and assurance.”
Explain that feeling is a by-product of surrender and faith and obedience, very like the foaming waves thrown up by the ship as it goes forward. The point is to go forward with Him. The feeling will take care of itself.
11. Have him write his decision on the flyleaf of his Bible. “On this ______ day of ________ I turned from my old way of life. I surrendered myself to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I am His forever; and by word and by life, I will witness for Him to others.” Then ask him to sign it.
12. Get the convert to straighten up his life in all his relationships. Impress on him the necessity of saying, “I am sorry.” It is a catharsis.
A pastor in Japan was in trouble in his home. His wife and his father were at loggerheads. She decided she was going to her own home. The husband said, “I can’t tell you to go or not to go, but I’m going to fast and pray to see what God’s answer is, what guidance He will give me.”
She put on her best clothes and then put them back into the drawer. At the end of the day she said, “Eat. You are not responsible. It’s between me and my father-in-law.”
The pastor called the family together and announced: “God spoke to me and said, ‘You’re the head of this home and you’re responsible for what has happened. You are the key one.’ So I repent. It’s all my fault.”
The wife spoke up: “No, it’s my fault. I never loved my father and I’ve transferred this hate to my father-in-law.”
The brother spoke up: “No, I’m to blame. I asked my brother for something and he refused. So I went to my father and he did it over the head of my brother. And my sister-in-law knew this and it further divided the two.”
The maid spoke up: “No, I’m to blame. I wanted to be loved by the father and the wife. So I would go to the father and carry tales about the wife and then go to the wife and carry tales about the father, to gain the favor of both.”
The father spoke: “No, it’s my fault. I said to myself, ‘I’m the oldest and therefore the family belongs to me and they should serve and obey me.’ But I saw this morning, ‘The greatest among you shall be the servant of all.’ I’m going to be the servant of all from this time.”
The whole thing was settled! Don’t be afraid to say “I am sorry.”
13. Get the person into the Christian church as a vital, contagious member. If he is already in, emphasize that he now become “vital and contagious.” If he is not in, then get him in. For the church is the natural home of the converted.
It is true that, often, getting the convert to go into some churches is “like putting a live chick under a dead hen.” (One pastor announced from the pulpit that the church should honor the church mouse, for she had brought four into the church, and that was more than the rest of the membership had done.)
But for the most part this isn’t true. The Christian Church with all its faults is the greatest serving institution on earth. It has many critics, but no rivals in the work of human redemption. There isn’t a spot on earth, from the frozen North to the tropical islands of the sea, where we haven’t gone with schools, hospitals, leper and orphan asylums, churches, the Gospel—everything to lift the soul, the mind, the body—the total life of the human race. No other institution has done anything like it—none whatever.
When a man said to D. L. Moody [the great evangelist] that he could live a Christian life apart from the church, Moody simply replied by pulling a live coal from the rest of the burning coals in the grate and letting it lie on the hearth, separate. It died. The man said, “I see your point. ”
The Christian life cannot be lived apart from the Christian church. So get your convert into the church as a part of a living fellowship.
14. Remember that in this whole process, from the initial approach to the final consummation of getting the person into the church and out on his own to win others, the Holy Spirit is teaching you what you shall say and do at every point of need.
A verse was given me in the beginning of my missionary work among the intellectuals of India and it has become a life verse: “When they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matthew 10:19-20). That verse has literally been fulfilled. It will be fulfilled in you. Let your full weight down on it.
A friend had little or no experience in dealing with a person of another faith and yet she was Spirit-guided in dealing with a sophisticated Jewish woman. The woman told of finding that her husband was living a double life. She was furious with him. She wanted to leave him and have her revenge—to break him. The friend wisely guided the woman to her own problems of resentment and hate. Then she asked her to pray to her own Jehovah.
“But He is far off and impersonal,” the woman replied.
Then the friend told of Jesus who put a face on God and was very near and lovable. “But,” she said, “I don’t want to take away your faith and impose mine. You go and ask God if He has any objection to your accepting Christ.”
The woman promised she would. The next morning the woman bounded up the stairs and burst into her friend’s room and said: “I did it. And God said He had no objection to my accepting His Son. I’m so happy. I’ve found my Savior. And I’m not going to leave my husband and try to break him. I’m going to love him and try to make him.”
It was given this friend in that hour what she should say. It was the perfect method of dealing with a person of another faith. You will become skillful with His skill, loving with His love, and wise with His wisdom.
by Steve | Jan 1, 1986 | Archive - 1986
Archive: Charles W. Keysor: A Giant in My Eyes
By James V. Heidinger II
The Methodist Church was not without an evangelical constituency in the mid-sixties. But that constituency was scattered, struggling, and intimidated by a church whose leadership was solidly liberal.
Charles W. Keyser, founding editor of Good News magazine and chief executive of the movement for 15 years, helped give this scattered constituency an identity, a sense of unity, and a voice within the denomination. Now he is gone. (See article on p. 48)
My involvement with Chuck and Good News began at the first national convocation in Dallas in 1970. As I watched Chuck there from a distance, I remember he was a giant in my eyes. And the movement he was leading gave me, a young pastor just three years out of seminary, hope that our church could one day be different that evangelicals would no longer have to survive as something of an underground movement within United Methodism.
During those early days of my pastoral ministry, I found the Good News movement to be expressing many of the concerns and convictions I felt. It encouraged me greatly during those times of frequent discouragement.
In the mid-1970s, I was elected a member of the Good News board and became personally acquainted with Chuck. To know him was to appreciate him as a multi-gifted person. He was at once a pastor, journalist, executive, leader of renewal, national voice, and penetrating theologian. He also became a personal friend.
I remember, while serving in Ohio, getting lengthy phone calls from Chuck to discuss articles, editorials, and issues confronting the church. Though I was a novice, Chuck always encouraged me to write and to become more involved in the Good News ministry.
To know Chuck was to realize he had the courage to speak faithfully and the ability to speak persuasively. Because he was obedient, Chuck was a vessel through whom God would channel a vision and rally the commitment of thousands of United Methodists.
When Chuck launched Good News he was bitterly opposed, and for a number of years he bore personally the brunt of criticism from many who disagreed with him. But when he stepped down from his Good News post in 1981, many of those ardent critics saluted him for his courage and his commitment to the evangelical faith.
Those of us who worked closely with Chuck loved him dearly as God’s bold and faithful servant. For 15 years both Chuck and his devoted wife, Marge, poured themselves unselfishly into the Good News effort. When the time came for change, Chuck spent many hours helping me get oriented to my new tasks. And Marge stayed on at her Good News job for a time, providing continuity during the period of transition. We are profoundly indebted to them for their faithful service.
What a monumental contribution Chuck has made for the cause of Scriptural Christianity within the United Methodist Church! When the chapter for this period of Methodist history is written, the contributions of Charles Winchester Keysor will be a major part. And, about that, Chuck would have us add, “To God be the glory!”
by Steve | Nov 30, 1985 | Archive - 1985
Archive: Stalking the New Mister Wesley
THE WESLEY WORKS PROJECT edited by Frank Baker (Abingdon Press)
The Church today is only beginning to discover the amazing legacy that John Wesley left to Christianity. Simultaneous with this rediscovery, scholars of the past half-century have been busy correcting some inaccurate stereotypes of Methodism’s founder. The “new Wesley” is proving to be a significant mentor/guide for personal spiritual formation and for the corporate renewal of the Church. One of the most important aids in the renaissance of Wesley studies has been the Wesley’s Works Editorial Project.
In the past, understanding of Wesley has suffered because no definitive edition of his works has been available. For many years, the best edition of Wesley’s works was Thomas Jackson’s 14 volume set, prepared in the years 1829-1831 (and still available from the United Methodist Publishing House). But Jackson’s Works and even the so-called “Standard Editions” of Wesley’s Journal (ed. Curnock, 1909-16), Letters (ed. Telford, 1931), and Sermons (ed. Sugden, 1921) suffer from numerous textual and historical inaccuracies and frequent editorial intrusions. Moreover, in the years subsequent to the publication of these sets, a host of manuscripts and published materials has been discovered that sheds greater light on Wesley.
In 1960 an international team of scholars began an examination of over 450 items published by John and Charles Wesley. Oxford University Press agreed to undertake publication of the projected 33 volumes of the new Wesley’s Works. But economic restraints forced Oxford to abandon the project in 1982. Thanks to Abingdon Press, the expanded and definitive edition of Wesley’s Works is alive and well.
The five volumes published to date bear the unmistakable imprint of Dr. Frank Baker, editor-in-chief of the project. Not only has Baker been responsible for the preparation of an authentic text for each of Wesley’s publications, but his painstaking textual criticism has led to the identification of all variant readings for some 2,000 editions published in Wesley’s lifetime. The end product is a text that is easily read and easily understood. There is no question that this edition of Wesley’s works will find its place alongside the most noteworthy collections of Christian writers.
Here, then, is a brief appraisal of each volume, presented in the order of publication:
The first volume of the collected Works to appear, The Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion and Certain Related Open Letters, was published in February 1976 and edited by Gerald R. Cragg. This volume reveals Wesley as a Christian apologist, polemicist, and constructive theologian with few peers in his day. In response to the accusations of enthusiasm, fanaticism, and antinomianism, Wesley boldly demonstrates his grounding in the central Anglican tradition.
While the occasional reader of Wesley will find these polemical writings hard going at times, Cragg has made an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Wesley’s place in the Anglican tradition. This first published volume of the Works received the Library Association of Great Britain’s coveted award for the best index of 1976.
In 1980 the first of a planned seven volumes devoted to Wesley’s Letters was published. This initial volume, covering the formative years of 1721-1739, was quickly followed in 1982 by a volume of Letters from 1740-1755. These two installments, both edited brilliantly by Dr. Baker, represent the first new presentation of Wesley’s correspondence in 50 years.
By any standard this new collection supersedes all previous editions. For example, more than one-fifth of the 270 Wesley letters in the new 1740-1755 volume did not appear in the Standard Edition of Telford. In the same volume, the inclusion of 146 letters received by Wesley (and abstracts or quotations from 270 more)—many of them hither to unpublished or inaccessible—enables the reader to hear both sides of the epistolary conversation.
In both of these Letters volumes, the various dimensions of Wesley’s own personal life—his relationships with family and colleagues, his concerns for the expanding Methodist revival, his evolving life of faith—are revealed with meticulous care and sensitivity. Baker’s introduction to Wesley’s Works in the first volume of Letters leaves virtually no question unanswered. These two volumes of Letters are essential reading and afford one of the most accurate self-portraits of Wesley currently available.
A Collection of Hymns for the use of the People called Methodists, published in 1983, was edited by two widely recognized Methodist hymnologists, Franz Hildebrandt and Oliver A. Beckerlegge. While this is probably the least well-known of the five published volumes, it may have the greatest appeal to the lay audience.
One of the remarkable features of early Methodism was its birth in song. This collection of hymns, originally published in 1780, was a primer of theology for the Methodist people and a manual both for public worship and private devotion. A thorough study of this volume could prove to be one of the most important experiences in any person’s pilgrimage of faith.
Sermons, 1–33 was edited by Dr. Albert C. Outler, the world-renowned Wesleyan theologian. This first volume of the sermons helps us see Wesley as a prominent Anglican theologian dedicated to spiritual renewal and nurture and to rediscovery of a balanced view of the Christian life. In an introduction which sets forth the rich fabric of Wesley’s sources and thought, Outler provides the necessary background for the reader to grasp the content of Wesley’s Sermons.
The breadth of Outler’s documentation is sometimes staggering, ranging through the entangled mazes of classical and Christian thought. But in these sermons you will find the distillation of Wesley’s theology in the form he most preferred. Every Methodist pastor and lay leader would benefit from a careful study of this volume of Wesley’s Sermons.
Abingdon recently approved plans for at least six more volumes of Wesley’s Works in addition to the publisher’s initial five-volume commitment. Our Methodist leaders are now sensing the value of the project. Clergy and laypeople need to support this monumental endeavor which is certain to benefit the cause of Christ for years to come.
Reviewed by Dr. Paul Chilcote, UM minister and John Wesley fellow
by Steve | Nov 29, 1985 | Archive - 1985
Archive: A Church on the Move
Orthodox faith and some slightly unorthodox methods spell growth at Aldersgate UMC
by Eddie Robb
Aldersgate United Methodist Church began with eight members meeting for worship in the pastor’s home and using cereal bowls for offering plates. Now, seven years later, the church has a membership of 1200, and it’s still growing. No one is more surprised than the pastor.
“Everyone tried to talk me out of taking this appointment,” recalls Reverend Terry Teykl. “My friends just didn’t think it had much of a future.”
From outward appearances, the pessimism was understandable. College Station, Texas, the home of Texas A&M University, already had a strong UM church. It was located next to the campus and was well attended by students. Most of the professors and town folks belonged to First Church, in neighboring Bryan, Texas. With these two large churches and several smaller ones, it seemed the needs of the college community were being met.
“I was scared,” Teykl admits, “but I felt like there was room for another Methodist church, if it tried a bit different approach.”
Apparently the bishop agreed. Texas Conference Bishop Finis Crutchfield (now retired) appointed Teykl to begin the new work. The church was established on May 24, 1979 (Aldersgate Sunday). Thus the name.
Most folks around Texas still thought of College Station as a small, sleepy college town. The fact is, it had changed. From 1970 to 1980 the population grew to 32,000, a whopping 111 percent. Though still tiny by big-city standards, College Station had become the sixth fastest growing area in the United States.
“We had great dreams,” Teykl reminisces, “but I never expected what God had in store for us.”
Now, over 1000 people crowd into the gymnasium-style sanctuary every Sunday morning. (According to church sociologist Lyle Schaller, that puts Aldersgate’s attendance in the top one percent of all American Protestant churches.) Another 400-500 come back on Sunday evenings for a charismatic-style praise service.
The numbers are impressive. But the real story is what is happening spiritually. “There’s more dedication to prayer in this church than in the last 15 churches I’ve been associated with,” explains administrative board chairman Dr. Mike James, a professor of civil engineering at Texas A&M.
Prayer is obviously important at Aldersgate. The church holds regular prayer meetings, but they are not the usual Wednesday-night variety. The last Friday of each month, members gather for an all-night prayer vigil. In addition, every weekday morning the doors open at 6:00 for prayer. It lasts for an hour.
The importance of prayer at Aldersgate is evidenced even in the church’s architecture. Enter the pastor’s study, open the right door, and you’ll discover a prayer closet—a small room with a world map on the wall, a desk, and a well-used Bible. Similar rooms are scattered throughout the building. The pastor’s prayer closet, he says, “helps me keep my priorities right.”
Prayer and small groups
In his Doctor of Ministry studies, Teykl researched the small-group methods of John Wesley and of Paul Cho, pastor of the world’s largest church, located in Seoul, Korea. Cho’s church emphasizes small groups meeting in homes and corporate prayer, and is growing at the rate of 12,000 new converts every month. Not surprisingly, prayer and small groups are also at the heart of Aldersgate’s growth.
Twenty different “house churches” meet weekly. The size of the groups varies. Some have as many as 50 people, while other groups average 6-8 people each week.
“Here is where we minister to one another,” comments Auby Brown, a layman and part-time director of church life. ” For the first few years we had to meet in homes because we had no building. Now that we have a building, we don’t want to give them [the house churches] up,” he adds.
The house churches emphasize prayer, Bible study, sharing, and personal accountability. “They are very much patterned after John Wesley’s class meetings,” Brown says.
Until last fall Aldersgate worshipped in a school gymnasium. “That was wild!” exclaims one member. “Every Sunday morning we had to move everything in. Cribs. Pulpit. Piano. Communion rails. Cross. Everything. You cannot imagine how much work it was.”
Now Aldersgate is housed in a beautiful $1.5 million complex. The spacious 32,000-square-foot building is located on 10 acres along Texas State Highway 6, across from a new regional mall on the growing edge of College Station.
The members are proud of their new facilities. Yet, one gets the feeling that the people already look back nostalgically to those schoolhouse days when everything had to be set up for worship each week.
Aldersgate’s newest addition is a giant-size Jacuzzi. It sits in a courtyard just outside the pastor’s study. Visitors are understandably surprised to see a hot tub at church. Teykl quickly explains, “Oh, it’s for baptisms. A lot of our new members come from non-Methodist backgrounds and prefer immersion.”
In fact, fully 36 percent of Aldersgate’s members join by profession of faith. Another 38 percent come by vows from another denomination. That is a phenomenal figure, and a key reason why the church places a high priority on membership classes.
“We want membership to mean something,” explains Teykl. Everyone who joins Aldersgate must attend four training sessions taught by the pastor’s wife, Kay. New members are received one Sunday each month.
Such a large influx of new members from non-Methodist backgrounds does pose some problems, admits board chairman Mike James. “The first thing we have to do is give new officers and board members a crash course in Methodist polity [government],” he says.
Truly Methodist?
From zero to 1200 members in seven years, with an average worship attendance over 1000-Aldersgate clearly is a dynamic congregation. Yet not everyone is happy about Aldersgate’s success. Rev. Morris House, district superintendent, is grudging in his praise for the church.
“I’m for it from the standpoint that the church is serving people,” House said. “As far as being a true Methodist church, it isn’t. We’re praying to make it more Methodist.”
Yet, Aldersgate members wonder how they can become more Methodist. “We pay our apportionments,” said one member. “We use Methodist literature. We’re not mavericks; we’re revivalists. And we are fully submitted to our denomination.”
Nevertheless, Aldersgate is viewed skeptically by some, especially by the clergy. Some ministers see the church as a threat to the Methodist appointment system. One minister asked pointedly, “Who will we send there after Teykl? And where will we appoint him?”
It is true that Aldersgate is not a typical United Methodist church. Worship services tend to be less formal, especially on Sunday evenings. The 400-500 people who gather for the evening praise service often clap to the music and raise their hands while they sing. A piano, two guitars, and a violin are the standard fare. Testimonies and spontaneous prayers are often heard, and occasionally someone speaks in tongues.
I’ve always had a vision for a different kind of church,” Teykl says. “I did the routine for 11 years, and I felt like a change was in order.”
Teykl’s vision for Aldersgate, in addition to the emphases mentioned earlier, includes a strong missions program. The young church pays all its denominational apportionments, and beyond that it supports two Evangelism Explosion workers—one in Monterrey, Mexico, the other in Caracas, Venezuela.
Sometimes it’s easy for churches to give to foreign missions and ignore needy folks in their own backyards. Not so with Aldersgate. Each year the church helps several hundred needy people. “We’ve got a Biblical responsibility to care for the poor,” Teykl states firmly. “We take that mandate seriously.”
Apparently they do. The church has a half-time staff person whose sole assignment is to minister to the poor. Last year Aldersgate gave over $70,000 to impoverished families.
If the vitality of a church can be measured by the ministers it sends out, Aldersgate scores well there too. In the church’s seven brief years of existence, 39 of its young men and women have answered the call to fulltime Christian ministry. Six are now in seminary. “And one’s already out of the chute.” says Rev. Teykl. (That’s Texas talk for “already serving a church.”)
At age 38, Terry Teykl finds himself senior minister of one of the larger UM churches in the nation. Nobody is more surprised than he. He entered the ministry late. After graduation from seminary (summa cum laude) his first seven years were spent in a small rural church in Central Texas.
“I was very happy serving where I was,” he says with a grin, “but I guess the Lord had other ideas.”
Rev. Edmund W. Robb III is pastor of the United Methodist Church in The Woodlands, Texas, just north of Houston. Since founding the Woodlands UMC eight years ago, Robb has seen the church grow to more than 1,300 members. In the mid-70s he was Associate Executive Secretary of the Good News movement.
