Bishop's Day on Evangelism and Stewardship

Greetings/Message for Bishop’s Day on Evangelism and Stewardship

On March 1, 2008

Taped February 11, 2008 at the West Michigan Conference Office

Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton

Hi.  My name is Bishop Keaton of the Michigan Area.  Welcome to another Bishop’s Day on Evangelism and Stewardship.  Last year, over 3400 people attended 13 separate District Events.  A number of respondents noted that it was the one of the best District training events they had attended in years.  Given that feedback plus the outstanding work of the District Superintendents and their Leadership Teams, I challenged them to “Do it again, and Do it better!”  ES² symbolizes that challenge.  ES² is about our commitment to evangelism and stewardship.  ES² is about a great opportunity to equip local churches for ministry.  I’m mindful that the financial advice Kiplinger Magazine dispensed on the radio years ago is still relevant.  “Opportunity Knocks, but you must open the door.”          

Openness is a core value of the gospel.  “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest,” says the Lord.  (Mt. 11:28)  And openness is a core value in the United Methodist Church.  Do we not have a national television campaign assuring visitors of Methodist hospitality?  According to the promise, persons entering our sanctuaries will find “open hearts, open minds and open doors.”  Make it true, United Methodists.  Make it true.  Open the corridors of your mind, body and spirit to hear what God has to say to you and your church today. 

Have you heard of the church of Laodicea?  John wrote about it and six other churches in the book of Revelation.  On the isle of Patmos, when he was “caught up in the spirit,” John had a vision.  In one section, the angel of the church of Laodicea labeled the congregation lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.  Peterson’s The Message used more graphic language to describe their malaise.  “You’re stale.  You’re stagnant.  You make me want to throw up.”  Despite the sorry state of affairs with Laodicea, the angel of the church had some good news.  Someone significant and unforgettable promised to visit them if they repented, changed and responded to his call.  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone (or any church) hears my voice and opens the door.  I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me,” promised Jesus the Christ. (Rev. 3:21, RSV) 

See how a laissez faire mentality affected the church of Laodicea.  She took on the character of a club instead of a church.  Unlike the other churches, she had plenty of resources and believed she needed nothing but what she possessed.  As a closed community, she became stagnant jeopardizing the quality of her mission and ministry.  And yet, God offered the church of Laodicea an opportunity to turn things around. 

That is a mission of this day.  It offers churches another opportunity to turn things around.  Let go of stagnation.  Open up. Beware!!  Opening up will change the culture of your church.  Family and friends will have the stranger, the immigrant, and “the least of these” sitting beside them.  Over this, you may not rejoice; but Christ sure will on earth and in heaven.

To make disciples of all nations, to baptize, to teach, to sense the enduring presence of Christ with us is to have our doubts, our wishes, and our wills die daily in favor of what the resurrected Christ wishes for the church.  It can be done.  The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy express this spirit in a synthetic statement* of their mission: “God’s will and God’s work must truly become our own.”  Perhaps, no greater charge exists than The Great Commission except the Golden Rule.  Jesus’ clarion call for local congregations to fish with a net instead of rod and reel is clear.  Fishing for all people instead of certain people is the way.  To do less is to succumb to evangelistic recidivism; a phenomenon that has fueled our membership slide for two score years and counting.  The old mantra of Kiplinger Magazine is right today “Opportunity knocks, but you must open the door.”

Every now and then, I find myself humming and singing the words of What Shall I Render?  It is a gospel song by a p.k., Margaret Pleasant Douroux.  In verse and refrain, her song raises stewardship concerns.  “What shall I render unto God for all His mercies?  What shall I render? What shall I give? Moreover, decision time is upon Margaret.  The substance of her refrain identifies a struggle of conscience.  Margaret realizes that all she has belongs to God-that God expects a return.  She cannot avoid giving back to God anymore than we can avoid paying Uncle Sam.  Deciding how much and/or in what manner to gift God is no small matter.  Then, Margaret reaches a conclusion not quantified in dollars and cents.  “All I can render is my body and my soul.  That’s all I can render; that’s all I can give,” she confessed.  What is our response to that question?  Is it the joyful response of the widow who put all she had in the temple treasury?  Or, is it the sorrowful response of the rich, young ruler unable to commit body, soul or the widow’s mite to the Jesus’ movement?

I’m still moved by the witness of Adam Hamilton in Kansas and two lay pastors in Texas.  Both were appointed to small churches and grew them.  Adam Hamilton was appointed to a church with a core group of 30 in 1990.  They met in a funeral home.  Now, 14,000 members have joined.  Rudy and Juanita Rasmus, lay pastors and married couple, were appointed to a downtown congregation in Houston, Texas with 9 members.  The building was a rundown “white elephant.”  Now, St. John’s has grown to over 9000 members.  In growing their churches from 9 to 9000, 30 to 14,000, Rasmus and Hamilton became servant leaders “doing whatever it took to grow the church.”

Is that the right approach?  I don’t know.  This I know, your District Superintendents and their Leadership Teams will provide everyone with enough resources to grow the church.  I beg you.  I adjure you; open the door to what they are offering on God’s behalf.  

I leave you with Margaret’s Douroux’s faith struggles.  “What shall I render unto God for all God mercies? What shall I render, what shall I give?  “All I can render is my body and my soul.  That’s all I can render; that’s all I can give,” claims Margaret.  Whate’er your gifting capacity; let our work for God commence with a fervent commitment to evangelism and stewardship in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

*God’s will and God’s work must truly become our own” is a synthetic statement drawn from the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.  In his April 3, 1968 “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech (his last one), King told the audience in his conclusion, “I just want to do God’s will.”  In the conclusion of Kennedy’s January 20, 1961 Inaugural Address, Kennedy said in an excerpt of his last sentence, “God’s work must truly be our own.”  Finally, one definition of synthesis is to combine or produce by synthesis.”

Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.