Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Our recent Vestry Papers article urged church leaders to shift their focus from “inside” to “outside,” and from church-sponsored outreach to individuals understanding themselves as “on mission” in their everyday lives. We’ve already offered ways to Break Out, Take Out, and Reach Out. Another one of the ways we Christians can “get the hell out of church” (the title of the VP article) is to Live Out – to be evangelists by carrying God’s Good News into every aspect of our daily lives.

Whenever I’m (Demi) dismayed by the idea of being the bearer of God’s Good News, I remember the disciples in Luke 10. That’s the story of Jesus sending them out, vulnerable and inexperienced, as his “advance men” for his upcoming campaign. Their assignment was to proclaim peace, accept the hospitality that was offered, heal people who were sick, and proclaim, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

These people, Jesus’ first evangelists, knew nothing about Jesus’ crucifixion, or resurrection, or victory over sin and death, or substitutionary atonement, or how to celebrate Eucharist. So what was their Good News? Basically, “Shalom! Peace and health be with you. God who loves us is right here, near us.”

Unlike them, we are Easter people. And each Sunday, as worship ends and we hear, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord,” we’re sent out into our worlds to do exactly what we’ve been called to do – offer God’s peace, healing, and presence to a hurting and angry world.

At times it is hard to recognize Christ’s presence outside of church. He doesn’t look much like those stained-glass portraits. Often that spark of God that lives in us and in those around us is covered up by “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” Sometimes we’re so involved with our own concerns that we forget to even look for that spark. Our baptism commissions us to look deeper, through the cover-up

Doing that is a bit more demanding than simply “being a good person.” That’s why congregations that practice “radical sending” make intentional efforts to relate worship and education to our weekday worlds. As we recognize and celebrate those connections on Sunday, we get better at being mindful that “God is near” in our workplaces, homes, city halls, soccer fields, and political campaigns. As Byron Rushing, House of Deputies VP and a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, says, “Jesus is in the Legislature where I am called to serve. If he were not there, I should not be there either.”

Do you long for your congregation to offer you food for your weekly journey beyond the church walls? Are you hoping for an opportunity to practice being an advance man (or woman)? Would you like to have conversations with other believers about connecting your faith to your daily life? We hope, through our book Radical Sending you’ll find some strategies and be inspired to invent your own. And we hope you’ll use the website to share your experiences with us.

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