Inreach, Outreach

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
August 27, 2006
The 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Inreach, Outreach
1 Kings 8:22-30
John 20:19-23

It is a good thing you are all sitting down,
because I have some shocking news
to share with you this morning;
It really is not at all fair of me
to spring such startling news on you
in these languid last days of summer
when our minds should be on vacations and picnics and
back-to-school sales.
But here it is:
every person in this church is called to evangelize;
Every person in this church is called to be an evangelist.

Now we Presbyterians get a little uncomfortable
when we hear that word,
the “E” word.
It is not a word we use very often in the Presbyterian church;
It is a word we are more inclined to use
when we refer to other denominations,
other churches.
Churches where the music is louder,
the preaching goes on for a lot more than 15 minutes,
and things seem not to be done “decently and in order.”

When we hear the word “evangelist”,
or “evangelical”, or “evangelize”
the kinds of images that come to mind might be revivals,
tent meetings, teary confessions from men and women.
Almost a century ago author Sinclair Lewis gave us
the classic unflattering portrait of the evangelist
in his novel “Elmer Gantry.”

Yet the word evangelize means simply, to preach the good news,
share the good news,
to bring good news and glad tidings.
And you and I are called by Christ to do just that:
to share the good news.

When Jesus appeared to the disciples on that first Easter evening,
and told them that he was sending them out,
his words were not limited to those gathered in that locked room;
His words are just as much for you and me
here and now on a summer Sunday.

You and I are called to share the good news,
all of us, each of us,
to share the good news with one another
as we help each other grow in faith
And to share the good news in the larger world,
to share it with friends and strangers alike.
That’s evangelism.

And evangelism is the very foundation of mission work,
every mission trip any of us or our young people take,
every mission trip we sponsor.
They may not have known it, but evangelism was at the heart
of the work our young people did this past summer
in Pennsylvania and Niagara Falls.
It was at the heart of our work for Habitat for Humanity.

Evangelism is not about converting someone to Christ,
bringing someone to Christ.
You and I cannot do that;
Do you remember our lesson from two weeks ago?
Jesus said to those gathered around him:
“no one can come to me
unless drawn by the Father who sent me.” (John 6:44)
It is God who does the converting
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
God is the one who plants the seed of faith in our hearts
that allows us to respond to the good news of the gospel,
the good news we share as evangelists.

Most of our evangelical work takes place outside this church,
outside these walls.
When Solomon built the Temple for the Lord God,
he understood that even the grandest structure
could not hold God,
that God was indeed everywhere:
“…even…the highest heaven cannot contain you,
much less this house that I have built…” (1 Kings 8:27)
God is everywhere we take him,
everywhere we share the good news,
share the good news in what we say,
share the good news in what we do.

Our young people were evangelists in their mission work.
They were evangelists even when they weren’t talking about God,
talking about Jesus,
singing hymns, or praying.
All they had to do to be evangelists was act selflessly,
reaching out to another person,
a friends, a stranger,
reach out with genuine compassion.

Read through the Old Testament and count the number of times
God says to his children,
“I don’t care about how grand you make my Temple,
or how elaborate your worship liturgy might be,
or how erudite are the words of your prayers.
What I care about is:
are you looking after the poor?
Are you looking after the children?
Are you feeding the hungry?
Are you working to house the homeless?
Are you visiting the lonely?
Are you comforting the sick?
Are you taking care of those who need help
in your own community,
and are you looking after those who are outside
not only the walls of your community,
but outside of your comfort zone?
Are you engaged, as one writer put it,
in inreach evangelism as well as outreach evangelism?
Inreach mission work,
as well as outreach mission work?

Dr. Herbert B. Anderson, who was the senior pastor
of the Brick Church in New York City
when I lived and worked there,
always began his benediction with the phrase,
“Now as our service begins…”
Our worship service was about to end,
but our service as disciples of Jesus Christ
was about to begin.
We were about to be called out,
not by the pastor through his benediction,
but by our Lord Jesus Christ
in the same way those confused and frightened disciples
in that locked room were called out
and sent out on that first Easter:
Sent out to evangelize –
to take God’s love in Jesus Christ
out into the world.

You and I are being called out now to service,
missional service
called out by Jesus,
to serve in his name.
Missional service in everything we say
everything we do,
at work, at home, in schools and stores.

Tomorrow we will all go back to our busy weekday schedules.
What can you do to serve in the name of Jesus Christ
in the midst of a busy day?
Here’s something simple:
Pick up the phone and invite a neighbor to church:
next Sunday we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper
and the Sunday after that we will begin a new program year,
so it’s a great time to invite a friend to church.
How about just checking in on an elderly neighbor?
Sometimes a telephone call is all it takes.
What about taking an hour at lunch and donating blood?
Find a new way to feed the hungry.
The UNICEF website is an excellent way to help;
World Relief and World Vision are other excellent sites,
as well as our own denomination.

With every act, you are evangelizing;
with every act you are doing mission work.
you are remembering that God is not to be found
within the walls of a building,
but out in the world;
God at work in the world,
the peripatetic Christ, walking the dusty roads
of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee
teaching, healing, preaching:
evangelizing.

With every act, you respond
to the call of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who sends us all out
every one of us,
sends us out to do inreach in our own families,
and outreach to all God’s children.

So go ahead, don’t be afraid:
look in the mirror later today and say,
“I am an evangelist”
You may never get completely comfortable with the term;
Afterall, we are Presbyterians:
God’s Frozen Chosen,
as we are sometimes called.
But saying it may help you to remember that Jesus calls you,
calls you and sends you, just as surely as he sent
each of the disciples some 2,000 years ago.

The Manassas Evangelical Presbyterian Church?
It may not say that on the sign,
but it is how we are called to live,
called by our Lord Jesus the Christ.

AMEN