Multicultural Revitalization in the Mainline Church
04/22/15 
김에스더
프린스턴 신학교 목회학 석사
예일대학교 신학부 신학 석사
드루대학교 신학부 목회학 박사
미국장로교 (PCUSA) Palisades 노회 소속목사
개신교수도원수도회 제2대 수도원장
Evangelism in the Postmodern Context: Multicultural Revitalization in the Mainline Church
This is the part of the lecture by Rev. Esther Kim in the Evangelism seminar sponsored by the School of Christian Vocation and Mission of the Princeton Theological Seminary on Oct. 15, 2011.
For the past 35 years, I have been married to a pastor of a Korean Presbyterian church affiliated with KPCA. That marriage also wedded me to the culture and climate of KPCA. In regards to female leadership, KPCA prohibited women’s ordination. I, and by I, I mean my husband and my family took a very dangerous risk in seeking ordination from another denomination PCUSA. I was able to obtain an internship at the Presbyterian Church of Franklin Lakes, PCFL, and by the grace of God, was ordained as an associate pastor. PCFL was quite different and exposed me to liberalism, whereas my home church and the culture I grew up in were conservative. On Sundays, I was able to attend PCFL in the morning and my Korean church, KPCNJ, in the afternoon. I felt that I went back and forth between two different worlds every Sunday. For example, while KPCNJ’s favorite word is evangelism. It confused me how two churches could be so different. And that was part of what led me to continue my studies and earn my doctorate.
The presentation of this case study is from the results of my thesis entitled “Evangelism in the Postmodern Context: Multicultural Revitalization in the Presbyterian Church at Franklin Lakes” in addition to my struggles during my eight years of ministry at PCFL. From January through December 2006, this project was implemented and evaluated. PCFL was primarily composed of Caucasians and a small number of Koreans and the membership in 2006 were 104. This project focused on finding out what kind of evangelistic activities postmodernists at PCFL were willing to engage in and how PCFL could be revitalized in the postmodern multicultural setting, and ultimately to inspire and transform other liberal mainline churches that may be struggling with similar situations.
A. RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND POSTMODERNISM, AND EVANGELISM
Quoting Charles Jencks’ work on post-modernism, Stanley Grenz , a leading evangelical theologian , argues that pluralism is the central hallmark of postmodernism cultural expression along with the loss of centeredness.[1] Post-Modernism is fundamentally the eclectic mixture of any tradition with that of the immediate past: it is both the continuation of Modernism and its transcendence. Its best works are characteristically doubly-coded and ironic, making a feature of the wide choice, conflict and discontinuity of traditions, because the heterogeneity most clearly captures our pluralism. [2]
Religious pluralism is not new in the postmodern world. Historically it stems from Protestant liberalism in the West. As historical relativism forced liberal Protestantism into relativization of absolute truth claims of religions, post-modernism’s’ incredulity toward metanarratives’[3] denies Christianity’s universal truth claim of the “Jesus-Story.”
In the intellectual context, some postmodernists deny the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as a salvation agent. Concerning the question of “Is Jesus Chris the Savior of all?” Paul Knitter presents essays advocating a pluralist theology in his book The Myth of Christian Uniqueness. In this book, three kinds of Christological theories are grouped. The exclusive view supported by Alan Race affirms God’s special revelation in Jesus Christ as the norm; more specifically, Jesus Christ is the only saving agent [4] The inclusive view is represented by Karl Rahner who declares that “Christ is the final cause of God’s universal salvific will. From a theological perspective, those of other faiths could be affirmed not as pagans but as ‘anonymous Christians’.”[5] The third position is a pluralistic view represented by John Hick who notes that a part of many postmodern Christians’ spirituality is “a paradigm shift from a Christianity-centered or Jesus-centered to a God-centered model of the universe of faiths.” To him, Christians should be allowed to stick to Christ as their only Savior, not believing that Christ is necessarily unique or normative for others.[6] The second and third positions are that God reveals truth in every religion thereby denying the tradition doctrine “no one except Jesus Christ” and “no salvation outside the church.”
To some at PCFL, Jesus is only an exemplary human being, not both fully divine and fully human as Jesus is held to be in traditional Presbyterian theology. Nancy, a long time influential PCFL church leader, exemplifies this typical faith of viewing Jesus as an exemplary person. She emphasizes the fact that Jesus treated every person as a child of God and did not judge them based on their class, race, or gender in the community. She says that she tries to emulate Jesus’ actions and remember his teachings. Jesus is an inspiration and motivator to her in her life.[7] I found many PCFL members who believe that Jesus is only a teacher for them, neither Christ, nor the Second Person of God. Their understanding of Jesus Christ represents the low Christology which denies the full divinity of Jesus Christ, and is clearly affected by postmodernism.[8] Furthermore, one elder at PCFL strongly challenges the denomination’s declaration of “Jesus is the Lord.[9]” PCFL lends its facilities to a yoga group and a Zen meditation group. All these stem from a pluralistic hypothesis that all religion teaches the same thing at heart and leads to the same direction ultimately. They believe that there are many ways to go to God. Jesus is only one of the many ways to God. This is one characteristic of some postmodern thinkers.
Many members of PCFL do not seem to believe in an objective truth but only in relative truth.
According to Graham Johnson, rejecting objective truth is another characteristic of Postmodernity.[10] Graham says that “Reality isn’t about what’s there but what each individual perception to formulate his or her own ‘truth’.”[11] As he says, at PCFL each individual’s perception is considered to have some value and cannot claim that his/hers are absolute truth. When I started to work for PCFL in 2000, what I learned first was to say ‘according to my opinion’. I was criticized by an elder that I preached as if my opinion were the absolute truth. When someone presents something as a truth because it is working for himself or herself, he or she believes that while it may be truth for that person, it does not mean that it will be for him or her. When I spoke about the Korean church’s faith on tithing and testified about the blessing followed by it, the response of an elder was that while it may work for the Korean church, it would not work for the American Church. On important issues, PCFL presented diverse views and the lecturer allows people to choose whatever touches their heart (another sign of the impact of postmodernism).
In the wake of religious pluralism and postmodern paradigm of mission, some liberal Christians do not think that evangelism is necessary, nor do they believe it is the mission of the church. Rather they regard a dialogue as an alternative to evangelism.[12] In the survey on evangelism in 2006, Susan said that she had never been taught to evangelize to someone by the church. To the postmodernists at PCFL, mission means to encourage one so that everyone may be more faithful to his or her own religion.
When the Lay Advisory Committee surveyed the congregation on evangelism, Amy, an influential member, only filled out the first page and wrote the following on a separate piece of paper. “I’ve tried to respond to the evangelism questionnaire but found myself feeling like I wasn’t in the same ballpark on the issues addressed in the document. First, I think of PCFL as a diverse, not multicultural, community. Yes, I think reaching out to people of different culture and ethnicities is great, and I also want to reach out to people of different spiritual bents, who feel themselves spiritually in diverse ways, e.g. yoga and Zen meditation. The questionnaire seems to miss the target for me since it assumes so much. I chose not to finish answering because I felt increasingly frustrated.”
Discussion: How does religious pluralism affect you and your church regarding evangelism? Do you believe that evangelism is necessary? If so, why?
The Korean group of PCFL had a different set of faith and ideas. They believe that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NIV) To them the church is the Body of Christ and the saving vessel of God, not one of the human institutions. Therefore, the church is extremely important to them. When they experience salvation, there is calling towards evangelism as well. Many Korean Christians see evangelism as bringing the unchurched to church to help them to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. This is because Korean Christians believe that those invited to church may be led to God through the church according to their experiences. People can be brought to Jesus directly without the medium of church. However, people usually can be brought to Jesus Christ through church and their faith can be sustained inside the church.
To explain why evangelism is valued by Korean Christians, I want to share the testimony of Myeong Kim. Myeong Kim, one of PCFL members, testified to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit when she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and Lord. Myeong’s younger sister accepted Christ 10 years earlier than Myeong did and had constantly encouraged her to go to church, but Myeong stubbornly refused. At that time, she was affluent and successful; however, as time passed, she realized that something was missing in her life and that she felt emptiness and insecurity. So she decided to attend church.
When she heard the sermons and read the Bible, she felt as if a veil had been lifted from her blind eyes and as if she had gained a completely new vision and sight. When she opened her spiritual eyes, and came to know that Jesus Christ was her personal Savior and Lord, unspeakable joy broke out from her soul. Emptiness, discontent, and anxiety were replaced with jubilation, satisfaction, and happiness filling her soul. No matter what circumstance she was in, nothing could take her joy and peace from her soul and face. She confessed as R.F. Miller wrote,
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I’d rather be led by His nail pierced hand than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin’s dread sway. I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.[13]
Her value system turned upside down. Instead of finding happiness in her children’s academic success which is what most Korean mothers’ wish for their children, she prayed that her children would grow in faith. Her mission now is to invite people to God through church to let them also know God’s love which she experienced. Someday she wants to go to seminary and be an evangelist.[14]
Myeong’s transforming experience is the typical conversion experience of Korean Christians. The conviction of Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and Lord comes from personal salvific transformation experience through the power of the Holy Spirit. As the author of II Corinthians declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Corinthians 5:17 NIV). Transformation into a new being is the basis of commitment to God through being part of a church. Like Myeong’s liberation experience from meaninglessness, Korean Christians experience liberation from many kinds of oppression. Another Korean member, Chung Lim testifies about her liberation experience from poverty, and Yoon Jo tells of liberation from anxiety. I had the liberation experience from skepticism about life which I struggled with for years before becoming a Christian. Some Korean Christians confess liberation from wounds, sicknesses, addictions and many kinds of human predicament. There is a reason why Koreans believe in Jesus Chris as The Way, Truth and Life. The personal transformation experience usually comes through worship, Bible study and other church activities. Paul the apostle confessed, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Romans 1:16, NIV).” Committed Korean Christians have unyielding conviction on the Gospel of Christ and also have the sense of calling to a witness of Christ’s power and love.
World religions like Buddhism and Confucianism in Korea have been the traditional religions in Korea. However, Korean Christians do not find salvation in those religions but experience the power and love of God in Jesus Christ. Countless people are converted into Christianity and experience eternal life. Evangelism is absolutely necessary because Jesus still saves the world even in this postmodern age. Evangelism is necessary because the Gospel of Christ still is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.
B. WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH? SOCIAL JUSTICE OR EVANGELISM?
PCFL has been focused on social justice. They do this very well. Jack, the senior pastor, and I have discussed what the mission of our church has been for many years. The ministry has been a message of social justice based on Matthew 25 and it is the priority to him. My husband, Sam, and I have focused our ministry on Matthew 28 which focuses on the proclamation of the gospel. The first mission to us is evangelism. I have worked with my husband, a senior pastor of the Korean Presbyterian Church of New Jersey, for twenty seven years. The Korean Presbyterian Church of New Jersey grew from 31 members in 1980 to more than 1,200 members in 2007. It has been well known as a peaceful, strong and united church in the Korean-American community.
The following was my devotion speech for the session meeting of PCFL in October, 2005.
Nowadays, Jack and I agree that unless PCFL accepts outreach (evangelism) as its mission, PCFL will not grow in spirit and in number. Evangelism is to share God’s love and grace and invite people to church to nurture their growth in faith, love and hope. There are so many churches whose ministry is focused on social services and so many others whose ministry on evangelism. So we can’t say which one is more theologically sound. But one thing we know for sure is that PCFL will decline and our Presbytery may close someday as one of its executives has already predicted unless we accept evangelism as our mission and practice it. The purpose of evangelism is not church growth or financial growth but it is an indirect result of bringing others to Christ. I believe that inviting the unchurched to God is to save their lives because in Jesus Christ, people can find Life. The church is far beyond one of human organizations for it is a vehicle of saving vessels. PCFL adapted the theology of evangelism a long time ago but it has not been practiced. So I urge you to accept it into your heart and let us practice it. As you see the book of order says that too. In G-3.0300 a, the Book of Order says that “The Church is called to tell the good news of salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord.
If we accept evangelism as the church mission, something should be changed. First, we should try our best to invite the unchurched to our church, especially worship service. Second, the Membership and Outreach (M&O) budget is too small. I propose to raise the budget of M&O. Considering our overall budget, I propose to use some of the mission fund for the evangelism project.[15]
There was strong resistance from a session member especially about the language I used such as the “unchurched” and the “saving vessel.” My proposal was referred to the Membership and Outreach Committee and Mission Committee for further discussion. After this, the proposal was again discussed at the next session meeting. The M&O discussed it favorably and decided to set evangelism as the mission of M&O and proposed to the session to reaffirm “A Theology for Evangelism and the Commitment to Evangelism.” One old member recollected that the original committee name had been the Evangelism Committee but it was changed to the M&O because of its bad connotation.
The purpose of evangelism is not for church growth but it is closely related with it. When church members do not carry out evangelism, it can limit the church’s growth potential. Our membership is increasing but it is not as fast as we expected. The church feels the financial strain towards the end of every year to make ends meet.
During our session meeting in October of 2005, I asked for evangelism to be the mission of PCFL at least on equal footing with our budget of social justice. And I asked the session to raise the “membership and outreach” budget. My recommendations were referred to the Membership and Outreach Committee and Mission Committee for further discussion.
There I encountered much more resistance than I would have imagined.
Afterwards, Brad Smith, one of the M&O members emailed the pastors and members a letter of resignation though he withdrew the letter after much fuss later. He was furious that evangelism was accepted by the committee as its priority and presented to the Session as the mission of PCFL. He sent many emails to express his anger to evangelism as the M&O committee’s goal. He said that he could not help promote something that he considered wrong, ill-conceived, and doomed to failure in clear conscience. His email was sent to the entire congregation as well as to every session member. He tried to form an opposition group but did not gain enough backing. He asked to have his name removed from the active membership role because he felt conscientiously opposed to the focus on evangelism as what he heard as “the mission” of the church. And the session approved his request in the session meeting on March 15, 2007.
While Brad was an extreme case, there was some strong resistance. Some did not even want to mention the word evangelism. They treated it as a dirty word, referring to it as the “E” word. However, some really want to learn how to evangelize, especially when church lacks human and financial resources.
I would like to introduce the evangelism narrative of a Korean Presbyterian church member to show how Korean church evangelize.
Elder Steven Kim has been a member of the Korean Presbyterian Church (KPCNJ) for twenty years. He tried his best to live life as a person with mission. That mission means evangelism to him. I interviewed him in May 2006 about his ministry and he gave the following account. In 2004, he brought seventeen people (four families) to KPCNJ and thirteen people (three families) among them remain in KPCNJ. In 2005, Elder Kim invited nineteen people (five families) to KPCNJ and among them sixteen people (four families) still remain in KPCNJ. The story below will give more explanation on how evangelized to people.
Elder Kim has run a grocery store for 20 years in Hoboken, NJ. Mr. Choi, a flower salesman visited his store to sell his flowers two years ago. Elder Kim has been very kind to Mr. Choi whenever Mr. Choi visited Elder Kim’s store. Elder Kim always asked Mr. Choi how his family was doing and how his business was doing. He showed his personal interest and kindness to him. Merchants are constantly bargaining with vendors to maximize profits and haggling is often a prerequisite. However, Elder Kim was different. His interest was more focused on human relationship than profits. He would buy things at the asked-for price if reasonable, and not bargain down prices. Having had a feeling that he was different from the others, Mr. Choi came to respect him. They opened up to each other and became close. Around this time, Elder Kim asked him if he attended church. When he said that he did not, Elder Kim began to talk about his church and his pastor. He started sharing his own stories, telling how he began to attend church. He was moved by the pastor’s loving character and his own faith began to grow. As Elder Kim shared his testimony and witness over several months, Mr. Choi decided to attend the church. The day when he and his family visited the church for the first time, Elder Kim invited them to his house for lunch. In this private environment, they shared deeper conversations concerning business and living in a foreign land. Elder Kim shared how gracious God has been to him in his lonely immigrant life. He talked of the happiness, joy and contentment of those who trust in God’s loving care. Their relationship began moving from business to personal. Since then, Mr. Choi and his family have found a home at the church and attend regularly. Mr. Choi has experienced a new life in Jesus Christ and has become a man of God and looks for others to share God with.
Like Elder Kim, the members of KPCNJ believe that evangelism is their primary mission. They believe in Acts 1:8 (“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” NIV) or Matthew 28:19, 20 (“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” NIV) as the Great Commission. That is why they are willing to spend time, money and talent for this greatest commandment. Evangelism does not always agree with financial growth in KPCNJ. The KPCNJ at Palisades Park site (KPCNJ has another church building at Oakland, NJ) has been involved with a Hispanic ministry for more than 10 years. Two years ago, KPCNJ hired a part time Spanish speaking pastor who is salaried at $14,400 per year but the offering from the Spanish service is only around $1,100 per year. Reaching the Hispanic population in the area is the vision even if it is at a financial loss.
Key point is that if you do not change yourself, the results will be always the same. If you want your church be renewed, you should be willing to change yourself regarding the concept of evangelism and commitment to evangelism.
[1] Stanley J. Grenz, A Primer On Postmodernism (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), p.20
[2] Charles Jencks, What is Post-Modernism? (New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1989), p.7
[3] Cf. Stanley Grenz, “The Universality of the Jesus-Story” and the “Incredulity toward Metanarratives,” in No Other Gods Before Me?: Evangelicals and the challenge of World Religions, Edited by John G. Stackhouse, Jr. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), pp. 85-111.
[4] Edited by Howard A. Snyder, Global Good News, MISSION IN A NEW CONTEXT (Nashville:Abingdon Press, 2001), pp.43-44.
[5] Edited by Howard A Snyder, Global Good News, MISSION IN A NEW CONTEXT (Nashville:Abingdon Press, 2001), p.44.
[6] Ibid., p.47
[7] Nov. 15, 2004, I interviewed her concerning what kind of image she had regarding Jesus Christ for The American Jesus course project
[8] Edited by Howard A. Snyder, Global Good News, MISSION IN A NEW CONTEXT (Nashville:Abingdon Press 2001), pp52-54.
[9] In her sermon titled “Big Mouth” on Jan. 14, 2007 at PCFL, she challenged to the confession that “Jesus is our Lord.”
[10] Graham Johnson, Preaching to a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2001), pp.29-31.
[11] Ibid., p.30
[12] Cf. David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991)
[13] The poem written by R.F. Miller entitled “I’d Rather Have Jesus.”
[14] Myeong Lee shared her story in the Bible class on Jan. 9, 2007.
[15] this is my devotion speech for the session meeting of PCFL in October, 2005.