Attitudes toward evangelism and renewal are changing in the Episcopal Church. As noted at last month’s triennial convention (see October 26 issue, page 55), a recent survey of church members found “an almost ‘un-Episcopal’ preoccupation with evangelism.” According to the summary report, “What We Learned From What You Said,” now members believe the church’s mission “begins with renewal and rebirth.” And they want the church’s program and budget to reflect these priorities without neglecting social involvement.
Symptomatic of this new mood is the growing charismatic renewal. Outreach, personal spiritual growth, prayer, Bible study, social consciousness, and a concern for unity mark the renewal. Gone is the divisiveness that marred the early years of its development, the kind that is still splitting churches and believers in other main-line denominations where Pentecostalism is an issue. A main reason for the unity, say bishops close to the renewal, is a pastoral ministry that eschews labels and reaches out to everybody.
Bishop William Folwell of Central Florida, 50, who hasn’t spoken in tongues but nevertheless is “happy to be identified with the renewal,” has pushed prayer and Bible-study groups in his diocese for the past four years. He also pushes the “healthy integrating of spirituality and social activism” among charismatics. (The bishop says he lost his faith during “a dark night of the soul” seven years ago, but the Spirit returned it to him, imparting a “conscious awareness of the living Christ.”)
Not everything that is happening spiritually among Episcopalians is associated with the charismatic movement, however. On the other hand, like Folwell, many Episcopalians who have not spoken in tongues still consider themselves part of the charismatic renewal.
Indeed, there is little stress even by the charismatics on speaking in tongues, a major factor no doubt in the unity that prevails among renewal-minded parishioners. For example, Bishop William G. Weinhauer of Western North Carolina, 49, says he knows about fifty priests in metropolitan New York who have experienced tongues but who speak of their experience only to other charismatics. After wrestling with the issue, said Weinhauer, they decided that glossolalia isn’t the movement’s sine qua non. Because the charismatics declare Christ’s sovereignty, Weinhauer says he supports them. Between 25 and 30 per cent of the laity and clergy in his own diocese are charismatics, says Weinhauer. But he thinks the percentage nationally may be only half that.
Bishop William Frey of Colorado, 43, agrees that participation is relatively small but insists that influence far exceeds numerical strength. He cites the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Houston, which is visited by people from all over the world. They come, Frey explains, because Redeemer’s members have a life-style that combines Pentecost with the Incarnation and powerful proclamation of the Gospel with a sensitive, active social awareness. (At the convention, Redeemer members handed out buttons with the slogan, “Discover the Missing Piece.”)
Personable, persuasive Frey has been active in the movement for more than two years and admits privately to speaking, praying, and singing in tongues. Presiding bishop-elect John M. Allin thinks Frey is a good example of the spiritual-social balance characteristic of many charismatics. (The social part got him in trouble two years ago when he was bishop of Guatemala. The government, suspecting he was linked to Communism, ordered him out of the country.) Frey says he has found “liberation” in the charismatic renewal: “It enabled me to die to things I knew I should but was unable to.”
Allin, whose mother is a Southern Baptist, sees the Holy Spirit leading into new forms of evangelism. The church hasn’t been listening to the laity, he complains, especially young people. “We’ve been serving them potato salad and hot dogs when they want to know the Lord and serve him,” he said in his acceptance speech. “We haven’t been contagious Christians. People come to our services and hear very little Gospel. We’ve had more interpreters than prophets.”
The presiding bishop-elect views the charismatic renewal as further evidence that people are hungry and thirsty for God. “But we must test the spirits. We cannot suggest that any manifestation is valid.” Allin also deplores the “accidental Christian who gets confirmed because mama wants him to.” “I have a desire to stand up and yell” at such confirmation-class members, he adds. And this blasé attitude toward following Jesus is something Allin wants to change.
Alexander Stewart, 49, bishop of Western Massachusetts, supports Faith Alive1The three-year-old Faith Alive lay witness movement (Box 21, York, Pa. 17405) is composed of Episcopal laymen. Volunteer teams have conducted evangelistic week-end programs in about 300 churches so far. weekends and small Bible-study groups to speed up the change in young people’s attitudes. For the last three summers, for example, his diocese once again has held the old-fashioned vacation school manned by committed Christian college students who conduct colorful two-week classes in each parish. And Stewart also encourages clergy and lay to attend renewal seminars. His diocese has developed an innovative evangelism kit now being used in several dioceses across the country.
Bishops aren’t the only ones doing something about renewal and evangelism. Minneapolis layman Bill Mudge and his wife Janet are promoting contagious Christianity in the church. They trace their conversion to an inter-denominational Bible-study group twelve years ago that in turn had its origins in an Episcopal women’s prayer group. Three years ago, with his bishop’s approval, Mudge helped to organize a week-long evangelistic training program conducted by Campus Crusade for Christ. About 200 Episcopalians were among the 1,200 who attended. Twenty Episcopal Bible-study groups formed as a result of the program, says Mudge, and they are still functioning. (Mudge has since sold his business and now spends all his time in evangelism. He serves on a special evangelism committee appointed by Bishop Philip F. McNairy and organizes training programs for laity and clergy.)
Frey sums up the attitude of those involved in the church’s spiritual renewal: “We have a mutual sense of submission to one another in love. We’re united. We move in a single direction. And we see Christ in one another.”
A Question Of Identity
National leadership of the Episcopal Church is changing at a time when there is declining membership and widespread grass-roots dissatisfaction with the church’s programs. In unofficial figures for 1972, membership in the denomination has dropped from 3.4 million in 1965 to 3 million, while the number of clergymen has risen (there are now more clergymen than parishes available). Church-school membership has dropped as well. And financial woes are reflected by the bare-bones budget, which passed at last month’s general convention with only one significant addition: $65,000 for COCU.
A clue to the restlessness is perhaps seen in a recent survey of the people in the pews. They listed as top church priorities education, evangelism, and renewal (see October 26 issue, page 55), hardly where the church is at in its official thinking. (Indeed, the denomination’s executive council said it simply did not agree with the priorities found by the survey, and in some of the more liberal dioceses the findings have apparently been kept from the membership at large.)
Along with confronting these problems, the new presiding bishop-elect, Mississippi’s renewal-minded John M. Allin, must also face a large group of disgruntled clergy and lay people who favor ordination of women to the priesthood, an innovation rejected at last month’s triennial convention of the church. In a closing session, Allin, who personally opposes such ordination, nevertheless declared that he will not let the issue “drift off into limbo.” He said he intends to appoint an ad hoc committee to define the theology of the priesthood and the theology of human sexuality, an idea similar to a proposal rejected by the House of Deputies. (The issue is bound to be a hot one during the coming triennium. Some sixty bishops signed a statement favoring ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. Conservatives can be expected to go on stiffly opposing it.)
On another controversial theological issue, bishops in the closing hours of the convention approved and the deputies concurred with a resolution to remove the necessity of the 400-year-old practice of confirmation. The new trial rite states that baptism alone is a “full initiation” into the church. Formerly the bishop-administered sacrament of confirmation was essential for membership in the denomination; without it a person was denied communion. While confirmation now becomes optional—a service of Christian commitment rather than the sacrament that imparts added grace or the fullness of the Spirit (as held by some Anglican traditionalists)—a directive from the bishops urges all “baptized members of the church … to reaffirm their baptismal promise in the presence of the Bishop.” Since any baptized believer, regardless of denomination, now may become a communicant upon approval by a local parish rector, a major technicality remains to be worked out: the church must decide just who is and who is not “officially” an Episcopalian.
CHERYL FORBES
Key 73: More In ′74?
Key 73, the year-long cooperative evangelistic endeavor involving 150 denominations and organizations, officially ends December 31. But members of the central committee (representatives of the participating groups) in a two-day wrap-up in St. Louis last month determined to keep the concept of cooperative, concentrated evangelism alive. A meeting was set for next March to explore possibilities for the future.
Part of the meeting was spent reviewing successes and failures of the past year. Lack of adequate financing had been a serious problem (see March 2 issue, page 53), but by eliminating many proposed national projects, including television specials, and mounting a summer fund-raising campaign, the group reduced the deficit from more than $200,000 to $8,500 by mid-October. (Thirty-five participating bodies haven’t financially supported Key 73 at all, and another thirty-five haven’t sent any funds this year.)
Members lamented an apparent failure to communicate Key 73’s hopes and concerns to the churches, and they cited the widespread absence of committees at state and provincial level. They also questioned the lack of support from traditionally evangelistic groups (most of whom stayed out of Key 73 for separatist reasons), and one leader even suggested such groups might be hypocritical in face of their stated commitment to evangelism.
On the brighter side, 40 million Scripture portions were distributed (Denver was among the cities saturated, and more than six tons of Scriptures were handed out at the 35,000-student University of Toronto). In Quebec, 22,000 French-Canadian Catholics gathered for two “love feasts” that featured preaching and Bible study—and an altar call. Success stories were reported from a number of other communities and from even the committee’s hotel dining room, where a waiter sought to be converted.
Key 73 has been a historic event, asserted guest speaker Harold Lindsell of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. Unlike other campaigns and revivals, it revolved around a strategy rather than around name personalities, he pointed out.
“The spirit of Key 73 must continue,” declared executive committee chairman Thomas Zimmerman of the Assemblies of God. “Key 73 was just the churches getting organized to begin the work.”
Others share his view that Key 73 may be the prelude to something bigger and better in the days ahead.
BARRIE DOYLE
Religion In Transit
The U. S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal seeking to restore the tax exemption of evangelist Billy Janies Hargis’s Christian Crusade organization. Hargis was backed by many church groups, including the National Council of Churches, who feel the tax ruling infringes on free speech and advocacy. The court did agree to hear an appeal by Bob Jones University on loss of its exemption over the issue of segregation.
There were 4,300 church fires last year with losses of more than $28 million, up from 3,400 fires the preceding year and losses of $23.3 million.
DEATHS
ALFRED T. Y. CHOW, 83, well-known Chinese theological educator and evangelical editor; in Hong Kong, after a long illness.
ALBERT EDWARD DAY, 89, popular United Methodist author, clergyman, and evangelist who founded the denomination’s New Life Movement that flourished in the forties; in Front Royal, Virginia.
The Zondervan publishing house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has gone public with an initial offering of 363, 883 shares of common stock.
Three tons of books, artifacts, and gadgets seized in 1963 by the Food and Drug Administration were returned last month to the Church of Scientology in Washington.
According to the latest Canadian census report, Roman Catholics claim 9.9 million souls, 46.2 per cent of the nation’s population, up less than 1 per cent over ten years ago. The main-line Protestant denominations all showed declines. The United Church of Canada slipped from 20.1 per cent in 1961 to 17.5 per cent; the Anglicans dipped from 13.2 per cent to 11.8 per cent. The fourth largest group, nearly one million, is those stating they have no religion.
Personalia
The noose around the neck of Concordia Seminary’s embattled president John H. Tietjen was loosened last month at a meeting of the seminary’s governing board. On the advice of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s constitutional-matters committee the board vacated an earlier action suspending Tietjen. The committee decreed that procedures governing the dismissal of a faculty member must also apply to the president.
Missionary Albert T. Platt, 46, director of Central American Mission’s seminary in Guatemala will succeed the retiring William H. Taylor as CAM’s general secretary.
Southern Presbyterian lay leader William B. Walton, Sr., president of the Holiday Inn motel chain, was elected to the American Bible Society’s board of managers.
Venerable preacher John SutherlandBonnell, who served at New York City’s Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church for twenty-seven years, has accepted—at age 80—an interim pastorate at a Presbyterian church in nearby New Rochelle.
Moderator-designate of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland: minister David Steel, 63, of St. Michael’s in Linlithgow.
Director Bill Gwinn of California’s Mt. Hermon Bible conference center was elected to a two-year term as president of Christian Camping International. Nearly 1,000 camp leaders attended CCI’s convention last month in New Mexico.
Donald C. Brandenburgh is the new executive director of the National Sunday School Association.
The U. S. Air Force has its first woman chaplain: Rhode Island American Baptist minister Lorraine Kay Potter, a graduate of New York’s Keuka College and Colgate Rochester Divinity School.
In his novel August 1914, Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitzyn had to write the name of God in small print to get it by the censors. “Atheistic narrow-mindedness,” scolded Solzhenitzyn. “If we write the names of regional officers and communist secret police in capitals, why shouldn’t we use capitals for the highest creative power of the universe?”
World Scene
About 40,000 South Koreans and 2,000 believers from thirty-six other countries attended the tenth Pentecostal World Conference in Seoul, the first time it has been held in the Orient.
Catholic Pentecostals have taken comfort in a report that Pope Paul placed his blessing on the movement in a meeting last month with eleven of the 126 charismatic leaders who attended a conference outside Rome. The pope said the movement was marked by “the desire to give oneself completely to Christ; a great openness to the calls of the Holy Spirit; [and] a more diligent use of Scripture.”
World Health Organization researcher Anthony R. May says that every day 1,000 people commit suicide and ten times that number attempt it. Hungary and Czechoslovakia have the highest rates, Chile and Venezuela the lowest.
Some 600 French Protestants, including 50 pastors, signed a statement calling for a re-Orientation of the Reformed Church of France away from excessive emphasis on political and social issues and to greater attention to the Bible and spiritual matters.
Global Lutheran membership stands at 73.3 million, down slightly from last year.
China watching: a Hong Kong clergyman says Tanzanian Christians studying in China have pressured authorities into arranging church services for them.
New pressure is apparently being applied against churches in the White Russian Soviet Socialist Republic. Reports say local governments have ordered the removal of religious symbols from church buildings and are imposing a “consolidation of parishes” over a large geographic area, resulting in the closing down of some churches and loss of attendance in others.
The English-language church of the Assemblies of God in Belgium now has official recognition by the government. The church was organized in Brussels ten years ago by Charles Greenaway, a former missionary to Zaire. Four years ago the denomination founded the Continental Bible College, which now has sixty students from twenty-four countries.
