How can we best share the good news of Jesus Christ with people so as best to include them in the congregations which we serve as ministers and members?

Consider these six ways:

(1) Evangelism is incorporation into the community where the word of God is preached and heard and where the sacraments are offered and received. The simplest definition of the church is the community that hears the word of God in faith and obeys in love, for the sacraments are the gospel acted out. There are many different kinds of communities, but the church differs from other communities in that its members share in a common life that is rooted in the word of God. The church is not an aggregation of believers but a communion that shares in common hopes, commitments, and lifestyles, common loves, and common actions.

The common life that is the church is no simple achievement. It cannot be programmed, summoned, or coerced. It is not always evident to human experience. In part, the Christian life is believing that the church exists, as the Apostles' Creed declares, when the reality is not so apparent. Yet the reality does exist, and to this common life, evangelism calls a person on the horizontal level. The dilemma of the evangelists is that they cannot guarantee the church, for the church, like salvation itself, is always the gracious gift of God. As Calvin put it, the church is the elect. The church is the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of Christian people, but it first of all is the work of God's free and sovereign Spirit.

Thank you for your faith and faithfulness and for your interest in, and commitment to, the life and well-being of the church. I look forward to our continuing to work together.

Grace and Peace,

Dr. James C. Goodloe IV,
Executive Director