Thoughts on George Hunter's New Book on Evangelism

George Hunter's new book, The Recovery of a Contagious Methodist Movement is worth the read!  This book is in line with several other books that encourage United Methodists and Christians in general to reclaim what it means to share the good news of Christ with others.  It's a short read that quickly addresses the issues facing the United Methodist Church today.

Here are some of the points from the book that stand out in my mind:

• To reclaim Wesley's methodology to reach people for Christ is to reclaim the ancient church's approach to evangelism which is a relational/small group/intentional outreach model.
• Non United Methodist churches that are growing and reaching people for Christ are typically more Wesleyan than the majority of United Methodist churches!  While embarrassing for United Methodists, it just goes to show how easy it is to forget our rich heritage.  Sadly, we think of our Methodist heritage as how we did church back in the 40's, 50's, and 60's rather than the original Wesleyan vision of organizing lay people to receive the good news of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness throughout the land. 
• The keys to reclaiming our heritage is to realize that we are to be a lay movement within the established church.  The problem is that what used to be a vital lay movement has now become the established church. 
• Empowering and equipping of lay ministry, intentional spiritual small groups, and a methodical plan to share God's love with all people are the key ingredients that are often missing in the church today.
• At the heart of our lack of vitality is the false belief that we just can't reach the people who are not already in our church.  This was never an issue with the early Methodist movement in the 18th century.  They had full confidence that God wanted and could reach the people that the Anglican Church was not reaching and those early Methodists experienced the fruits of their labor.
• Starting new classes and new congregations was the common thread when the Methodist movement was at it's height.  Coincidentally, this common thread is missing throughout our denomination today.

While books like these can be painful reading, they do give us hope to be the church that God has called us to be.  We have a wonderful heritage as United Methodists.  I probably wouldn't know of God's grace or have hope for my daily living if it wasn't for the Wesleyan small groups in my home church.  George Hunter's book reminds me that we need to refocus on lay ministry and vital small groups to guide us once again in spreading scriptural holiness throughout the land.

Thank you, George Hunter.