WB Social Distancing
So one thing that fascinates me about John Wesley is his move to field preaching. The man embodied propriety and composure. He prided himself in decorum. And yet, he left the proper traditions of preaching from a pulpit to proclaim the good news in the fields and workplaces of the unchurched and uneducated masses. Quoting King David who was reproached for dancing before the ark of the covenant, Wesley proudly submitted to “be more vile” (2 Sam. 6:22). In other words, to break decorum in order to follow God’s lead.
What Would That Look Like Today?
Wesley did not have the bombastic flair of George Whitefield. And yet when he practiced field preaching, amidst the noise of the crowd and the hecklers, men and women felt as if God spoke directly to their hearts. To read his sermons today, you may wonder what was so inspirational about a sermon with no stories, no jokes, no clever turns of phrase. What’s so special about an Oxford academic choosing to leave the prestige of college and church walls and speak to people who would never belong in either place? What would field preaching even look like today? When you read today’s comic, what do you imagine John Wesley is preaching to that grocery shopping line?
Here’s where we get into my pure opinion and speculation. We live in a pluralist world where the assumption is that religion is a private matter. It’s considered disrespectful to impose one’s beliefs on others. Isn’t it disrespectful of difference to assume that your religion is more right than someone else’s. Don’t many of us have a visceral rejection of street preachers as ignorant and out of touch? What message could possibly cut through to the heart of a stranger in the masses enough for her to think, God is speaking to me through that street preacher?
I’m not convinced that I could stand, uninvited in any public space and proclaim the gospel with great success. But I am convinced that when the church takes the gospel beyond its walls, the Good News lives up to its name. When the church goes outside and says with simple sincerity: “You don’t have to be like me to be loved by God,” hearts and minds change. Field preaching today looks more like meeting people where they are instead of expecting them to show up and understand our way of doing things.
Most importantly, field preaching happens outside of the church service.
It happens in bars and in houses, anywhere someone invites others to consider that Jesus Christ may be for them exactly where they are. Field preaching happens in youth group meetings and home repair camps as students learn that they are made in God’s image to share love and forgiveness wherever they go. It happens in coffee shops where friends discuss politics and spirituality and challenge certainty of opinion with hope in a crucified, risen Messiah.
Field preaching empowers people with no seminary training to see themselves as capable of sharing the Good News. It must be a movement not only outside of church walls, but outside of the elitism of ordination. While some ordained ministers may be especially skilled and called to evangelism, most of them are capable of training and equipping the laity to live as little Christs out there in the big world. Field preaching empowers the everyday church person to be prepared at any time to say, “Why yes, I am still a Christian, and here’s why…”
I don’t think many of us are called to lead the next Billy Graham crusade, but all of us have a story to tell. All of us come across people at least once a week who could benefit from a reminder that they are dearly loved children of God. Our job isn’t to convince or convert anyone, just to be faithful witnesses to the love we have ourselves received.
New Charlie Baber
The Rev. Charlie Baber, author of Wesley Bros cartoon.
When not drawing the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves as youth minister at University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.