Order of Elders Gathering To Welcome Abraham

The Order of Elders will welcome Professor William J Abraham, of The Perkins School Of Theology at the upcoming gathering @ Nashville UMC on Tuesday, September 14 (10am – 3pm) In regards to evangelism, Abraham notes:
“Evangelism is a ministry of the church; renewal is the healing of the church. Evangelism is constituted by practices of proclamation and catechesis aimed at grounding new believers in the kingdom of God in the church. Renewal is facing head on the diseases of the church and seeking to find ways to let God cure the church and bring her to all that God intended her to be. The two need to go hand in hand today. When evangelism is done in the robust way I envisage then we find the church is often too sick or weak to do the kind of evangelism we need. In these circumstances we do what we can in evangelistic practice, seeking patiently to improve on what we currently do. But we also allow a robust vision of evangelism to drive us to renewal and the healing of the church. Thus evangelism over time fosters and depends on the renewal of the church from top to bottom.”