Editorial

Christians on the extreme religious right want to get you saved, but after that, they don’t care if you starve. Mennonites want to feed you, but they don’t care if you’re saved.

This was the conclusion a banker friend of mine shared when we met for a cup of coffee last month. Describing himself as a “religious mutt”—he grew up Catholic and is now Methodist—this friend was curious about the Mennonites in our community. He wanted to know whether he would be welcomed in a Mennonite congregation. He was surprised when I said any of our congregations would welcome him.

“But I don’t get that impression from the Mennonites I know,” he said.

This is not the first time I have heard people say that our congregations are not welcoming. We are often viewed as closed to those who don’t know the code behaviors in our culture.

There may be many reasons why we are not welcoming. Here are a few:

Self-loathing: We really don’t like ourselves, and that leaves our voice weak. More than 100 years ago, C. Henry Smith identified this as a problem.

“To be an effective force in disseminating our faith we must overcome our inherited tendencies toward self-deprecation and lack of self-confidence,” Smith said in a speech in 1906.
Gerald Mast, communication professor at Bluffton (Ohio) University, who sent me the information about C. Henry Smith, is more pointed.

“Mennonites don’t think that anyone like themselves is worth following,” Mast says. “It’s always someone ‘out there’ who has more credibility, whether it be Billy Graham or James Dobson or Joyce Meyer or Brian McLaren or whatever the latest outside authority is. Someone from Elkhart (Ind.) or Newton (Kan.) is not going to cut it.”

Reacting to cheap grace: Mixed with this self-loathing is an overreaction to a salvation that is afforded others too easily. We have a visceral reaction to any notion that once a person confesses Jesus as Savior they will be saved no matter what they do afterward. While our convictions about a life of discipleship are important, at times we are so determined not to ever get into the “cheap grace” ditch that we remain in the gully on the other side of the road: works righteousness.

This is where we have trouble explaining to unchurched people what is good and healthy about a life in Christ. The good news is not very attractive when we portray the Christian walk as a lifetime of doing the right things with the hope that doing so will transform us.

Too rich to care: We may also have trouble sharing the gospel because we are fat and happy in our North American context. Even though our retirement accounts took a hit during the stock market’s recent meltdown, we still have plenty to eat and money to spend on the things we want. Ours is not a faith that relies on God for each day’s sustenance—as may be the case for some of our neighbors. Since we may not really mean that part of the Lord’s Prayer that asks for daily bread, the good news of God’s provenance in everyday matters has little or no substance.

The good news: So what can we do to be a missional people and care about others’ salvation?

First, let Christ emanate from our words, actions and demeanor. In these unsettled times, we can remain calm and let God’s healing and hope flow through us without being self-conscious, proud or complacent.

Second, we can let go and let God work in the midst of relationships, conversations and decisions each day. God’s Spirit is already present in those places; it is our task to discern that presence. God’s Spirit will nudge us to speak or act at the appropriate time.

These spiritual disciplines, then, become the good news of God’s saving help. And it can include both feeding the hungry and caring whether that hungry person also comes to believe in God’s love and accept salvation.