Revisiting The Best Book I've Every Read

Stone, Bryan. Evangelism After Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2007). 318 pages.

In a world where results are everything, where the all-important question is, “What have you done for me lately”? and where success is measured by statistical data (not to mention future employment opportunities), Stone, in this landmark work, prophetically reminds the church that it is faithfulness and obedience that measure Christian success, not numbers. He reminds us that even Christ, who is himself the Good News to which we as His church bear witness, left the world with but a handful of faithful followers. Stone carefully explores the place of evangelism with "The Politics of Jesus" (He is very much shaped by the works of John Howard Yoder), and calls us to think deeply and reflect carefully on what it means to “bear faithful witness” in a broken, conflicted and violent world.

“I consider it folly to continue down one of the two now standard paths evangelism has taken within modernity. The first is preoccupied with establishing the intellectual respectability of the gospel in terms of purportedly wider or more universal criteria for what counts as truth and plausibility. The second busies itself with demonstrating the practical value and usefulness of Christian faith for persons in a society that determines value by the logic of the marketplace and measures usefulness by service to the nation, the economy, or the private well-being of individual egos. On the contrary, it is from the margins – epistemologically, culturally, politically, economically, and spiritually – that a fragmented, post-Christendom culture will have to be evangelized” (11).

“Evangelism from the margins, then, requires no prior foundations in either human experience or reason that would somehow shore up the relevance, truth, power, or beauty of its gospel. It does, however, require a people that has been made into the temple of God in which the Spirit dwells, built upon the church’s only secure foundation, Jesus Christ” (12).

“Evangelism will have to be understood, not as an adventure in “winning friends and influencing people’ but as a fundamentally subversive activity, born out of a posture of eccentricity … and out of the cultivation of such deviant practices as sharing bread with the poor, loving enemies, refusing violence, forgiving sins, and telling the truth” (13).

In order to build his case, Stone first defines evangelism as one of a handful of “core church practices.” He follows Reinhold Hutter in understanding a practice to be a thing that is “constitutive of this praxis – for example, proclamation of the gospel, commemoration of the law, celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and baptism” (25).” Therefore, as a practice, evangelism is something that the church does because it is the church, but also it is something that defines the church as the church.

Further explanation of evangelism as “a practice” follows from Alasdair MacIntyre’s work, highlighting four characteristics of a practice. First, “[T]he goods that are realized in carrying out a practice are ‘internal’ to that practice” (30)… or, “a means internal to a given end when the end cannot be adequately characterized independently of a characterization of the means” (31). Second, “Just as the goods realized in a practice are internal to that practice, so it is with the standards of excellence by which we judge a practice. In other words, the criteria for doing well in a practice are determined largely by the practice itself and, indeed, are ‘partially definitive’ of a practice” (34). Third, a practice is, “a ‘socially established’ and ‘cooperative’ human activity” (35). Lastly, a practice “may be ‘systematically extended’” (36).

Stone shores up this foundation by examining the narratives available to the world. He begins by articulating the narrative of Christianity, retracing the story of the people of God and its central defining characteristic of shalom (peace) from its calling forth as God’s people, to the life and teaching of Christ, all the way through the Apostolic witness in the beginning of the church. He then sketches the rival narratives that would have one align one’s life according to their values (Constantinianism and Modernity).

Building on this foundation, Stone then moves to a second important contribution. He redefines salvation from a private, spiritual ascent of the will, to a corporate, wholistic, realignment of allegiance. Conversion, therefore, “is not primarily a matter of deciding in favor of certain beliefs or having certain experiences. It is rather a change of worlds, participation in a new worship, and a journeying toward a news city. The practice of evangelism always hopes for such a conversion and seeks to actively nourish it. But where the evangelist is tempted to become impatient with the inefficiency of obedience and worship when more ‘efficient’ means are readily available such as manipulation, accommodation, and imposition, we are reminded that evangelism is ultimately an activity of the Holy Spirit and is not subject to our own calculus of effectiveness and ‘return on investment.’ Evangelism, then … is not primarily a matter of translating our beliefs about the world into categories that others will find acceptable. It is a matter of being present in the world in a distinctive way such that the alluring and ‘useless’ beauty of holiness can be touched, tasted and tried” (21).

As such, ecclesiology is front and center in Stone’s theology. The church is the community, through its worship, economics, hospitality, and pacifisity that bears witness to the “peacable reign of God.” It is by joining the community and thereby uniting oneself with the people of God to be shaped and formed into the holy people of God that conversion takes place.

Evangelism, therefore, is not the programs and ministries a church does, but is rather the values and virtues embraced and embodied by the church. These Stone lists as four. Authentic Christian witness must be present, patient, courageous and humble. He explains and illustrates these cardinal virtues in the story of the El Salvadoran civil war c. 1980, and more particularly the martyrs, such as Archbishop Oscar Romero, it produced. For, “Martyrs rather than the pastors of megachurches might now become our evangelistic exemplars, and the ‘excellence’ of evangelistic practice’ will be measurable not by numbers but rather by obedience to a crucified God” (18).”

Stone concludes, “The practice of evangelism is a complex and multilayered process – a context of multiple activities that invite, herald, welcome, and provoke and that has at its end the peaceable reign of God and the social holiness by which persons are oriented toward that reign. As the end of evangelistic practice, the reign of God is not external to evangelistic practice, but internal to it in the form of the politics by which that practice is carried out, a politics that is formed by a distinctive story and sustained by distinctive virtues… To practice evangelism faithfully and with excellence, then, is to practice it from within this politics, to play by the rules of this politics… ‘One who flouts them is to be thought of not as naughty or nasty, but simply as disengaged from the practice in question’” (316).

Stone throws down the gauntlet. Much of what passes for evangelism in today’s market driven church, simply and quite frankly, is not. If we are to understand who we are as the people of God – if we are to understand our work of evangelism – it must begin with the careful reading of and thoughtful reflection on this monumental work. We must be willing to engage in the conversation Stone has thankfully started. We must be willing to rethink who we are and what we do. We must be willing to fully align ourselves with God's peaceable reign.

I cannot recommend this book enough. All that said, I do offer some words of caution. This is a theological masterpiece. It is no easy read. Before deciding to tackle the book, I would highly recommend reading the introduction and the conclusion. There you will get the boiled down skeleton of Stone’s argument. If you have difficulty with those portions, understand the rest is much more difficult. If, however, you were enthralled and unintimidated by the first and last, I invite you to open the door to one of the most important conversations you will ever have.

God bless, and good reading.