Go Tell it On The Mountain...Maybe

Go, tell it on the mountain,
 over the hills and everywhere.
 Go, tell it on the mountain
 that Jesus Christ is born.

What a great gospel carol, one we'll sing with gusto next Sunday morning. What does that mean though in our everyday lives? Most mainline/old line church members, including United Church folk, are incredibly reluctant to talk about their Christian faith in anything other than the most cryptic terms. We are churchgoers, or maybe Christians, but that's about as far as we get with speaking about Jesus, even in our own households. The notion that Christ makes a difference in our lives, and to come out and say he might to someone else, has sadly become foreign to us. So we sing about it once a year, but we will keep it to a whisper the rest of the time.

Martha Grace Reese says that most mainliners would rather have gall bladder surgery than think about evangelism, sharing the Good News of Christ.

Recently, through Twitter, I was reminded by colleagues of the Unbinding the Gospel Project which is headed up by Martha Grace Reese. It is a six-week training program to get good, God-loving, Christ-following people to speak their faith out loud and pray that others will find their way into a life-changing community where that faith is nurtured.

Um, isn't this what we want? So many United Church congregations are teetering toward extinction, so why can't we be passionate about our story? At this time of year many Christians grouse about societal changes which have moved Christian symbolism and language out of the public square, but how often do we let others know that our lives would be incomplete without Christ?

I am going to attempt a group based on Unbinding the Gospel during Lent. It's now or never folks. Or maybe you don't agree.

Are you comfortable speaking about your faith? Or do you say things such as "I'd rather live it than say it?" Is it time we became small-e evangelists?