Today is the last interview with Albuquerque pastor Trey Hammond, in which Trey describes his congregation’s interest in Celtic spirituality and evangelism. The interview is 5 minutes long, and beneath the interview, I review a book Trey mentions, George Hunter’s “The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West Again.”
“The Celtic Way of Evangelism” could be broken down into two sections. In each section Hunter integrates his description of the historical events surrounding the missionary movement in Ireland with social science, theology, and philosophy. In the first, longer section Hunter describes the historical development of the church in Ireland, contrasting St. Patrick’s evangelistic methodology with the theories of communication starting with Aristotle, and continuing to Helmut Thielicke, Soren Kirkegaard, and Kenneth Burke. Sounds dull, but is actually a fascinating and easy read. In summary, Celtic evangelism is done via teams of people who build community through which the gospel is shared with sensitivity to indigenous thought and customs.
In the shorter, second section, Hunter demonstrates how the Celtic evangelism is relevant for today’s secular society. Hunter claims that the Celtic understanding of helping people find faith through bringing them into Christian community is validated by the field of the Sociology of Knowledge, particularly drawing on Peter Berger’s work in “The Social Construction of Reality.” Lastly, Hunter provides examples and stories of how this could be relevant within a few streams of the U.S. population. In the last chapter attempting specific applications, he struggles to make his argument as clear and compelling as previous chapters.
Overall the book is a fascinating read, and his arguments regarding what is relevant and thus could be learned from Celtic evangelism merit our attention. The stress on hospitality and building relationships with those outside the church is similar to what others are stressing as the needed change from church doing mission to or for people—to church engaging people in the community in meaningful ways. It reminds me of the church in the book “Practicing Theology,” chapter entitled, “Liturgy, Ministry and the Stranger” by Gilbert Bond. This urban church decided to stop their “outreach” program as the government sponsored food distribution center in their neighborhood, because of the ways it kept the people in the neighborhood at a distance and subordinate. Instead, they began a more hospitality-oriented ministry of inviting the neighborhood to community meals where outsiders met and sat at table with church members.
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