“He [Walter Brueggemann] develops three biblical themes related to evangelism. They are 1) that outsiders become insiders, 2) that forgetters become rememberers, and 3) that beloved children become belief-ful adults.”
Dennis Dewey
“Storyvangelism”
Dewey goes on to describe each of these themes in detail. Beginning with outsiders becoming insiders, he says, “we imagine outsiders coming into our church and…becoming just like us.” But, using the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, he says there is another way to bring people “inside.”
Imagine a boundary line around the group of people who attend your church. Those people within that line are “inside.” All others are “outside.” But, Jesus in John 4, while talking to the woman at the well, “moved the line.” By moving the line, he made an insider of the Samaritan woman. She was so impressed that she went and told others about her experience and compelled them to come and meet “a man who told me all I ever did.” Dewey mentions that her actions made her “one of the first evangelists.”
Filed under: Gospel As Story
Your post today about insiders and outsiders reminds me a whole lot of what some of the “conversations” have been over at Wade Hodges’ website -
http://www.wadehodges.com/
- the past couple of days about “set theory.” I don’t know if you’ve been “by there” or not, but he usually has some very thought provoking topics going on that I like a lot.
If you’ll take a look at yesterday’s post, the link he refers to (the two diagrams of “set theory”
and the 14 comments that have been made there you’ll see what I’m talking about.
It is along the same lines as you’re relating in thinking about whether there is a “circle” (”line”
with some of us in and some of us out or whether Jesus set up a different paradigm.
Me and my mom both happen to love what went on between Jesus and the Samaritan at the well as to how we would be worshipping from that time forward and as to how God and Christ look at all of us in this world.
I’m looking forward to more on all of this.
[...] McNeal believes that we need to actively take on our role as priests. If we’re going to “move the line”, I believe he is [...]