The Method
Growing up evangelical in Guatemala was not too different from what I have seen and heard others experience in the US and the rest of Latin America. For starters, I was indoctrinated with the idea that we had to evangelize the world. We needed to make sure that everybody heard about Jesus and salvation. Sadly, this false sense of urgency was tied up to an escapist mentality. We believed that if everybody had the chance to hear about Jesus, the second coming would be faster, and we would leave this horrible place we called the world.
This was quite a challenging task for me. I was not very good in talking to random people, let alone trying to tell them they would go to hell if they did not believe in Jesus as their personal lord and savior. As a result, I had to attend evangelization trainings, such as the four spiritual laws, evangelism explosion and others. It did not matter how hard I tried, I was never good enough to share the gospel through the formulas taught in those “methodologies.” Besides, I didn’t have (still don’t have) any proof that there is anything beyond what we see in this world. I guess that is why people call it faith. But even with faith, I do not think mine is put in some sort of after life where we all sing and worship for eternity.
As time has gone by, I have come to realize that the gospel is not for what we think it is, just so we can get into heaven. Since humanity has already been forgiven, evangelization should not be a proselytizing machine to fill up churches for Sunday worship. It is for something greater. It is to share the good news of a God who is in rivalry and violence toward nothing and nobody. It is for inviting one another to become more human regardless of our faith traditions or perspectives. And, this requires formation not evangelization per se.
Last week, I had the chance to dive deeper into a model that has helped me to understand better what formation can look like. I spent four days with my friends at Street Psalms and other seven seminaries and universities talking about leadership and analyzing the Street Psalms’ formation model. One of the things that I learned is that formation happens in community, over time, and in context. This way of a human catechism does not fit with the evangelizing methodologies I learned. It is a slow process of induction in which we learn to imitate each other in positive ways. It is a slow walk through the wilderness as we reimagine our humanity amid rampant polarization and violence.
We get saved through each other as we reimagine our humanity. Salvation from dehumanization is not the end in itself. It is the way to become more human.