Session 5
Testimony
Christianity for the Rest of Us:
How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith
by Diana Butler Bass
"Consider this an invitation. I invite you on my pilgrimage to some very different kinds of churches, old Protestant churches that have found new life in the face of change. They reminded me that Christianity is a sacred pathway to someplace better, a journey of transforming our selves, our faith communities, and our world." ... from the Introduction.
Index Chapter Summary Commentary Discussion Notes
Summary Notes -
Ch 9 Testimony - Talking the Talk.

The tradition of Congregationalism is "understated, restrained, and intellectual". Bass describes a Congregationalist church that had revived itself because of the power of testimony. "People are changed by giving their testimonies, and we can see the Holy Spirit moving them along ... God rings in my ears here ... They love the poor and the outcast. And mostly they love God." And she found this practice of testimony (and it's power) in many of the churchs of the study. "I heard people speak of faith - offering their testimonies to the power of God in changing their lives and their communities. ... I can't hold it in. I've just got to share."

She recounts how the early church practiced testimony - the New Testament is full of it - but with Constantine and the church becoming establishment, the practice of testimony was found among nuns and monks, but seldom among the people. With the reformation, the practice returned. She particularly identifies testimony among the American Puritans. But again, with the 20th Century, the practice declined.

As this ancient practice finds expression in the church today, it's power to inspire others returns. And for those who give their testimony, they experience a clarification of their faith, and often experience epiphanies.

Bass notices that in past times, testimony was a mark of public statement of faith to initiate membership, but in this movement of renewal, testimony is rather a quality of later membership. It is a mark of maturity. Testimony is now the story of growing more than the story of becoming. People are sharing their stories. "... they were unexpected - individual stories of being surprised by God's love and transformed in unanticipated ways. ... Testimony is not about God fixing people. Rather, it speaks of God making wholeness out of human woundedness, human incompleteness. ... pilgrimage stories ".
Commentary - Testimony at St. David's - John Whidden

John has been at St. David's for 2 years now. He first observed the friendly welcome, and wrote an article in Observer on that. He began by looking at the Webster definition of testimony, where it means giving witness and evidence, solemn declaration, and a public expression of religious faith. It is a talking out of our experience of God. Human beings are hard wired for story. We cannot know ourselves apart from story.

John's own story is that he' s from Hundred Mile House. At the United Church there he was asked to do a discipleship course. This was 6 months of intensive bible study. He was asked to report to the congregation in open forum. It was an experience of testimony, and he was nervous. But it was an epiphany. He overcame fear by realizing the God perspective.

Testimony has an aura of right wing christianity. He has a friend also from Hundred Mile House who is a fundamentalist. And "testimony" has this fundamentalism association.

John recalled his teenage years and return to church attendance and faith practice then. He wonders what God thinks when we won't truth speak.

John and Colleen experimented with going to an Alliance Church for a year. There, before the practice of baptism, people gave testimony in the form of personal and powerful stories.
Summary of Discussion Notes after Small Groups
A Dorothy Story - Mamoud. Mamood was a dark Arab man born in Jordan in a family of 12 children. At 8 he went to school under a tree. He learned the Quran. He continued to university and became a psychiatrist. Palestinian terrorists tried to recruit him. He refused - a dangerous response. So he fled to Florida and soon found himself an intern in Ponoka for his further education, and to learn English. The staff at Ponoka was very international. Mamoud had an innocence about him. Once he encountered a man suffering cancer and who could not sleep for his upset. Mamoud took off his shoes, climbed onto his bed and cradled the man in his arms and sung him to sleep.

We wish in North American society to be self sufficient and its hard to share, but when walls are broken down, people are moved. In emergency and tragedy, people help each other. Expressing our weakness allows growth. When hearing someone share, others find the story helpful.

What then might be the vision for St. David's?

Perhaps on occasion one could invite conversation from the congregation in the form of sermon responses, and minute speaks.

Wayne. The Methodist Tradition. What is the lord doing in your life? This was the question at meetings and service that caused the early methodists to flourish. It is a deep tradition inherited by the United Church of Canada.
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St. David's United Church.Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Sep
2007