Eutychus and His Kin: January 6, 1967

Dear Coffee-Sippers:

If you enjoy a hot spot of java on a nippy winter night and are also interested in the latest vogue in evangelism, you should drop in at an avant-garde, church-related coffeehouse. But if no such haven exists nearby, you can learn what’s perking at some of these places by reading The Coffee House Ministry, by NCC consultant John D. Perry, Jr.

Here’s Perry’s formula for becoming a coffeehouse entrepreneur. First, purify your theology of evangelism. Rid yourself of “Billygrahamism” (the superficial, theologically narrow, emotional approach) and church membershipism (which delivers bodies but not souls). Don’t get hung up on the problem: Did Jesus really rise from the dead? “Whatever ‘resurrection’ may mean empirically,” writes Perry, “is quite beside the point. Theologically it means Christ is the one who is ‘out in the field’ directing the church’s mission from the front line, as it were.” Perry’s theological brew has a peculiar aroma, as it were.

Next, remember that the coffeehouse must be religiously neutral: “Let us hope,” he cautions, “that the coffeehouse is not used merely as a ‘front’ to draw unsuspecting sinners in off the street to convert them (unwittingly) to our point of view. Regrettably, this is the conscious purpose of some coffeehouses presently in operation.” That is, make the mocha torrid, but don’t lose your evangelistic cool.

Perry suggests that house intellectual fare be varied: low-key lectures, poetry, music (classical and folk but seldom pop), drama, and graphic arts, followed by profound dialogue. He tops off his book with ten tempting coffee recipes, from instant to coffee alamode. Such knowledge was gathered during a cross-country coffeehouse study financed by a $5,000 grant to the NCC from the National Coffee Association. Honest to Sanka!

The book prompted me to visit his brand of coffeehouse in Gotham City. In a dank cellar I drained my tepid cup (at 50¢ per—enough to arouse a pagan response), heard a risqué folk song by a sockless intellectual, and endured an hour of small talk. What a grind.

I still believe that meeting people on the grounds of a coffeehouse has great evangelistic possibilities. But Perry’s Coffee House Ministry? It ain’t my cup o’ tea.

With sugar and cream, EUTYCHUS III

Ecumenicity At Berlin

The World Congress on Evangelism was a demonstration of truly biblical ecumenism. There are two kinds of ecumenism. One, which is often spurious, grows out of affiliation with the right organization(s). The other, which is satisfying and real and which was exemplified in Berlin, grows out of a common identification with and devotion to Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, as revealed in the Scriptures, the Holy Word of God.… Ecumenism was as much a part of the program as the various sessions themselves.

The experience of the congress was far greater than anything the advance publicity predicted.… I was thrilled and gratified at the privilege of being “among those present.”

WARREN FILKIN

Professor of Christian Education

Northern Baptist Theological Seminary

Oak Brook, Ill.

The World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin was the greatest ecumenical meeting of its kind this century, to my knowledge. Please let this be but a beginning which portends greater things to come.… This was an “ecumenical council” in which Southern Baptists were proud to be seen. The WCC in Amsterdam was one at which few appeared and probably still fewer would like to have been seen.

H. LEO EDDLEMAN

President

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

New Orleans, La.

The congress was eminently worthwhile and was a very substantial blessing to me.

MEDFORD JONES

Professor of Church Ministries

Emmanuel School of Religion

Milligan College, Tenn.

The Congress will always live in my memory as one of the truly significant experiences of my life. Since my return home I have been amazed to see the extent of public interest in the meeting, and I continue to get invitations to report to various groups on what happened in Berlin.

C. DARBY FULTON

Nashville, Tenn.

The congress was a milestone! Only yesterday I received a letter from one of my friends in India, who tells about giving a report on the congress the first Sunday after his return. Describing the effect, he says, “Over thirty people responded to a call for rededication, and the congregation was unwilling to leave even at the close of the benediction.”

PAUL S. REES

Vice-President at Large

World Vision, Inc.

Monrovia, Calif.

Words are inadequate to express the inspiration and uplift the World Congress on Evangelism gave to me.… The messages were biblical in content, scholarly in their presentation, and evangelistic in their approach. The information received as well as the inspiration and fellowship which thrilled my heart will always be remembered.

GARTH L. PYBAS

Secretary, Evangelism Department and Brotherhood Department

Kansas Convention of Southern Baptists

Wichita, Kan.

Unbelievable Charade

John Gerstner performed an admirable service for the cause of Antichrist in his article New Light on the Confession of 1967 (Dec. 9). This beautifully sophisticated deception from the pen of a noted evangelical is perfectly calculated to obscure the basic issues at stake in the proposed adoption of the 1967 Confession. To pretend that the adoption of this document could in any conceivable fashion make the church adopting it “more catholic, evangelical, and reformed than ever before” is an unbelievable charade.

PAUL H. ALEXANDER

Reformed Presbyterian

Huntsville, Ala.

After reasoning his way out of the difficulty, Dr. Gerstner has concluded that whatever is done with the confession, the United Presbyterian Church will be “more catholic, evangelical, and reformed than ever before.” To paraphrase a shopworn saying, he will be delighted if they do and delighted if they don’t.… In some other circles this is what is known as “hedging your bets.”

I do want you to know how much I profit from your magazine. When it arrives at my home, most everything else takes second place. By the way, congratulations to the new Eutychus for a rousing beginning.

JAMES A. DAVEY

Assistant Minister

North Side Church Christian and Missionary Alliance

Pittsburgh, Pa.

More Light On The Middle East

Dwight L. Baker makes it a point to say in his article, “How A Whole Church Vanished” (Nov. 25), “Oversimplified explanations for the failure of Christianity under Islam abound. We must search for deeper internal causes.”

It is surprising therefore that he should make only an offhand reference to the Crusades, which historians generally regard as the deepest cause for the failure of Christianity to maintain a significant foothold in Arab-dominated lands. The effect of the Crusades on the compatibility of the Christian message to Islamic people was so disastrous that they were probably the single most important factor in Christianity’s subsequent inability to permeate the Islamic world. Again, in his paragraph on the church’s failure to become indigenous, the author hints at but fails to develop a second profound historic reason for the Gospel’s non-success in the Arabic world, summarized succinctly by Van Leeuwen:

Christian evangelism had to pay very dearly for its success in the Roman Empire; it meant the Church became heir to that radical antithesis between itself and the Persian Empire, which Greece bequeathed to Rome and to Byzantium; and thereby she spoiled her own chance of entering upon a victorious course in Asia, as she had done in the West [Christianity in World History, Edinburgh, 1964, p. 213].

So it was that Islam came to fill the gap left by the one-sided expansion of Christianity within the Hellenistic world on one hand and the weakness of Jewish Christianity on the other [p. 225].

L. ARDEN ALMQUIST

Executive Secretary

Dept. of World Missions

The Evangelical Covenant Church

Chicago, Ill.

Dr. Baker may be interested in reading an article of mine which appeared in Church History (Dec. 1960) entitled, “The Disappearance of Christianity from North Africa in the Wake of the Rise of Islam.” I feel that Dr. Baker has relied too heavily on cultural factors and too little on theological. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed reading his article.

CHARLES J. SPEEL II

Head, Department of Bible and Religion

Monmouth College

Monmouth, Ill.

His five reasons for the decline and fall of the Church in North Africa skirt the main cause. They conceal more than they reveal and lead readers astray. These five “reasons” emphasize current slogans in mission but do not uncover the basic causes of the vanishing.

DONALD MCGAVRAN

Dean, School of World Mission and Institute of Church Growth

Fuller Theological Seminary

Pasadena, Calif.

What The Doctor Ordered

I cannot resist telling you of the delight with which I have read the first two installments of Eutychus III. His tongue-in-cheek, witty, occasionally irreverent comments are good medicine which should help deflate our tendencies toward pomposity and self-importance.

I fancy that you may hear from some good folks who find Eutychus III a bit too much. So I just wanted you to know that one reader finds him just what the doctor ordered. Long may he occupy his window sill!

KARL E. KEEFER

Assoc. Prof. of Educational Psychology

University of Tennessee—Memphis State University Center for Advanced Graduate Study

Memphis, Tenn.

You have shown poor taste by your inclusion (Dec. 9) of the letter from Eutychus III addressed to Christmas shoppers. Your magazine is highly respected by many, but you have scarcely enhanced its stature by publishing this low cheap sarcasm. Indeed I would call such material sub-Christian, certainly not glorifying to the Lord, nor an exhibition of that love which we are commanded to show to other men, no matter how strongly we may disagree with them or they with us.

HENRY OWEN

Chicago, Ill.

The Congressman’S Choice

I was quite interested in the denominational affiliations of our congressmen (“The Ninetieth Congress: A Religious Census,” Dec. 9), especially your reference to the new congressman who “will miss Saturday roll calls.” Sabbath observers have faced this problem ever since the Seventh Day Baptist governor of Rhode Island, Samuel Ward, became a member of the First Continental Congress.

It is a shame that congressional sessions are still held on the Sabbath, forcing a congressman to make this difficult choice between religious conviction and patriotism.

JOHN A. CONROD

Salemville Seventh Day Baptist Church

New Enterprise, Pa.

It is a most enlightening statistical report. Among the “eye-openers” are these:

1. The general feeling among many people is that the Roman Catholic Church and the Democratic Party are closely allied, each abetting the other. Nine of the 10 Methodist governors are Democrats. Only 4 of the 9 Roman Catholic governors are Democrats.

2. The Roman Catholic leading total of 109 members in Congress is very misleading, unless one sees that of the 109 there are 96 members of the House and only 13 Senators. The Methodists have far more Senators (24). The Episcopalians have 15 Senators with only a total of 68 in Congress. The Baptists have 12 Senators with half the representation of the Roman Catholic Church.

3. The only Latter-Day Saint among the congressmen (9) and governors (2) east of the Mississippi River is George Romney.

DONALD C. LACY

Methodist Church

Hagerstown, Ind.

From The Campus

As Bible school students, we are vitally interested in what goes on in the religious world of today. We must keep informed on all movements and trends in our busy world.… Your magazine has made it possible for us to keep up to date.…

SADIE SCHILSTRA

Secretary

The Senior Class

Reformed Bible Institute

Grand Rapids, Mich.

Plowing Through

The poem “First Frost” (Nov. 25) by E. Margaret Clarkson was … good—and well worth the trouble of plowing through the rest of the “folly, foibles, and phonies” in this issue.

WILLIAM T. JOYNER

Swarthmore, Pa.

Cartoonry

Lawing’s cartoon in the November 25 issue is delightful. My sympathies are with the perplexed lion. Perhaps cartoonist Lawing will do one on “I’ve got a home in gloryland” and present a copy to every youth group’s song leader.

JOSEPH MCDONALD

West Chester, Pa.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.