“It’s not our job to save Madison,” said Michael Beresford, director of outreach and service at High Point Church. “It’s our job to be a witness” he told a group of almost 100 men and women who gathered at Upper|House on the University of Wisconsin campus this morning.
Beresford had invited them to A Conversation Between Pastors and Marketplace Christians to build capacity for a greater Christian impact on the city of Madison. Beresford recently moved to Madison from Seattle, the latest move in a career spent with a number of ministries including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
“The progressive agenda is failing,” Beresford observed about Madison. “People are ready for something different. Is it Jesus? They’ve been told it’s not Jesus.”
Beresford believes it is Jesus but the message won’t get out by relying just on churches. He observed that marketplace leaders–Christians who work in business–touch more people than pastors. But churches don’t seem to be expecting, or training, their congregations to be marketplace witnesses.
“People ask me how to share their faith at work,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Work harder. Be the kind of employee everyone wants.'” Once credibility is established, people will be open to the message of the gospel.
Fred Grossenbach, a former IBM executive who retired in Madison several decades ago, admitted that he wasn’t a very good witness after he became a Christian in the early 1970s. He recalled a co-worker expressing surprise when the man saw a Bible in his briefcase. “I didn’t know you were a Christian,” the man told him.
Grossenbach said marketplace Christians need what he lacked, training in how to be a witness in the marketplace and a good mentor. And he believes those elements are even more important today than when he came to faith 40 years ago because the Christian community has lost the social capital that it had just a few decades ago.
Referring back to research he was involved in with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association after 9/11, Beresford noted that the churches were full of people for a few weeks after that tragedy. But only for a few weeks. Beresford attributed the attrition to a failure by America’s churches to preach a relevant gospel message.
Following several break-out sessions to discuss ways to collaborate between churches, ministries, and the marketplace, Beresford said, “The world is living in fear; we have hope. We need to communicate, collaborate, and develop a sense of urgency about our message.”
Grossenbach put it another way. “We need to mobilize Christians, equip them, and then unleash them,” he said. “The culture has shifted and Christian believers have been marginalized.”
“Madison is poised for the gospel,” said Henry Sanders of Madison365.com, who opened the meeting with a prayer. “It’s wonderful to see where this community is going. The faith community is leading the charge.”
Whether the faith community continues to lead depends in large part on how it responds to initiatives such as Beresford, Grossenbach, and Sanders are offering.