Preach the gospel. Use words. They’re necessary.

St Francis, photo by Ngu1ecdc on Pexels.com

Over the last 30 years in countless conferences, gatherings and meetings, I have heard the following quote shared more times than I can remember:

“Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”

It’s usually attributed to St Francis of Assisi, and it often gets sage nods of appreciation like something profound has been said.

But there is a problem: there is absolutely no evidence that St Francis ever said these words. And in fact there is plenty to suggest that he never would. After all, Francis was a passionate preacher.

The quote may be intended as a challenge to a radical, activist faith. But actually, it’s often used as an excuse for people to stay silent about God and Jesus.

I think this misquote has done a lot of damage, and has played a part in the secularisation of social action.

Jesus‘ words

Of course, the gospel narratives are full of examples of Jesus’ actions: he fed the hungry, touched lepers, healed the sick and ate with outcasts and sinners. But he rarely let his actions simply speak for themselves. Much of his teaching is in response to his actions.

Mark’s biography of Jesus opens with him “proclaiming the good news of God” (Mark 1:14). The gospels are full of Jesus’ words: he told stories, asked questions, announced forgiveness and explained who he was. He said that preaching the good news is why he came.

If Jesus needed words, then so do we.

Busy but silent

In the 1960s, the US Catholic missionary Vincent Donovan saw that a century of Christian mission in East Africa had produced schools, a hospital and plenty of social service.

But something troubled Donovan. And he realised it was this: no one was really talking to the local people about God. At least, not in any way they could engage with.

Donovan decided to go out and do just that. And wrote the book Christianity Rediscovered about what happened. After his first attempt, a tribal elder called Ndangaya asked him:

‘If that is why you came here, why did you wait so long to tell us about this?’

A challenge

As someone involved in social action, Ndangaya’s question has always challenged me. And I think its a good challenge to the contemporary church.

We run food banks, night shelters, debt advice, community meals and all manner of community work. An atheist friend once complained to me:

“It does my head in that all the best things around here are run by churches.”

People love these fruits of Christian social action. But the roots from which they grow are far less popular, so it’s easy to stop naming them. We can worry about ‘sounding judgemental’ or be concerned that funders won’t like us being ‘too overt’ about the beliefs. We can often be full of fear.

The faith which generated the work can easily get discarded, like clothes that feel awkward and don’t quite fit anymore. It is a challenge that is not easy to negotiate.

But, one thing is for sure – it is through the wise and brave use of words that we negotiate the challenge. It is our words that help integrate the fruit and the roots of Christian mission. And its with our words that we provide clarity about our motivations to those with serve – as well as those who work or volunteer with us.

“The right words”

Some years ago, near Waterloo station, I got talking with a homeless man called Richard. He showed me horrific infected wounds on his arms and legs caused by injecting drugs. He refused my offer to go to hospital with him and out of the blue, he asked me:

“How do I find forgiveness?”

I told him what I believe about God’s forgiveness through Jesus. And we prayed the Lord’s Prayer sitting together on a wall by a busy pavement. He asked me to write the prayer down, “so that I have the right words to say.”

Richard needed kindness, housing and urgent medical care. But he also needed something else. He needed a deeper form of grace than can be transmitted through a sandwich. He was hungry for words that could bring hope and life.

As the community theologian Ann Morisy puts it, plenty of agencies care for people in need, but only the church has the task of helping people “do business with God”. If we won’t do it, who will?

Not crass or coercive

None of this means being pushy. Vulnerable people must never be pressured, and help should never come with strings attached.

But the choice isn’t between coercion and silence.

At The Vine, the weekly community meal at my church, we say a short prayer together before we eat and a blessing before people leave. It only takes a minute and no one is forced to join in. But the simple prayer makes a significant difference. It makes our evening distinctive and points to the reason we run the meal. And we keep having to print more prayer sheets because guests take them home.

And I see something similar at Hope into Action. Last year, over 50% of our tenants wanted to be prayed for, and 17 chose to be baptised.

I believe that many people are far more spiritually open than our nervousness assumes. Often, the people we serve aren’t the ones who find faith awkward. We are.

We need confidence. A settled conviction that the gospel is good news and is deeply relevant to people facing despair, addiction or isolation.

Speak Jesus

This is why I am so pleased to see Speak Jesus, a new resource from Natalie Williams and her team at Jubilee+ that I and Hope into Action have contributed to.

Speak Jesus is full of ideas and practical pointers designed to help churches and projects working alongside people in poverty to talk about their faith naturally and without embarrassment.

Christians must be people of action, but we must also be ready “to give the reason for the hope that we have” (1 Peter 3:15).

So lets preach the gospel. And use words. They’re necessary.