Experiments in Evangelism

How to be evangelically progressive … or, is that progressively evangelical. Personally, most of the time I think we should ditch all of those words: progressive; evangelical; and how to. But this afternoon I figured out, for one small and, doubtless, insignificant moment, how to be evangelical about the progressive wing of the church.

Walking past a kitchen supply shop in my neighborhood an apron in the window caught my eye. It had a raised fist wrapped around a clove of garlic and it read, “smash the garlic … and the patriarchy.” I thought immediately of my beloved, who loves smashing both those things, and I thought, what the heck, that’s a Valentine.

So I turned around and went into the shop. On the same shelf as what turned out to be a dishrag rather than an apron the store had copies of I Am Not a Tractor: How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won.

I know the outlines of the story of the organizing, boycotting, and education work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and their ongoing efforts to ensure fair wages and decent conditions for their work in Florida agriculture. In particular, I know a bit about efforts by Presbyterians to support the workers. So naturally I looked in the book’s index and was pleasantly surprised to see multiple references to “Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)".

When I was making my purchase the shopkeeper asked if I’d found what I was looking for, and so I told her that I’d found mention of my church in the index of a book about farm-worker justice efforts.

It struck me as I headed on to the grocery store that a whole lot had to happen for me to “share the gospel” in that small way. First, faithful folks in Florida had to be made aware of the injustices in the food system. They had to see, in the fields, neighbors with whom they needed to be in solidarity. The workers had to inform people, organize them, build networks, create strategies, and work for years to make inroads with huge corporations. Congregations and denominational organizations had to make and keep long-term commitments, and share the news far beyond Florida fields so that I would know a little bit of the story. The workers had to get their story told such that someone would come along and write a book.

After all that work is done, sharing the good news is as simple as pointing it out.