Saint Patrick and the legacy of evangelism

It is said that behind every legend there is a kernel of truth.

It is said that Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. It is also said that Saint Patrick used a three-leaf clover to illustrate a holy trinity of God the Father son and Holy Spirit. It is also said that Saint Patrick was the first to evangelize Ireland for the Gospel.

The Irish annals for the fifth century date Patrick’s arrival in Ireland at 432 A.D. But the backstory of Saint Patrick is just as interesting as his evangelization of Ireland.

According to historical documents Saint Patrick was born in Britain of a Romanized family in the late 4th century. (387 A.D.) At age 16 he was torn by Irish raiders from the villa of his father, Calpurnius, a deacon and minor local official, and carried into slavery in Ireland.

He spent six years there as a herdsman, during which he turned with fervor to his faith. Upon dreaming that the ship in which he was to escape was ready, he fled his master and found passage to Britain. There he came near to starvation and suffered a second brief captivity before he was reunited with his family. Thereafter, he may have paid a short visit to the Continent.

Then he returned to Ireland to evangelize or proclaim the gospel to the people. That is why Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland.

There are several legends that are associated with St. Patrick.

Legend credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a three-leafed plant, using it to illustrate the Christian teaching of three persons in one God.

Saint Patrick also was supposed to banish all snakes from Ireland. Legend says that the snakes had all been banished by Patrick chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of a hill.

Another legend is that during his evangelizing journey back to Ireland from his parents’ home, he carried with him an ash wood walking stick or staff. He thrust this stick into the ground wherever he was evangelizing and at the place now known as Aspatria (ash of Patrick), the message of the dogma took so long to get through to the people there that the stick had taken root by the time he was ready to move on.

But what is evangelism?

The word evangelism comes from the root word “to be a messenger of God.” In 2022 how do we evangelize the people of our city state nation and world?

In the early centuries Christians went around the world trying to evangelize people according to their beliefs about the gospel. Many times in the name of Christianity and saving them from sin, they became victims of the missionary leaders because they did not follow completely.

In America today there is a current trend to Christianize all aspects of our society. The movement is called The Christian Crusade. The movement wants to control the United States and is the most important and consequential religious movement in the country today.

The Crusade is an effort by conservative Christians to seize control of organizations, institutions, and governments for the purpose of re-orienting them in accordance with their notions of Christian faith and practice. Often, they describe this campaign as one designed to return the country to its Christian roots.

But sadly it is a very intolerant view of the good news. Often it is our way or the highway so to speak. Our nation’s founding fathers and mothers did not found a Christian nation. They founded a nation simply with the understanding that the rights of citizens were not derived from the good will of their government, but rather were blessings endowed upon them by their Creator.

The recognition that God is the ultimate source of all power and authority was admitted by nearly all of our nation’s founders.

James Wilson, who served as one of our first Supreme Court Justices and was one of only six men to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, wrote the following about the relationship between the laws of America and those of her God: “What we do, indeed, must be founded on what he has done; and the deficiencies of our laws must be supplied by the perfection of his. Human law must rest its authority, ultimately, upon the authority of that law, which is divine.”

As the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) we make the bold statement, “We are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.”

As one of our theologians, Alvin Jackson reminds us, “Wholeness is celebrating the dignity and diversity of difference — not tolerating, but embracing our difference.”

So how do we celebrate our differences and still witness our faith to others? So how do we witness our faith in 2022?

The pandemic has caused many churches to close many of the activities that we used to share the good news. We at our church had limited our activities and contact with our local community. The church is also having a new understanding of the use of social media as the means to share the good news. However I still believe that the best way to share the Gospel is one on one with people.

I look forward to the day when we will all feel safe again and be able to have close contact with people and not be afraid of putting them in harm’s way.

Still the best way to share the Gospel is as an apostle Peter says, “Always be able to give a good defense of the hope that is within you but do it with gentleness and kindness.”

Rev. Frank Chlastak began work as senior minister of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Poplar Bluff in 2015. He is a graduate of Northeast Louisiana University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and has served congregations of the Christian Church in Louisiana, Arkansas, Virginia, Oklahoma and Missouri.