A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LAY WITNESS MISSION

Back around 1960 Ben Johnson was a Methodist pastor in the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference and a sought-after revival preacher.  He found that his work as an evangelist had grown stale.  He started a prayer group and the members grew close to one another and prayed for Ben regularly. 

Soon after that, he was doing a revival that proved to be difficult.  He sent for his prayer group to come and they prayed for him before the service.  When he stood to preach Ben was moved by God to ask several of the prayer group members to share a witness.  It was a God inspired moment.  Those chosen to share were anointed and the congregation was electrified.  Hearing lay people talk about what God was doing in their lives stirred the church.  Ben was led by the Spirit to not preach after that, he just gave an altar call.  The people rushed forward to kneel and the altar service lasted more than an hour.  It was the witness of laypeople rather than the preacher’s sermon that stirred them.

When vital lay witnesses described how they had been loyal to the church program, how they had served in many official capacities, and yet were lacking in a genuine experience of Christ, other lay people could readily identify with them.  But their witness did not stop with describing an empty, meaningless Christian life.  They went on to relate how their lives were changed through prayer and a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.  Each of them shared relevant experiences of how their new life worked on the job, in the home, in the church fellowship, and in the community life. 

From the first experiment with using laypersons on a mission several discoveries were made:  laypersons listened to other laypersons; laypersons were willing to discuss pointed problems with other laypersons; dialogue resulted in deeper commitment than traditional altar prayer times; the laity and clergy learned to participate as equals in a group and witnessing laypersons both inspired and encouraged others to witness.  

After this as Ben was invited to preach for revival services he arranged in advance for his prayer group to come and he gave them opportunity to share.  More pastors urged him to come to their churches.  He would preach and intersperse laypeople to witness but soon he discovered that power was released as the lay people told their stories.  Gradually the weekend schedule began to shift and his preaching was minimized and he became more of a moderator.  Later he found that these open and honest, prayer-filled laypeople could be effective in leading small groups.  Sunday morning altars were filled.  Prayer groups were started.  And the Lay Witness Movement was launched.

Word spread and soon more invitations were coming in than Ben could handle so he chose and nurtured lay coordinators to conduct the missions.  What began as a clergy-coordinated event became a lay-coordinated event.  The list of coordinators and witnesses grew.  Initially missions varied in length: a one night mission for 2 or 3 hours; a week-day mission for 3 or 4 days; or a weekend mission.

Soon the weekend pattern for missions was set.  Teams of 15 or 20 laypersons went to a church for a weekend and stayed as guests in homes of the congregation.  Often their presence proved to be a blessing in disguise and God ministered to the families where they were staying.  The movement was reinforced by prayer.  Every time a person got up to witness he or she would call on someone on the team to pray for them.

The church would gather with the team for a Friday night dinner after which there would be spirited chorus singing and sharing by witnesses and small groups.  On Saturday morning coffees were set up in the homes of the congregation and they invited their friends and neighbors to come hear the witnesses share there. The church gathered for lunch and they separated into men and women and had female witnesses share with the women and male witnesses share with the men.  On Saturday afternoon the witnesses would go with church members to visit sick and shut-in members.  On Saturday evening there was more singing, sharing, small groups and an opportunity for the church people to come to commit or recommit their lives to Jesus Christ.  On Sunday morning team members shared in the Sunday school classes and the coordinator spoke in the worship service.  Another opportunity for church people to commit or recommit their lives to Christ was given.  A Children’s coordinator and Youth coordinator along with youth witnesses were brought to work with the children and youth of the church for the weekend.  Literally thousands of churches were renewed and revitalized and brought to spiritual strength as a result of a few lay people who came to tell other lay people about their life in Christ. 

The Lay Witness Movement became ecumenical and spread to the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Southern Baptists, the Disciples of Christ, and other denominations.  The movement also went international, starting with the birthplace of Methodism, Great Britain.  Even today there are websites for Lay Witness organizations in Ireland, England, Canada, and South Africa.  Lay Witness Missions have been held in Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Mexico, The Philippines and other countries in the world.  They have also been held as district-wide or cluster events involving multiple churches, in prisons, in the stockade at a military base, in retirement centers and retreat settings. 

During the second decade of its existence what started as a movement became part of the General Board of Discipleship.  At the height of the movement, in 1973-74, 2,400 missions were scheduled from the Nashville office.  There were more than 100,000 team members on the rolls available to be used by 1,200 coordinators.

Since that high point, the Lay Witness Mission entered a period of decline.  It declined to a point where in 2003 the General Board of Discipleship discontinued it as one of their local church programs due to financial considerations.  It never really died because individual coordinators continued to be contacted for missions.  Someone suggested that since Aldersgate Renewal Ministries [ARM] had then been an affiliate of the General Board of Discipleship for 26 years, ARM should ask the GBOD if they would entrust the LWM to ARM.  In 2004 the GBOD agreed to do that and we have been scheduling missions across the country ever since. 

At ARM we continue to believe that the LWM is an important valid tool to be used to bring renewal to United Methodists and their churches.  We believe it follows the biblical pattern of Andrew telling his brother Simon or the woman at the well telling her village about their encounters with Jesus. 

Our Discipline states that The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs. [Para. 120]  And it states that The function of the local church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is to help people to accept and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to live their daily lives in light of their relationship with God. [Para. 202]

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