Yearning for the Vast and Endless Sea: The Good News about the Good News

By Chris Russell

Evangelism is a contentious word, conjuring up all sorts of assumptions. It can create suspicion or imply tribalism, or can be seen as a desperate response to falling numbers. For some the term has become irredeemably polluted. But what if we recovered an authentic understanding of evangelism as good news that enables people to know that they are drenched in the love and grace of God? And how do we do that? This is a book for everyone who wants to share the gospel but who cannot relate to what evangelism has become. Its title is taken from Saint-Exupery, ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.’ Drawing on writers like Bonhoeffer, Newbigin and Pope Francis’ landmark Euangelii Gaudium, Chris Russell aims to redeem evangelism from its present predicament. He sets it in a deeper and richer theological context, asks how the church and individual Christians can communicate the love of God in language and action, and explores how the good news is received.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Canterbury Press Norwich
• Release date: Jan 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9781786225184

Chris Russell

Chris Russell is Adviser on Evangelism and Witness to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is a frequent speaker at New Wine, Spring Harvest and at diocesan and local training events.

Book preview

Commendations for Yearning for the Vast and Endless Sea

Commendations for Yearning for the Vast and Endless Sea

Chris Russell is one of the best evangelists of our time. He writes as he lives – with all the urgency, compassion, and wisdom of one whose life has been transformed by Christ, and who longs for others to know the same love.

To spend time with Chris, whether in person or in the pages of his book, is to be welcomed into and challenged with the reality of the gospel, to learn to ‘yearn for the vast and endless sea’ of God’s unfailing love and to feel encouraged to take our place in God’s great story.

Chris Russell introduces us to a world so remarkable we might scarcely believe it to be true, were it not for the witness of true servants of Christ, like Chris, who have made it their home, and the extraordinary power of God to transform, renew, redeem, and restore us.

Read this book and join the many people Chris has guided closer towards the risen Christ, who longs for us to know and love him as he knows and loves us.

Archbishop Justin Welby

One commonly forgotten aspect of Christian belief is excitement. The sheer thrill of it. This book is full of that thrill. It opens all the windows of your house of faith and lets the light stream in. I didn’t realise, till I read this book, how musty mine had become.

And speaking of windows, I loved the many allusions, not just to the Bible but to other religious writers, to Van Gogh, to the poet who saw God as the Hound of Heaven, to The Little Prince and many, many more. They operate like a fabulous Advent calendar, each allusion opening a little window that sets you off on another stimulating train of thought.

I finished this book about three days ago and, as you can probably tell, I’m still excited.

Frank Skinner, comedian and TV presenter

Yearning for the Vast and Endless Sea is a gem of a book – inspiring, pastoral, gracious, and every page brims over with Chris Russell’s infectious enthusiasm for the gospel. He casts a vision for evangelism that goes far beyond techniques, obligations and clichés and simply brings the reader back to God, back to Jesus and the sheer beauty of the gospel.

Revd Dr Isabelle Hamley, Principal, Ridley Hall, Cambridge

Chris Russell’s book is a breath of fresh air, reminding us why the good news is just so utterly good. What I love most is that instead of giving us a ‘how-to’ manual, Chris takes us right back to the start – inviting us to revisit the wonder, beauty and power of it all. For some this brilliant book will help renew the joy of their salvation. For others it will re-kindle a passion for evangelism. For many it will do both.

Matt Redman, songwriter and worship leader

I may not do God but I am interested in faith, in the Bible, and in those who are genuinely expert about the stories it tells. I have been lucky enough to have had some wonderful conversations with Chris Russell about all of the above and more and am thrilled he has written this book. You do not have to agree with every word to recognise a fine analytical mind, plenty of wisdom, and faith that runs deep and to good effect.

Alastair Campbell

We human beings are creatures who always seek the good. It seems true for all of us. Even when we – or the societies we live in – do very bad things, we’re most often motivated by some good, something we think will make life worth living. But we can be very wrong about what is good, tempted to see what is not good as good. This happens to us because the way we access the good is through stories that come to us as a message telling us what is good to live for. In this marvellous book Chris Russell shows us that testifying to the good of the story of Jesus Christ is both the beginning and the end of evangelism. Evangelism is giving narrative shape to the good we encounter by meeting the living Jesus Christ. This is a good book. Chris Russell is a good guide. He gives us a good vision for evangelism. One that is good for the world and good for the church.

Andrew Root, Professor of Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary and author of the Ministry in a Secular Age series

Chris Russell provides a welcome, at times challenging, but always inspirational reminder of where the pearl is to be found that is the good news of the gospel. The answer at a time of existential crisis for the Church and our world lies in the warming of the heart, clarity of mind and the purposeful delivery that can only be found by making space in ourselves and our institutions for the all-inclusive love of the fisherman who will never throw us back into the sea and the joy-filled and amplified proclamation of his wondrous word.

Lord Paul Boateng, a Vice President of the Bible Society and Chair of the Archbishops’ Council on Racial Justice

In Yearning for the Vast and Endless Sea, Chris Russell makes a timely, elegant and impassioned case for Christian evangelism. Fears for the recession of the Church can easily govern its message about Jesus, to the weakening of both. Here instead is a compelling and personal call to be inspired by the Good News itself, and the beautiful landscape offered to all.

Andrew Rumsey, author, songwriter and Bishop of Ramsbury

It is the deepest longing of every soul to know they are loved. Chris Russell captures within this book some of the historic, theological, present beauty of telling the story of love in Jesus through the image of the vast and endless sea. He has encountered grace in a way that widens the vision of the love of God, and lives that generous love in his life and his writing. I commend this book to remind us of the importance of speaking, sharing and inviting others to know the endless love of God found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Canon Sarah Yardley, Mission Lead, Creation Fest UK

Yearning for the Vast and Endless Sea

The Good News About the Good News

Chris Russell

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© Chris Russell 2024

Published in 2024 by Canterbury Press

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Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-78622-517-7

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For Leo, Alastair, Paul, Vic, Nathan, Jonny, Brendan, Alice, Clare, Polly, Steve, Cath, Pete and Jeannie. Come to the waters …

Contents

Introduction

1. What is the Gospel?

2. How is the Gospel Shared?

3. Who Bears the Gospel?

4. When Does the Gospel Take Effect?

5. Where Does the Gospel Come to Us?

6. Who is the Gospel for?

7. Why Evangelism?

Introduction

Of course, the assumption of many is that the gospel is not good, and certainly not news. Rather than being ‘good’ it is suspected of being restrictive and oppressive – and therefore at least unhealthy if not actually harmful.

Instead of being ‘news’ it is seen as decidedly dated, archaic and belonging to a bygone era that society is glad to see disappear.

But in actual fact, to call the gospel ‘good’ is the most ludicrous understatement, and as soon as we are able to grasp that, and that its contents are of the most pressing significance, then it must be told, or how else will people know it?

And to be utterly focused on this good news – living in grateful response to what we have encountered, and intent that all should have an opportunity to hear this good news – is not just for trendy churches without pews, clergy without collars, extroverts without embarrassment or Christians without nuance, but for every church and all who follow Christ.

Why?

It is not because the church faces near-certain extinction unless we launch a successful recruitment drive.

It is not because we want to maintain a position of influence in a culture that views us as increasingly suspicious and therefore necessary to consign to museums.

It is not because we want to make people like us.

Instead, it is because of the goodness of the good news.

And, like all news, you only know it if you are told.

What evangelism – the spreading of the Christian gospel –most needs isn’t new techniques, courses or heroes. What is needed is a captivating vision of the good news.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is best known for writing The Little Prince, which for some unimaginable reason continues to be displayed in the children’s section of bookshops and libraries. He is credited with having said this:

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

Without doubt, there is much to discuss about the ‘how to’ of evangelism; there is a significant amount to learn about good practice, effective engagement and helpful guidance. But those things aren’t the things that come first.

Before anything else, we ourselves need to be grasped by the good news about the good news.

All I seek to do here is to take you to the beach, the edge of the ocean, and lift your head so that we all might live in the wonder of the beauty, goodness and truth that we find before us.

Because it’s a vast and endless sea.

It is a pearl so exquisite and captivating that, having stumbled across it, we gladly give up everything to make it our own.

It is a hidden treasure that, when we find it, we know we must own, and so we will ‘sell everything’ to ‘buy the field in which it is buried’.

The good news offers us incomprehensible peace, immeasurable joy, and knowledge that is beyond our knowing.

It makes enemies friends, breaks down dividing walls between us and creates the people of the true and living God.

It …

Too much already? There’s more …

It sets people free and enables them to find this freedom.

It heralds the end of death, the beginning of eternity and the sure and certain hope of everlasting life.

It makes forgiveness possible, it means we are not the worst thing we have done or the best thing we might achieve.

It means we are not defined or held by our pasts or identified simply by what we have in the present.

It is the news of transcendent wonder and overwhelming glory.

For God is for us and not against us.

This love that has come to us will never leave us alone. This God who came to us has for ever bonded himself to us. There is nothing that will ever separate us from this love.

Compared to this, all things are rubbish. We would give up everything for the sake of this good news.

It brings life in its fullness, joy that is the strength of our lives, and a reason to be.

It declares and guarantees that one day all things will be made new; that justice will flow like mighty unstoppable streams and the arc of history does, in fact, bend towards truth.

In the presence of the gospel, racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia and every form of prejudice are unmasked and declared to be godless. All are welcome, everyone is invited, no one is left outside.

For God has done what we could not do.

And this news must be shared.

There is an ancient story of the siege of the town of Samaria. The enemy had surrounded these poor people and laid siege to their homes. The situation inside the town was catastrophic. All seemed lost. Outside the town, at the gates, four lepers decided to risk going to the enemy camp and pleading for their lives. When they arrived, they discovered the reality was completely different from what they expected. The tents, which they thought contained the ultimate threat to all of their lives, were empty of people and full of everything they needed or could hope for. God had acted to save them and the enemy had scarpered. Immediately they started to plunder the tents and stockpile the treasure – until one turned to their friends and said, ‘What we are doing is not right. This is a day of good news, we cannot keep it to ourselves.’

For too long the church and we Christians have kept everything to ourselves that has fallen into our laps because of God’s saving work in Christ. We have hoarded the treasure.

My contention is that in, through and because of Jesus, everything has changed. For everyone. This gift is only ours because we are those who have had our eyes, ears, hands and hearts opened so we can say ‘yes’ to all that is ours from God in Christ.

The truth is that God has acted to change everything for everyone in Jesus Christ. Yet the majority of people live, or maybe just exist, in terrible ignorance of what has been done for them, what they are invited into and what they can be part of.

Evangelism is simply the refusal to keep this good news to ourselves.

In the following pages we will explore the What, How, Who, When, Where and Why of the gospel.

And because I am persuaded that this all-encompassing belief is needed to begin to do justice to all that is ours in the good news, we have to hold the tension between things that are too often collapsed into one thing – especially in a culture that seems to regard binaries in Christianity as the best place to set up camp. Each chapter will contend that two positions – which have at times been disastrously divided – must be kept together.

Chapter 1 asks, ‘What is the gospel?’ The gospel isn’t a slogan, a statement or a doctrine, but the actual and particular person Jesus Christ. So in fact the good news is not a ‘What?’ but a ‘Who?’. Because Jesus is inseparable from the kingdom he comes to declare, establish and rule, to encounter the gospel is to experience