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Elizabeth Husk

From General Church Outreach Magazine, Issue 3, 2004

To take a quote from a New Church person, Candace Frazee (California Digest, July 2004), “Mark my words, the New Church will grow overnight and explode in ways we can’t imagine. We must be ready to accept it in the form it comes.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Why? Because it’s true.

One of the “Seven Keys to Advertising” listed in this magazine last year was “Learn to Think Like a Non-New Church Person.” After giving this some thought, I decided that this is probably pretty difficult for a New Church person, especially one born and raised in the New Church. I may be able to help, since for 35 years I knew nothing about Swedenborg or the New Church like many of the people you are trying to reach. Let me tell you how I used to think.

I was raised as a Catholic; that’s 13 years of Catholic school indoctrination. Then I went to college and got “saved” by the Protestants. Over the next 20 years I attended various denominational churches (except the New Church, of course) and became well-versed in Scripture and the various doctrines that are out here. Finally, in frustration one day I called out to God saying, “Lord, is this all there is? I need spiritual food. I’m starving. I wish you would just appear, sit down in my living room, and answer my questions."

Two days later I was strolling through a branch of our local library and came across My Religion by Helen Keller. The book ‘forced me’ to take it home. (If that’s never happened to you, then you’re not yet aware of the practical power of Divine Providence.) Keller mentioned Swedenborg and Heaven and Hell and I went back to the library to get it. I read it straight through, now realizing that the Lord can indeed come into my living room and talk to me, through the Writings, of course. I contacted the Swedenborg Foundation (thank God, they’d included a phone number and address in the back of the book!) and became a member.

I ordered and read volume after volume. That was 12 years ago. During that time I had no idea there was such a thing as a New Church organized religion. I did not know one other person who had ever heard of Swedenborg. If during that time, you had come up to me and mentioned the name Swedenborg, I would have embraced you where you stood and followed you anywhere.

One reason to continue evangelizing efforts with passion is that no one knows where the New Church is, even if they’re looking.

Today I live in Florida. Just last year I found a New Church, indirectly through the Foundation. I have since been to Bryn Athyn and met about 300 New Church people. I love you all. You are wonderful. But please stop hiding. Come out to us. The world needs what the New Church has to offer. Many people are looking, searching, struggling to find what you’ve got. Really.

Still not convinced? Last January I started a class on Swedenborg myself. Where? In a public school adult education program. It is safe to say that virtually no one in the area had previously heard of Swedenborg. Four times this year every home in the county received a brochure mentioning the Swedenborg classes. Just this year, 41 new people attended my classes and I have introduced another 9 people to Swedenborg through private conversations and books. Three more classes are scheduled this fall.

Two more examples: I mentioned Swedenborg at a training session for work. It was a discussion about death and dying and during the break a woman said “Tell me more.” I did. Her comment afterwards was “I’ve been searching for this for years. How come I’ve never heard of Swedenborg before?” She is now working with me to get hundreds of copies of the new novel The Arrivals distributed in retirement communities in Florida.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of opening your mouth at the right time. Ulla Cole, who is originally from Sweden, opened her mouth and a man heard her Swedish accent and asked “Did you ever hear of Emanuel Swedenborg?” She replied “Yes, I know him personally.” He’d been reading the Writings for 30 years and had never met a New Church person. That fellow is now working with us to start a Swedenborg discussion group in the public library in St. Augustine, Florida beginning in September, 2004.

I put flyers all over the county entitled “Who is Emanuel Swedenborg?” One man called up the school and wanted to purchase the reading materials for my class because, as he said, “I don’t know who this Swedenborg is and I’ve got to know.” He ended up attending one class and told me he agreed with everything we covered. One lady said when she saw the name Swedenborg she felt compelled to take the class, though she didn’t know why.

Are these people going to be New Church members? I don’t know--there’s no New Church near by but they keep returning to take more classes. Somebody has to keep feeding them. Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

Baby boomers are especially needful and open to the message. They participated in the final phases of the devastation of the traditional churches. (That’s what ‘the sixties’ was all about.) Now, having destroyed the authority of institutionalized churches, they approach the afterlife with no clear theology or philosophy. They are largely in denial until death looms on the scene through the illness of a parent or spouse.

What topics attract them? Practical stuff; things they care about. Near-death experiences. Reincarnation. Angels. What happens when you die. Marriage in heaven.

I am astounded and baffled to hear about past controversies over evangelization in the New Church. This is how I see it. People are adrift, drowning in a sea of darkness, some clutching to a piece of flotsam or jetsam left over from the vastation of the last church. To hear that some are unwilling to throw out lifelines is pretty hard to bear. It’s as if you’re the big, new ship in the water and you’re saying “Well, if they make it to us, we’ll let them on board.” OK, but many people can’t even see your searchlight!

Another person put it like this: “Finding the Writings is like trying to figure out how to program a VCR on your own, and then finding out that there’s actually a manual.”

Back to my introduction, “the New Church will grow overnight and explode in ways we can’t imagine.” Why is this going to happen? Because God has got to send them somewhere. That would be to you. It’s not a question of whether “people are interested in your church.” It is a question of where else is the Lord going to send them when they finally cry out and say “Lord, I’m starving. Feed me.”

I attended the funeral of the mother of two of my Swedenborg students last week. The were doing personal eulogies and sounding very Swedenborgian as they spoke about their mother going on to the spiritual world. Afterwards one of them looked at me and said, “The only reason I’m getting through this is because of your class.” I was thrilled because I had been able to give them something truly useful. I left even more motivated to continue my small efforts down here in the ‘outer darkness.’

Contact Elizabeth Husk