Rescue Atlanta
Dear Christian Friends
Last month’s article on “Dealing with Discouragement” produced one of the best responses we’ve ever had to a teaching in this newsletter. Several ministry leaders contacted me about reprinting the article in their newsletter. Street ministers probably struggle more than most Christians in this area. We are grieved when unbelievers oppose the gospel and refuse God’s wonderful gift of salvation. But even more, we are grieved by the disobedience of the church to our Lord’s Great Commission and the endless excuses given for this disobedience.
Last month I received a report from Mel Rolls on the Rescue Atlanta outreach–June 10-15. “We missed a real good chance to get discouraged,” he wrote. Over 200 people had verbally committed to participate in the outreach, but only 15 showed up. And of these, 14 didn’t show up until Thursday June 13 and only 1 showed up for the whole week! Also, several of their scheduled speakers and their special musical guest cancelled right before the outreach began. And one of their main permits got torn up by an official who said she hated God, right before the outreach.
Mel proceeded to describe how God turned around these circumstances, and did a great work during the outreach. Another musician was able to replace the one who cancelled. They held the rally they had planned even though the permit had been torn up. They held another rally on the steps of the State Capitol. The governor was holding a press conference at the same time, but all the people could hear were the praises of God! The Chief Deputy came over and asked them to shut down for a few minutes so they could finish their conference, which they did. He said that because of their submissive attitude, they could use the Capitol steps any time they wanted. They also did a rally at “Hutsville,” a place where 70 people live in cardboard boxes, feeding them and having church there. They sent two of the men to a one year Christian rehab program. At the end of the outreach, they had held rallies with a total of 2500 in attendance, fed over 1500 people, had 240 professions of faith, and baptized twelve people–all with their small group of workers!
A Theology of Street Evangelism: The Ingathering of God’s Community
by Stuart Geller. Stuart is an intern working with SOS Ministries and ISEMA. He is a doctoral student (in street ministry) at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary near Chicago. (Ed. note: I realize this article is more difficult reading than most in this newsletter. Read it carefully, study the scriptures mentioned, and I think you will find it helpful.)
The mission to evangelize or proclaim God’s in breaking of His Kingdom came to those outside of the “chosen people” through a continued rejection by that people of the “ways of the Lord”. In Exodus 34:12-14 God clearly commands His people not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land who are pagans but to destroy their altars, break down their images and cut down their groves. The peoples’ response is found in Judges 1:27-36. They not only mix with the people but fail to drive them out and make agreements with them.
The resulting judgment of the Lord is that these enemies of the people will be thorns in their sides and a snare unto them. They continue disobedience and abomination until the once chosen people are divided and finally taken into captivity. Israel was taken by Assyria and Judah by Babylon. God’s omniscience is shown to us here in this act because before Moses’ plea to God in Exodus 32:10-14 not to destroy His people, God intended a new mission outside the established community by wiping away the old community and forming a new one. He does not wipe away the people physically. Rather, it is done spiritually through their captivity and dispersion. The call to gather a new community is seen as the extension of the “eternal redemption message” outside the Old Testament church, Israel.
God’s heart is continued reconciliation and redemption of His people as we find in Matthew 10:5-6, where Jesus commands His disciples not to go outside of the community to evangelize but to go to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The continued rejection of the plan of salvation by the people of God brings into prominence the mission outside of the church. John declares it in John 1:11 when he says, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Thus the choice is made and the way is paved for the mission to the gentiles.
In Acts 10, God declares to Peter that what He declares as clean is not unclean. The uncleanness referred to the former ritual of circumcision as an indication of entrance into the community. Verse 34-35 spells it out “… I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.” This is Peter’s prophetic discernment exercised as he did when he declared Jesus as the Christ. Jesus inaugurates this commission to go outside of the community in Acts 1:8 when he commands His followers to be witnesses in all Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of earth. Mark 16:15-18 echoes this command to go into the world preach the Gospel to every creature. The significance of evangelizing everywhere including the street is learned from Matthew 24:14 when Jesus makes it clear that until the Gospel is preached in the whole world His return and the end will not come.
The streets are a significant place for the ingathering of the new community. Proverbs 1:20 says, “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets.” Luke 14:21, shows the significance of the streets when it speaks of the teaching in them. In Matthew 3:3 John the Baptist, tells the people to prepare the way and make his paths straight. In Mark 6:56 we see the sick being made whole in the streets. The commissioning to do street evangelism comes from the Lord in Luke 14:16-24, when He speaks about the “great supper” and the master or God bidding His servant to call in all who where invited to come. Those in the community (the Jews) are the ones he refers to, yet they all have excuses why they cannot come. The servant goes back and tells his Lord these things. Then the Master says, “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, halt and blind.” After the servant does this there is still room and finally the Master says, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled… .”
A new community is thus called into being. The servant is transformed by the experience of the rejection of those invited to come. He must present a new message to a different people and thus must gear his proclamation to the place where they are at, on the fringes of the community. He must cross-culturally communicate and make his message contextually relevant to the people. They must receive the message and interpret it, understanding the meaning that was intended by the communicator, which in this case is the street evangelist. Thus it is necessary to develop an overall effective model that can be translated into the unique circumstances of the time, place and context that is being considered. Romans 11 speaks of the grafting in of the new community and the blindness of the old (Israel) until the fullness of the gentiles come into it.
John 17:21 says it all, that those outside the church who are called from the street into the community “may be one” as the Father is with the Son. The call to community is this, that the Church of Jesus Christ would truly be found sacrificially loving one another and gathering in those who are outside. As a result, the Church will become as God intended, a glorious people not having spot or wrinkle, whole or holy and without blemish, dwelling in eternal relationship in the City of God, our New Jerusalem.
Coming Events
September 26-28 National Street Ministries Conference, Dallas, TX. Tommy Barnett, Mario Murillo, Sonny Arguinzoni, Chuck Girard, Ray Comfort and others. Contact Scott Hinkle Outreach Ministries, Box 380306, Duncanville, TX 75138, (214) 283-3900.
Saturday September 28 Full Gospel Business Men’s Community Outreach, 12-7 PM. PAL Stadium, San Jose, CA. Contact Dan at 408-370-3688.
Saturday October 12 San Francisco Worship Rally and Evangelism Outreach. 3-6 PM. Powell St. BART Station. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (510) 531-5325.
October 26-November 6 Hawaiian Halloween Outreach. $300 for food and lodging. Contact Christ in Action Box 100, Chatsworth, GA 30705, (404) 695-1868.
October 24-November 4 Huasteca, Mexico Outreach. (Also outreaches to China, Guatemala and Romania in Fall. Contact Forward Edge, 15121-A NE 72nd Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, (206) 574-EDGE.
Want to know more about street ministry? Training available in evangelism and/or street ministry. Over 20 years experience. Contact Henry Pulsifer, P O Box 431, Kiln, MS 39556, (601) 255-9251.
A Final Word
Thank you for all the letters and evangelism reports you’ve sent us this past month. Please continue to send us evangelism reports–especially on last summer’s city-wide outreaches. We’ll include a few in each newsletter. We have a new area code in Oakland, so our phone number is now 510-531-5325.
We sent out an evangelism survey last month to all the street ministries in our directory. If you got one, please return it right away. We want to know more about what you are doing and how we can serve you better. If you have a street ministry and didn’t get a survey, contact us and we’ll send you one.
I hope many of you will be able to attend the National Street Ministries Conference in Dallas, September 26-28. It is a time to receive fellowship with many others involved in street ministry as well as valuable teaching in street evangelism. The details are listed above in the “Coming Events” section.
Our Tape of the Month is “Door to Door Evangelism” by William Rodriguez. This teaching was given at an ISEMA Evangelism Conference in Denver several years ago. We need to use every means to reach people with the gospel. Some of them can only be reached by going to their homes. By the way, our main tape duplicator is broken. Please pray that we can get it repaired.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
