Bay Area Outreach Ministries Newsletters
Getting Started in Evangelism
Dear Christian friends,
During the past two months, I have been giving reasons why every Christian needs to make a commitment to get involved in some kind of evangelism ministry on a regular basis (besides witnessing to friends and at work). In order to make such a commitment, we must first be convinced that God has commanded us to do this. The Great Commission was given by our Lord for us to obey. As John Stott put it, “Evangelism is a responsibility laid by Christ upon His whole church and every member of it. So the people of God must be both mobilized and trained.” God will hold us accountable for the blood of those we are supposed to warn. (Acts 20:26, 1 Corin. 9:16-17, Ezek. 3–see the June newsletter.)
Once we are convinced of this, we will overcome whatever obstacles are keeping us from getting involved in evangelism. There are many different kinds of evangelism ministry. We need to find out where God wants us. Ask Him for direction. If you don’t receive a clear direction for ministry, get started doing something. It is easier to steer a vehicle that is moving than one that is stopped. Check out the opportunities for evangelism in your own church. They may have a street outreach, a nursing home ministry or jail ministry. Go out with the group a few times. Next, check out other opportunities in your city. If you live in a small town, you may have to travel some distance to find an evangelism group you can work with. God may want you to gain experience working with this group until you can help start a similar ministry in your own town. There are also ministries you can do at home, such as writing prisoners and telephone evangelism.
The important thing is to start doing some kind of evangelism ministry on a regular basis. Make a commitment to set aside a certain period of time to do this ministry–at least a few hours a month and if possible, once a week. Give this commitment high priority in your life–make it as important as attending church on Sunday morning, reading the Bible, and prayer. Just as there may be a period when you visit different churches to find out what your home church should be, so there may be a period when you try out different kinds of evangelism. But ultimately you need to make a regular commitment to a single evangelism ministry just as you need to commit yourself to a single church. Our commitment needs to be strong enough to sustain us through times of difficulty and discouragement. We may get discouraged about evangelism just as we may get discouraged about our church, job, or spouse. It is our commitment to walk by faith in obedience to our Lord that sustains us through these times. One thing that can help is for you to join with a friend in making this commitment, and hold each other accountable to keeping it.
In Ephesians 4:12, God says the function of the evangelist is to equip the church to do the work of ministry. We in Bay Area Outreach Ministries want to help you find your own calling in evangelism and be fruitful in evangelism ministry. Write or call us and we will try to help you with this. We may be able to put you in contact with an evangelism ministry in your area. We are also available to go to cities in the Greater Bay Area to do evangelism training and organize evangelism outreaches with local churches. Our goal is to help start or encourage an ongoing outreach team in that city.
Lake County for Jesus
Clear Lake is about 120 miles north of San Francisco. Thousands of tourists will be on the beaches around the lake on the Fourth of July weekend so we have planned outreaches on the two main cities on the lake–Lakeport and Clearlake–for that weekend.
On Sunday morning May 21, we shared at the Lakeport Christian Fellowship. Many of the church members were interested in the outreach. They will be contacting other churches in the area. We will be witnessing at Lakeport on Saturday July 1 and at Clearlake on Sunday July 2 (see below). We also will be helping the local Christians start a weekly outreach in that area.
Other Outreach News
God has been opening wonderful doors for outreach for us. In addition to the Lake County outreach, during the months of June and July we will be doing outreaches in Oakland, Santa Cruz, Fresno, San Jose, and Berkeley. On May 20, we joined with Christians from two local churches to witness at the Rose Parade in Santa Rosa. We had already scheduled our Santa Rosa outreach, not knowing it was the day of this parade, which brings the largest crowd to downtown Santa Rosa all year! We gave out thousands of tracts and were able to carry our gospel signs through the entire entire parade route.
Many of you read in the newspaper about the riot in Berkeley on Friday May 19. We were preaching on Telegraph Avenue that night as hundreds of demonstrators marched by carrying torches. They marched by us twice and got to hear about Jesus. Once again, God protected us from an angry crowd that later looted local stores.
Some brethren from South Lake Tahoe have begun a church in Berkeley called Neighborhood Church. The church has grown to about thirty and includes several people who have been saved recently off the streets, most of whom we had witnessed to. They are meeting in their home but need a church facility. Pray that they find one near the campus soon. We also need a meeting place for our Berkeley outreaches and they said we could use the facility. Another newly saved Christian we had ministered to in Berkeley is attending New Life Christian Church with us. We are happy to be able to see some of the fruit of our labors.
On May 27, twenty-five high school students from New Covenant Fellowship in Livermore and Bethany Community Church in Stockton joined us in Berkeley. After the outreach, everyone shared about their experiences. They had many good conversations with people. We can really see spiritual growth in these young people. Tim Reynolds, New Covenant Youth Leader, said his group liked the witnessing better than any other activity, because of the challenge it provided them.
Ministry Needs
Once again, we want to thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. We are excited about all the doors for outreach God is opening and the people who are being saved in Berkeley. One special need we have is for a few hundred dollars to print a local address and phone number on about 100,000 tracts that were given us last month.
Our Tape of the Month is “Ministering to the Poor” by Jerry Brandt. There are many poor and homeless people in Berkeley as in other cities. Perhaps some of you would want to prepare food to give out on the streets in Berkeley with us. We also need musicians to lead worship on the streets. We believe this would really improve the effectiveness of our outreaches.
We have put together a list of teaching tapes we have available on various topics concerning evangelism. Write us if you would like a copy. We want to help you get started in evangelism outreach. Make a commitment to begin this month!
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
OUTREACH SCHEDULE
WEEKLY OUTREACHES—WEDNESDAY 10:30 AM-2 PM FRIDAY 6:45 – 11 PM SATURDAY 12-4 PM Meet at 3039 Dakota St., Oakland. Take 580 Freeway to Fruitvale exit. East on Fruitvale to MacArthur. Right on MacArthur to Maple. Right on Maple (2 blocks) to Dakota. Left on Dakota. House is 1/2 block up on right. Call to confirm meetings.
PRAYER MEETING — Tuesday June 27 and July 25 7-9 PM. Meet at 3039 Dakota St., Oakland. Come join us to pray for the Bay Area and the needs of our ministry.
SPECIAL OUTREACHES
JULY 1-2 LAKE COUNTY FOR JESUS Fourth of July Outreach. Saturday July 1 Meet at 10 AM at Lakeport Christian Fellowship, 2nd and High St., (707) 263-1424, for evangelism training and prayer. 1-4 PM Lakeport outreach. Sunday July 2 meet at 10 AM at Clearlake Calvary Chapel, (707) 994-5683. 1-4 PM Clearlake outreach. 6:30 PM Victory Celebration at First Baptist Church, Lakeport (707) 263-4327. Call us for other details.
AUGUST 7-19 SOS-SAN FRANCISCO. 10th annual outreach. Guests include Chuck Girard. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27054, San Francisco, CA 94127, (415) 552-2300.
