ISEMA Newsletters
SOME TIPS ON EFFECTIVE STREET PREACHING
by Larry Rosenbaum, SOS Ministries
Recently, I was asked to put together some guidelines for the Christians involved in street preaching in Berkeley. Street preachers are representatives of Jesus Christ to thousands of unsaved people, but unfortunately we do not always represent Him well. I hope the suggestions below will help us all become more effective street preachers.
- A wise man receives instruction. Often the world of street preachers in one of anarchy, where everyone does what is right in his own eyes and doesn’t listen to anyone else. First of all, I believe that God would have each of us be part of a home church and be accountable to its leadership. Also, we need to have a teachable spirit, so we can learn from others. Ask other Christians to listen to your preaching and make suggestions as to how you could improve. Try to avoid getting defensive when people–Christians or non-Christians–criticize your preaching. Perhaps they have something to say that will help you improve your preaching.
- More of Jesus, less of me. We need to be careful not to allow our carnal nature to affect our preaching. For example, we may have had a hard day at work, but we don’t want to take our frustrations out on the people we preach to. Or someone on the street may have cursed at us, but we don’t want to respond out of carnal anger.
- Spend time in one-on-one ministry. We need personal contact with unbelievers so we can listen to them and learn to relate better with them. We need to become proficient at listening as well as talking.
- Preaching is communication. In order to preach effectively, our message must be heard and understood by the people we are preaching to. We need to speak distinctly and present our message in a manner that the people around us or walking by can understand. If our audience is moving by rapidly, we need to adjust our message so they can benefit from the short segments of our preaching they can hear. We could be giving a wonderful message, but people could be walking by so fast they can’t understand what we’re talking about. Ask a Christian to listen to you and let you know if you can be heard distinctly and you are clearly presenting the gospel.
- Seek to become all things to all men. We are to consider our audience, using language and speaking of topics they can relate to. We can be contemporary and at the same time speak in a dignified manner, as befits the gospel.
6. Responding in the opposite spirit. If people are argumentative and proud in their reaction to us, we should respond in a gentle, humble manner. Don’t descend to their level. Try to be kind, polite and respectful to those who interrupt and heckle you. If possible, have a Christian with you to talk with people who ask you questions while you’re preaching.
- When we preach about judgment and Hell, we must do so in an attitude of love towards the people we are speaking to. Avoid any hint of self-righteousness and show people that we grieve over their lost condition as God does and wish only that they would repent and turn to the Lord. We communicate by our tone of voice as well as our words. Many of the prophets wept as they spoke of God’s judgment, showing their love and God’s love for the people even as He was about to bring judgment.
- Stick to the Gospel. Don’t get sidetracked by other issues. Avoid alienating the people you are trying to reach by making controversial statements about peripheral issues. We don’t want people to reject Jesus simply because they disagree with us on views about matters not central to the gospel. The issue of evolution may need to be dealt with if it is a genuine stumblingblock to people coming to Christ, but this needs to be done after careful research into the subject. However, most other controversial issues, especially political ones, are not keeping people from salvation and do not need to be dealt with before the person is saved. Keep illustrations brief and non-controversial, and then bring your message back to the gospel, and the person’s need to make a decision to accept or reject Jesus.
High Court Changes Course on Religious Freedom
by Edward Gaffney, Jr., Dean-elect, Valparaiso University School of Law
Here in America, we pride ourselves on the fact that religious freedom is the first of our civil liberties secured in the Bill of Rights. Sad to say, this liberty became a lot less secure because of a recent Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of the First Amendment religion clause.
The case involved the sacramental use of peyote in a ceremony of the Native American Church….While religiously-based conduct has limits, the government may regulate religious freedom only when the limitation is justified under a “compelling governmental interest” and that no less restrictive alternative to limitation exists.
In the peyote case, the court radically changed course in its interpretation of the First Amendment’s religion clause. Without any briefing or oral argument on this point, a five-justice majority abandoned the basic constitutional safeguard it announced in 1963. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that laws of general applicability are to be presumed valid even if they seriously interfere with someone’s religious beliefs or practices. According to Scalia, the only laws that the free exercise clause prohibits are those intended to stifle a particular religion. In Scalia’s view, the nation cannot “afford the luxury” of striking down laws because they offend religious belief. Individuals must rely on the political process for legislative protection of their beliefs and practices….
In his opinion, Scalia reflected wholesale abdication of the proper judicial function of assuring that unpopular minorities have the benefit of the First Amendment’s protections when the legislature turns a deaf ear.
Editor’s note: The fact that we as Christians are not sympathetic to the peyote use of these Indians should not blind us to the significance of this major restriction of our religious freedom. A coalition of Christian and Jewish groups, along with the A.C.L.U. which in this instance is on the right side, has asked the Court to reconsider this decision. If they don’t, before long this ruling will be used against Christians. It has already been used in a case involving the Amish. In another matter, the Supreme Court refused to lift an injunction by an Atlanta judge prohibiting people from distributing literature or praying within 50 feet of an abortion clinic. This, too, is an alarming indication of a move by the Court to further restrict our constitutional rights.
Evangelism Training Opportunity
SOS Ministries operates a ministry house in Oakland, CA to train future leaders in evangelism ministry. This is an opportunity to receive practical experience in street witnessing in San Francisco, Berkeley, and other Northern California cities, as well as learn about organizing outreaches and working with local churches. To my knowledge, this is the only house of its kind, and men and women with a serious interest in evangelism are urged to contact Larry Rosenbaum at (415) 531-5325 right away. The house also serves as the office for ISEMA.
Coming Events
Saturday June 2 and 16, July 7 and 21. Outreach and Worship Rally. San Francisco, CA. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325.
June 20-23 Flower Festival Outreach, Lompoc, CA. Contact Joan Teran, Son Lite, P O Box 554, Lompoc, CA 93438, (805) 736-3964.
June 21-27 Los Angeles Outreach. Witnessing to South Central area. Housing provided. Contact Bonnie & Odis Hayslett, Genesis Harvest Ministry, 3549 M.L.King Blvd. #C-175, Lynwood, CA 90262, (213) 609-1410 or 729-0207 (beeper).
June 23-July 10 Outreach to 1990 World Cup Soccer Championships, Florence and Rome, Italy. Witness at the world’s most popular sporting event. March and rally in Rome. Street drama. $1995. Contact Forward Edge, Box 65238, Vancouver, WA 98665. Forward Edge also is sponsoring outreaches (usually 2 week) to Jamaica, England, China, Brazil and New York, Seattle, and to two Indian reservations this summer and fall. Write them for details.
June 29-30 St. Louis V.P. Fair. A million people attend this event. Contact No Greater Love, Box 263, DuQuoin, IL 62832, (618) 542-4503.
June 29-July 7 SOS-Hollywood. $135 incl. food and housing. Contact SOS-Hollywood, Box 2809, Hollywood, CA 90078, (213) 469-3027.
July 7-15 Jesus Loves You-New York. $300 incl. breakfast, lunch, housing. Contact Abounding Grace Ministries, c/o Living Word Christian Center, 62 Thomas St., New York, NY 10013, (212) 571-2641 (note new address).
July 20-August 5 Goodwill Games Outreach, Seattle, WA. Contact Forerunner Ministries, Box 4066, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315, (714) 886-1171 or Forward Edge (address above).
August 1-5 Milwaukee Outreach. Contact Heart-fire Ministries, Box 14031, West Allis, WI 53214, (414) 785-1671.
August 5-11 Black Hills Motorcycle Classic, Sturgis, South Dakota. 500,000 bikers attend, including many Vietnam vets. Contact Alpha-Omega Motorcycle Club, Box 17, New Wilmington, PA 16142, (412) 652–8806.
August 17-25 SOS-San Francisco. 11th year. $45 incl. breakfast, lunch, housing. Contact SOS Ministries (address above).
September 27-29 National Street Ministries Conference, Dallas, TX. Tommy Barnett, Winkie Pratney, Gary Greenwald and others. Contact S.H.O.M., Box 380306, Duncanville, TX 75138, (214) 331-6902.
Some Final Thoughts
One of the purposes of this newsletter is to be a forum for discussion of matters of interest to those involved in evangelism. We welcome your comments concerning the teaching in this issue on street preaching or anything else. Also, let us know of other issues you would like discussed in this newsletter.
Our Tape of the Month is “Bar Ministry and Street Preaching” by Ken and Bill Henderson of Soldiers for Jesus. This tape was from an ISEMA evangelism conference in Northern California.
This month we also want to offer a special book, “Reach Out and Touch Someone” by Jeannie Griffin. This is a 31-day devotional-type book. Each day the reader is challenged to take a simple, specific step related to evangelism. Jeannie is Director of T-N-T for Jesus Ministry and travels around the country equipping Christians in evangelism and participating in evangelism outreaches.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
