ISEMA Newsletters
Taking the Church to the Street
by Larry Rosenbaum
Many people refuse to step inside a church building, except for a wedding or funeral. Some claim that they had a bad experience in a church or are turned off by the coldness and hypocrisy they saw. Others think themselves unworthy to enter a church building. If people will not come into a church building, we can–and should–bring the church to them.
The church, of course, is not a building but the body of believers God has called out of the world unto Himself. The early Christians did not have special church buildings. They met in homes and in public places such as Solomon’s porch on the Temple grounds (Acts 5:12). When we have church services in public places, it gives unbelievers an opportunity to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit, the beauty of worship, the love, joy, and peace that is felt as believers gather together, and the reality of knowing Christ. Demonic powers are scattered when Christians gather in true worship, and an atmosphere is established in which unbelievers are convicted of their sin and drawn to Christ.
There are several ways to adapt a church service to a street situation. One is for a church to hold its regular worship service in a public park. An alternative is to have a special worship service at a different time, such as Sunday afternoon after church or Saturday afternoon. Talk to your pastor about this idea. If you pick a busy park and meet there on a regular basis, such as the first Sunday of each month, people will start joining you and some will get saved and be added to your church.
Outdoor church services are also a good, non-threatening way of getting people in your church involved in witnessing. If you use a public address system, people will hear you better. This may require renting a generator and a small PA system, if you don’t have one. Call the police department to find out if a permit is needed and, if so, how to get one.
The service needs to be adapted to meet the needs of unbelievers. A few brief testimonies of salvation and of God’s workings in the lives of believers are helpful. Avoid using Christian jargon such as “sanctified” and “propitiation” without explaining the terms. After the message, give people an opportunity to receive Christ or receive prayer for personal needs. Keep the meeting short. We have a policy of not taking offerings in evangelistic gatherings, since it confirms the suspicions of many unbelievers that we are only “after people’s money.” After the meeting you can serve refreshments, giving the Christians an opportunity to meet the new people and speak with them informally.
Another thing you can do is organize a special worship rally in a local park. Several times a year we gather hundreds of Christians from different local churches for a worship rally in a downtown park on Saturday afternoon. We get a permit (ask your police department how to get one), set up a large public address system, and have a worship group lead in worship for an hour. This is followed by a 20 minute evangelistic message and an opportunity for people to come forward to receive salvation, prayer for personal needs, or to get a free New Testament. During the worship time, the presence of the Holy Spirit is very strong and hundreds of unbelievers are drawn to listen. Some of the Christians are trained to counsel and pray with those who come forward. Other Christians are looking around for unbelievers who are being touched by God`s Spirit, and get into conversations with them about Christ. Still others are standing around the periphery of the park, giving out tracts and inviting people to join the rally.
A third method we have used with great success in San Francisco is called “church on the street.” Our regular street witnessing team will gather on a busy sidewalk, making sure to leave a pathway for people to walk by so we don’t block the sidewalk. Usually, we start with a few worship songs, have a one minute testimony, worship for 5 more minutes, and have someone preach for 2 minutes, closing with an invitation for people to come forward and receive Christ.
Often, when our street witnessing team first gathers on a street, the whole team will worship on the street for about 15 minutes. Then, we will send most of the Christians in pairs to witness and leave about 10 Christians at that spot to continue in worship. Occasionally, someone will preach a short message. This helps establish an atmosphere where the presence of God is felt, in contrast to the other things that are happening on the street. Workers who get spiritually drained while out on the street can join the worship group for a while and get refreshed.
Balloons, Stickers, Posters, Floats
We should constantly be looking for new ways of getting God`s message to people. One method that has been used effectively is giving away helium balloons with something about Christ printed on it. People will stand in line to get a balloon, and carry it around the city with God`s Word on it. Balloons are especially effective at special events such as parades. Ed Human is an evangelist who has used balloons for years. You can order balloons from him, as well as get information about how to use them. His address is Box 1403, Euless, TX 76039. Ed also prints stickers with a Christian message. You can put them all sorts of places. Also, you can give them away to people on the street.
Before he was saved, Ron Woodruff received some Jesus stickers at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He couldn`t read but he liked the fluorescent stickers and put them up in his room. His friends would come into his room, read the stickers, and ask Him if he believed in God. God used this to get him thinking about Jesus.
Another thing you can do is put tracts or specially-designed Christian posters up on bulletin boards and any other place where there are fliers announcing various events. In doing this, we need to avoid defacing property and bringing reproach to Jesus.
One idea that few Christians have considered is putting a Christian float in a parade. All you need to do is get a flatbed truck and decorate it with some Christian theme. Make an attractive float that can be used at any event. Pick a parade at a small town near you and apply to enter. Small parades usually will accept anyone who applies. Being in a parade gives you an opportunity to witness to everyone there. You can set up a sound system on the float and talk about Jesus, or play Christian music. Other Christians can walk along the float and give out tracts. This is an especially good way to give tracts to children. Once you have been in one parade, you will find it easy to get into larger parades. In fact, you will probably receive application forms for parades without asking for them. I have met some Christians who have a ministry of putting a float in parades all over Northern California. This is an easy and effective way of reaching millions of people.
Coming Events
Saturday May 18 San Francisco Worship Rally and Outreach, 3-6 PM. Market & Powell St. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325.
May 23-26 Indianapolis 500 Outreach. Contact No Greater Love Box 263, DuQuoin, IL 62832, (618) 542-4503 or Christ in Action, Box 100, Chatsworth, GA 30705, (404) 695-1868.
May 25 San Antonio Evangelism Outreach. Contact Operation Christlift Ministries, 3400 W. Park Blvd #2117, Plano, TX 75075, (214) 519-0195.
May 28-June 10 Nicaragua Outreach. Make improvements on church- run orphanage and minister to children. $975. (also outreaches to England, East Germany, Romania, China, and American Indians throughout the summer and fall–prices vary). Contact Forward Edge, 15121-A N.E. 72nd Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, (206) 574- EDGE.
June 7-9 Harborfest ’91 Outreach, Norfolk, VA. Contact Paul & Dana Powers, Youth Evangelism Ministries, Inc., Box 1908, Newport News, VA 23601, (804) 595-9523.
June 10-15 Rescue Atlanta ’91. Contact Rescue Atlanta, Box 965039, Marietta, GA 30066, (404) 924-0201.
June 21-29 SOS-Hollywood. Contact SOS-Hollywood, Box 2809, Hollywood, CA 90078, (213) 469-3027.
June 28-July 6 SOS-San Francisco. Guest speakers include Ray Comfort and Phil Aguilar. Contact SOS Ministries (address above).
June 28-July 4 Taste of Chicago Outreach. Contact Christ in Action (address above).
July 6-15 Jesus Loves You-New York. Contact Abounding Grace Ministries, 7040 Colonial Rd.#3-G, Brooklyn, NY 11209, (718) 836- 2957.
July 21-24 Evangelism conference and outreach, Salt Lake City. 300,000 attend Mormon Parade on July 24. Contact Jack Perry, Metro Fellowship, Box 1626, Salt Lake City, UT 84110, (801) 363-0564.
July 25-August 3 Twin Cities for Jesus, Minneapolis-St. Paul. Contact Forerunner Ministries, Box 6084, Minneapolis, MN 55406, (612) 722-0751.
July 29-August 3 Miami Outreach. Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above).
July 31-August 4 Milwaukee Outreach. Contact Heart-fire Ministries, Box 14031, W. Allis, WI 53214, (414) 445-9490.
August 30-31 St. Louis V.P. Fair. Contact No Greater Love (address above).
September 26-28 National Street Ministries Conference, Dallas, TX. Contact Scott Hinkle Outreach Ministries, Box 380306, Duncanville, TX 75138, (214) 331-6902.
A Final Word
Once again I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support for the International Street and Evangelism Ministries Association (ISEMA). I want to welcome those of you who are new members of ISEMA. Please continue to send us evangelism reports and other material that we can include in this newsletter. Our goal is to see this newsletter become a vehicle through which Christians who are interested in evangelism ministry can communicate with one another about things of importance to us.
One area that most street ministers have a hard time with is finances. Most of us find ourselves in a continual struggle to minister with very little funds. Our Tape of the Month is “Financing a Street Ministry” by Moishe Rosen. Moishe is Founder and Director of Jews for Jesus. Jews for Jesus is the world’s largest mission to the Jews, with about 100 full-time staff members. In this tape, Moishe shares some valuable ideas on raising funds for evangelism ministry.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
