ISEMA Newsletters
Mardi Gras Outreach Report
by Ray Jablonski, from the Heart-Fire Ministries Newsletter, Box 14031, Milwaukee, WI 53214, (414) 445-9490.
Our team was made up of five rookies (first time at Mardi Gras Outreach) and five veterans. We partnered experienced with non- experienced and set the battle plan for tonight as walk and scout the area, and do some tract ministry. After a few hours on Bourbon Street, we decided that we would set up on Bourbon and Orleans Streets. Saturday, after prayer, praise and worship, and lunch, we hit the streets….At our corner, we were pleased by the willingness of people to talk about spiritual things. Some allowed us to pray with them for needs in their lives, while others were willing to pray for salvation….By Monday the press of people on Bourbon St. was too much, so we moved one block to Royal and Orleans St. Jim Birch from Oklahoma had brought a 10 foot cross along and we decided that today was a good day to bring it out. When we stood that cross in the middle of the street, it attracted people like honey attracts bees….Monday evening we were part of an open air praise rally at an outdoor amphitheater in Jackson Square. Over 1000 Christians attended and our 1 1/2 hours of praise rang through the French Quarter. After the rally, we assembled into a three block long parade. We marched through the French Quarter singing, “Oh the Blood of Jesus.” The parade stopped in the middle of the homosexual district [where we] sang and worshiped Jesus for twenty minutes….After the Christian rally and parade, we went back to our corner (the parade had gone right past it.) It seemed that strongholds had been broken by God’s anointing during the rally and parade. You could feel God’s presence in that area, and people seemed so much more open….[On Tuesday] we set up the cross again and began sharing Christ and distributing gospel tracts. We left the streets about 6 PM because the last few hours of Mardi Gras are the craziest. At midnight the party’s over. Lent begins and people that only a few hours earlier were part of the debauchery, drunkenness, and sexual immorality of Mardi Gras, go to church to get some ashes, or go back home or to work. They go back to “normal life.” This year, thousands of people left the Mardi Gras with a witness of Jesus Christ, because a few Christians decided to shine the light of Jesus into someone else’s darkness.
Loving the Church Visitor
by Jim DeGolyer (from the GO Report [Gospel Outreach, Box 1022, Eureka, CA 95502, (707) 445-2135] Jim DeGolyer oversees the Verbo Church in Quito, Ecuador, which has recently grown to over 3000.)
When a non-Christian first attends a church he is usually uncomfortable. He is among people that he doesn’t know, with customs and attitudes toward life that he finds somewhat strange. A new person’s discomfort is especially heightened if the people of the church are not accustomed to welcoming new people with love and acceptance. The beginning of evangelizing is often the personal contact of a friend or a relative. But its continuation involves the new person becoming a part of the fellowship. The church must be a place where the new person feels at home and accepted.
How do you tell if a church is open or closed, especially toward new members? One warning signal is the length of time the church has been in existence. The older the group, the easier it is to become closed. As people develop closer relationships within the group, they lose the desire to get to know new people. They find satisfaction in their existing relationships. While they don’t outright reject a new person, they are so happy in their current friendships that they don’t realize that the new person is there.
As a result, the visiting new person finds himself alone in a very happy group. Few new people will be interested in continuing to come to a closed group. This is fatal for the growth of a church. It is very common for all of us to become bottled up in our own interests. To really walk in the love of Jesus, we have to learn not just to follow what comes easiest for us. We need to make the decision to do the Lord’s will in each situation. This requires sensitivity to the needs of others, especially in the group setting. It is especially important to love and befriend people we are not naturally attracted to or who are just different from us.
Some people have customs we don’t like, or their appearance is repulsive. They might come to a home group with five unmanageable children. Many Christians wish that the people who come to their church would arrive with clean and ordered lives. It would be like a fisherman expecting the fish that he is catching to be cleaned, prepared, and ready to be cooked.
We are called to love and extend ourselves to those who are difficult to love, to bear with them, and to help them enter the kingdom of heaven, in the same way we would help someone we naturally liked. By learning to be more conscious of the needs of every person in the church, we can discover many ways to help them to feel at home. Eventually, with our help, they will make the transition from being visitors to becoming family.
For example, in a home group, helping a new person during worship by finding him a song book and showing him the song that is being sung will make him feel welcome. Discuss with your church or home group how each one felt when they first attended a church. Did they feel well received? What problems were there? What made them want to become a part of the group? How could we change so that all new people feel welcome and want to stay?
Studies show that friendship between Christians and non-Christians is a very important element in evangelism. One study showed that of the people involved in the church, 70-80% were invited by friends or relatives! The relationships we have with relatives, neighbors, friends and people on the job–and especially with the new people who come to our churches or home groups–are bridges that help these people to take the step of entering into a relationship with Jesus and His family.
It is important that Christians develop and maintain good relationships with people who do not know Jesus. And nothing could be more important than loving and befriending the stranger who walks into our midst. They came in looking for something. And we know the One they need.
Coming Events
June 15-17 National Street Ministries Conference, Columbus, Ohio. Contact Scott Hinkle, Box 30642, Phoenix, AZ 85046, (602) 661- 6406.
June 22-August 12 GO Europe! 95. Street witnessing throughout Europe. Contact Youth With a Mission, Kadijksplein 18, 1018 AC, Amsterdam.
June 24-July 8. Christ in Action Boot Camp (for youth ages 14- 17). Contact Christ in Action, Box 4200, Manassas, VA 22110, (703) 368-8286.
June 23-30 SOS-Hollywood. $185 including food and housing. Contact the Oasis, Box 1590, Hollywood, CA 90078, (213) 469-3027.
June 26-30 and July 26-30 Atlanta Outreaches. Contact Rescue Atlanta, Box 965039, Marietta, GA 30066, (404) 924-0201.
June 30-July 8 SOS-San Francisco. $50 including partial meals and housing (fee can be waived). Special guests Ray Comfort and Chuck Girard. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (510) 531-5325..
June 30-July 5 Fourth of July Outreach. Washington, DC. $85 including food and housing. Contact Power of Jesus Revivals, Box 5414, Rockville, MD 20855, (304) 258-6253 or (814) 725-9332.
July 6-15 Jesus Loves You-New York. Contact Abounding Grace Ministries, 740 E 6th St., New York, NY 10009, (212) 614-0370.
July 16-23 and August 13-20. Challenge ’95. Two weeks of intensive evangelism in New York City. Contact Teen Challenge, 444 Clinton Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238, (718) 789-1414.
July 19-23 Radical Air, Pittsburgh, PA. Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above).
July 26-29 Congress on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelization. Orlando, FL. Contact Orlando ’95, Box 2201, Lindale, TX 75712, (903) 882-1995.
July 31 – August 4 Miami Outreach. Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above).
August 7-11 St. Louis Outreach. Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above).
SOS MINISTRIES is looking for two men with a desire to learn about and do evangelism to live in their ministry house. For more information, contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (510) 531-5325.
FORWARD EDGE is sending outreach teams to Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Crow Indian Reservation, Romania, Kazakhstan, Israel and China this next year. Most outreaches are about two weeks long. Fees are $300-2500 depending on distance. For more information write or call them at 15121-A NE 72nd Ave., Vancouver WA 98686, (360) 57 57 574-EDGE.
A Final Word
As we approach the summer months, the weather is getting warm and there are lots of people on the streets and in the parks to witness to. There are also special events in every town that draw large crowds. Also, consider attending at least one of the city- wide outreaches listed above in the Coming Events column. You are certainly welcome to join us in reaching San Francisco for Jesus, June 30-July 8. Please send us a report of any outreaches you are involved in, so we can include it in this newsletter.
Our Tape of the Month is Bar and Porno Shop Ministry by Ken Henderson. Ken is Director of Soldiers for Jesus. This teaching was from an ISEMA Evangelism Conference in Florida. The light of Jesus Christ shines brightest in the darkness, and God can lead us to witness even in these dark places.
Also, many of you have never read my book–You Shall Be My Wit nesses: How to Reach Your City for Christ. This book tells the story of SOS Ministries, and contains teachings on how to do various kinds of outreach in your own community. Some of the topics discussed in the book include: starting a street witnessing team, witnessing to homosexuals, witnessing at shopping centers, rock concerts and schools, and witnessing to children, the elderly, Catholics, Jews and cultists. If you already have a copy of this book, perhaps you will want an extra copy to give to a friend, or to your pastor.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum