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Coming Events
(Note: Outreaches subject to change. Call 510-282-5629 to confirm.)
Friday March 2, 9, 23, 30 5 – 8 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Sat. March 3, 31 5th St. and Market SF 12 – 4 PM
Sat. March 24 Fisherman’s Wharf outreach Jefferson St. near Mason. 11 AM – 4 PM
Sat March 10 Shattuck and Center St. Berkeley 12:30 – 4:30 PM
Church Growth
Dear Christian friends,
“Don’t ever use the `E’ word with pastors,” I was advised by a prominent Christian leader. “Evangelism is a dirty word in the church. Use the `C’ word. Pastors like to hear about Church Growth.” During the past three decades, a lot of pastors read books on Church Growth, attended seminars, and even hired consultants to help their church to grow. Some advice was helpful. Some was unscriptural. For example, they were told that churches that are “racially and economically homogeneous grow best.” Many churches, following this advice instead of James chapter 2, became comfortable social clubs for rich white people.
I was very interested when two experts on Church Growth appeared on the 700 Club TV show as part of a discussion of the current state of the church in America. While this show was taped 18 years ago, I believe it is still relevant today.
Here are excerpts from their discussion:
Peter Wagner: “I think it is pretty obvious from the last election that some of the things the church was praying for and desiring did not happen in our society. The decade of the 80’s was a decade of a great flowering of the church growth movement with books and conferences and much interest….[It was] even featured in Time magazine. But yet at the end of the decade, church attendance was the same and Protestant church membership had decreased….Even the churches that had grown were shown to grow through transfer growth not through conversion growth.”
“We haven’t seen large numbers of unsaved people come to Jesus Christ in America since the Jesus Movement. And I think it’s time that we move out and do what’s necessary to see unsaved people come to Christ….The only the way we are going to change the face of the church in America is to free the lay people, to get the lay people ministering.”
Ken Hemphill, Baptist Center for Church Growth: “From 1960 to 1990 church membership rose by 28% but at the same time population increased by 39% and thus we would have had to have 12 million more Christians today to keep even….There are churches that are reaching large numbers of unsaved people but by and large any growth that occurs is largely a transfer, what I term the reshuffling of the evangelical deck and it seems that every time we reshuffle the cards we drop some of them.”
I was amazed to hear two prominent experts on Church Growth say that despite all the books, seminars and interest in Church Growth, church growth is not even keeping up with the population growth in our nation. And the growth we are seeing is pretty much people moving from one church to another. Wagner said that the last time we saw large numbers of unsaved people coming to Christ was during the Jesus Movement and that what we needed was to get the lay people ministering.
The Jesus Movement took place from about 1967 to 1975. During this time, large numbers of people involved in the drug counter-culture were saved and were actively witnessing to others in this lifestyle. Most were saved through street evangelism, through coffeehouses and concerts, and through new converts witnessing to their friends.
I was saved in 1970 as part of the Jesus Movement. We met in crowded living rooms and storefront churches, not worrying about comfortable chairs or parking lots. We didn’t read books on church growth, but we did read and obey the Bible. Jesus, Peter, Paul and the other apostles went to the streets and public places to preach the gospel, so that’s what we did. We also witnessed to our family and friends, anyone we could. As a result, a lot of people got saved.
During the 1980’s, a lot of Christians who had been saved during the Jesus Movement stopped witnessing. They were busy making money, raising their families, and had a lot of excuses for not witnessing. Perhaps they thought that church growth experts and TV and radio ministries could do the job for them so they wouldn’t have to face possible rejection by witnessing to people. It didn’t work.
We need to become disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Following Jesus involves obeying His command to take the Gospel into all the world. We need to sacrifice our money, our time, and our pride. The hardest sacrifice is our pride. We need to be willing to face rejection and opposition when we confront unsaved people with their lost condition and need of a Savior.
On the Streets
On Fri. Oct. 13, we witnessed at 16th St. and Valencia. Dave witnessed to Orion, a maintenance man in San Francisco. He was homeless because he spent all the money he earned on drugs. Dave and Efron prayed with him. Dave also witnessed to Paul, a Catholic from Ireland. He asked if he had been forgiven for his sins. “I’m not sure. I’ve tried my best.” Dave shared the gospel with him. As Cal was preaching, a heckler came up and tried to interrupt by screaming at him. Some police officers approached, and Dave asked them for help. They told him to move away from us.
The next day, we witnessed at 5th and Market. Mike witnessed to Amon, from Russia, and two teenage girls from Mongolia. He also ministered to Fabio, a Christian from Brazil. Dave and Scott ministered to Fanny, a French woman who cried as she listened to our worship music, even though she didn’t know much English. They prayed with her and she was thankful. Dave witnessed to Ryan, an atheist who grew up in church. He asked him, “Can you know truth? Where does logic come from?” Ryan had no answer. Dave said, “Logic comes from a mind. What mind did it come from? We all want justice and mercy. The cross satisfies the perfect justice and mercy of God.”
On Fri. Oct. 20, we witnessed on Castro Street. This is the headquarters of San Francisco’s “gay” community. We normally witness here twice a year, and are “low key.” We don’t use amplifiers or bring signs, because they generate a lot of hostility. As soon as we arrived, I saw Paul Bernardino. He is a “Marxist gay Catholic” who has caused us a lot of problems since 1980, when he organized several large protests against our ministry. A few years ago, he organized a violent protest against some other Christians, video of which was shown nationally on Fox News. On this night, he was friendly and did not cause us any problems. Dave witnessed to Bobby, a transgender who agreed with the gospel but was clearly unsaved. He also witnessed to Wesley, a Chinese homosexual whose grandmother was a Christian. He walked away when his boyfriend arrived. Kathy ministered to Rick, a homeless man who said he was a believer but was having a hard time. Cal witnessed to Jack, another homeless man. He said his tooth was hurting so Cal prayed for him. Afterwards, he said the pain was gone.
The next day, we witnessed in downtown Berkeley. While Mike was preaching, three men in their 20’s approached him. He stopped preaching to talk with them. Two of them were not serious but one, a Jewish man named Mark, was very receptive to the gospel. Mike witnessed to him and offered him a Christian book by Mark Cahill. He took it and said he would read it. Dave witnessed to Patrick, who had been watching some Christian preachers on TV. He also witnessed to Hugo, a Jewish high school student. He was listening to my preaching and understood the gospel. I think it is truly remarkable that in a place like Berkeley, a Jewish high school student had heard and understood the gospel. The gospel message is getting out even in Berkeley.
Ministry News
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. For the first time, we have printed gospel tracts in full color. Cal designed the tracts, and we printed 90,000 tracts. They are larger than our old tracts, and are easier to read. These tracts cost us $2600 to print, fold, and deliver. This is an excellent price.
This next month, we will be applying for our park permits for this coming year. Please pray that we will have no problem getting permits. It will cost about $1500 for the permits.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
