By Larry Rosenbaum
Around the world, we are seeing a great move of God with many people coming to Christ. The U.S. Center for World Missions estimates that 2% of the world was Christian in 1900. By 1970, the percentage increased to 5%. By 1992, it was 10%. Today, multitudes are being saved in Central and South America, Africa, Russia, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
In contrast, in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe, we are seeing what could be called a “satanic revival.” I do not think there has ever been a time when so many professing Christians and people raised in the church have turned away from Christianity. We all know about the anti-Christian bias in the news media, in our universities, and increasingly among our politicians. Many rock music songs are a blatant attempt to turn young people away from Christianity. What they advocate instead is occultism, satanism, pursuit of pleasure, and suicide. The rate of teenage premarital sex has increased 250% from 1963 to 1978. The rate of teens who have attempted suicide has increased 314% from 1960 to 1990. And the violent crime rate has increased 471% from 1960 to 1990!
Just when I think nothing can shock me any more, I pick up the newspaper and read about some British researchers who have developed a way to produce test-tube babies with the eggs taken from aborted female fetuses! God help us!
What can we do about these problems? Politicians and news commentators suggest spending more money on education, longer jail terms for criminals, turning in handguns, and putting warnings on violent video games. But none of these “solutions” deal with the real problem: the moral decay in our society caused by our rejection of Christianity and Biblical values. The Bible teaches that all real change must begin in the hearts of people. The only real answer is to preach the gospel and allow God’s Word to change people’s lives. The only thing that can stop the moral decay in our society is for people to be converted to Christ.
How do we reach Americans with the gospel? In many nations, God’s Word is going to people with little or no exposure to Christianity. Their hearts are open to the gospel and many are getting saved. In the U.S., many people attended church as children. Some attended churches that deny the essentials of our faith. Others grew up in evangelical churches but experienced hypocrisy. They saw people talk about God’s love and destroy others with gossip. Or they had a youth leader who molested them.
Many Americans had their faith destroyed by teachers who taught evolution and mocked Christianity. Others were influenced by the news media, or by the anti-Christian lyrics of rock music. They hear about the Salem witch trials, the crusades, the inquisition, the religious wars in Ireland, the TV preacher scandals, and they want nothing of Christianity. Many unsaved people hold liberal political views, believing rightly or wrongly that the liberals are the ones who care for the poor, while the conservatives care for the rich. Many people think they must change their political views in order to become a Christian. How do we reach these people?
The challenge we face in San Francisco and Berkeley is to reach people with distorted views of Christianity. These cities are trendsetters, and attitudes here are more extreme than in other parts of the country. Still, the rest of our nation is not far behind, and the lessons we learn here will help those in other places. The first thing we have learned is that our faith in Christ must be real. People can spot phonies. We must practice what we preach. People are turned-off by ministers that are greedy for money, so we never ask for money on the streets. We try to show people that we really care about them and want to help with their physical as well as their spiritual needs. We like to give out food and clothing to the homeless at our outreaches.
The most effective thing we do, I believe, is to bring the church to the street. It is very difficult to get unsaved people in San Francisco to attend church meetings. But when we have a “church on the street” rally, many will sense the presence of God as we worship Him in a public place. They will see the joy we have in knowing God. They will see Christians of different ages and races in unity. Often people will ask what church we are from. They want to attend such a church. At every outreach, we are planting and watering thousands of gospel seeds, many of which will one day result in salvation.
Personal witnessing involves a relationship between two (or more) persons. Often an unbeliever may respond to one person’s witness but not to another person. He may reject the witness of a young man but receive the witness of an older woman who reminds him of his Christian grandmother. One intellectual needs to hear from someone who can answer his questions about the Bible. Another intellectual responds best to a new Christian who can’t answer his questions but is obviously in love with Jesus. Many Christians who think they don’t have the “gift of evangelism” are actually the most effective soul-winners.
Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, defines effective witnessing as “simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, leaving the results to God.” How do we reach our generation for Jesus? The gospel of Jesus Christ has not lost any of its power. If we will go to people with the love of Jesus, many will ultimately be saved.
