By Larry Rosenbaum
In October, 2000, I attended the National Street Ministry Conference in Dallas. About 1000 Christians from around the nation attended the conference. I was blessed to see all the different ministries God has raised up around the country. Still, our ministry was quite different from the other ministries at the conference. Almost every other ministry was focused exclusively on reaching the poor–the homeless, drug addicts and alcoholics, and gang members. Our ministry may have been the only one seeking to reach an entire city—the middle class and the wealthy as well as the poor.
In general, the poor are more receptive to the gospel. Often, one can get homeless people to listen to a gospel message by offering them food, clothing, or shelter. They know their lives are a mess, and often desire some kind of change. The gospel certainly needs to be preached to the poor. Currently, about 500 Christians are involved in outreach to the poor in San Francisco. However, about 90% of San Francisco residents, and millions of tourists, are not poor. To my knowledge, we are the only ministry that preaches the gospel to these people.
A middle or upper class person is less likely to stop and talk with a stranger on the street or listen to a street preacher. Still, our Lord’s Commission is to reach everyone with the gospel, not just the poor. It is possible to evangelize middle and upper class people on the streets. Many will stop and listen to good quality music or drama. They will listen to short testimonies and gospel presentations between songs. They will read intelligently-written gospel tracts. When the Apostle Paul stood before King Agrippa, he said, “I testify to small and great alike.” We need more evangelism ministries that minister to an entire city, not just the poor.
This past year, we have held most of our Saturday outreaches at Fisherman’s Wharf. In one afternoon, perhaps 50,000-100,000 people hear something about Jesus through the music, preaching, signs and tracts. Many of these people are tourists from all over the world. Many are not being witnessed to at home. While thousands of people receive tracts, some people totally ignore us.
Many Christians are not comfortable witnessing to middle class and rich people. Often these people are filled with pride and do not see their need for a savior. Often they are well educated and raise objections that we have difficulty answering. We need to remember that we are not witnessing so that we will feel good, but so that others will hear about Jesus.
