Newsletter June 1990

ISEMA Newsletters

SOME TIPS ON EFFECTIVE STREET PREACHING

by Larry Rosenbaum, SOS Ministries

Recently,  I  was  asked to put together some guidelines for  the Christians  involved  in street  preaching  in  Berkeley.  Street preachers  are  representatives of Jesus Christ to  thousands  of unsaved people,  but unfortunately we do not always represent Him well.  I  hope the suggestions below will help us all become more effective street preachers.

  1. A  wise man receives instruction.  Often the world of  street preachers in one of anarchy, where everyone does what is right in his own eyes and doesn’t listen to anyone else.  First of all,  I believe  that God would have each of us be part of a home  church and  be accountable to its leadership.  Also,  we need to have  a teachable  spirit,  so  we  can  learn  from  others.  Ask  other Christians to listen to your preaching and make suggestions as to how  you  could  improve.  Try to avoid  getting  defensive  when people–Christians  or non-Christians–criticize your  preaching. Perhaps  they  have something to say that will help  you  improve your  preaching.
  2. More of Jesus, less of me. We need to be careful not to allow our  carnal nature to affect our preaching.  For example,  we may have  had  a  hard day at work,  but we don’t want  to  take  our frustrations  out on the people we preach to.  Or someone on  the street may have cursed at us, but we don’t want to respond out of carnal anger.
  3. Spend time in one-on-one ministry.  We need personal  contact with  unbelievers  so we can listen to them and learn  to  relate better  with them.  We need to become proficient at listening  as well as talking.
  4. Preaching  is communication.  In order to preach effectively, our  message  must be heard and understood by the people  we  are preaching to. We need to speak distinctly and present our message in  a  manner  that  the  people around  us  or  walking  by  can understand.  If  our audience is moving by rapidly,  we  need  to adjust our message so they can benefit from the short segments of our  preaching  they  can hear.  We could be giving  a  wonderful message,  but  people  could be  walking by so  fast  they  can’t understand what we’re talking about. Ask a Christian to listen to you  and let you know if you can be heard distinctly and you  are clearly presenting the gospel.
  5. Seek to become all things to all men.  We are to consider our audience,  using language and speaking of topics they can  relate to.  We  can  be  contemporary and at the same time  speak  in  a dignified manner, as befits the gospel.

6. Responding in the opposite spirit. If people are argumentative and proud in their reaction to us, we should respond in a gentle, humble  manner.  Don’t  descend to their level.  Try to be  kind, polite and respectful to those who interrupt and heckle  you.  If possible,  have a Christian with you to talk with people who  ask you questions while you’re preaching.

  1. When  we preach about judgment and Hell,  we must do so in an attitude of love towards the people we are speaking to. Avoid any hint  of self-righteousness and show people that we  grieve  over their  lost  condition as God does and wish only that they  would repent and turn to the Lord.  We communicate by our tone of voice as well as our words.  Many of the prophets wept as they spoke of God’s judgment,  showing their love and God’s love for the people even as He was about to bring judgment.
  2. Stick to the Gospel.  Don’t get sidetracked by other  issues. Avoid  alienating  the people you are trying to reach  by  making controversial  statements about peripheral issues.  We don’t want people  to reject Jesus simply because they disagree with  us  on views  about  matters not central to the  gospel.  The  issue  of evolution  may  need  to  be  dealt  with  if  it  is  a  genuine stumblingblock  to people coming to Christ,  but this needs to be done after careful research into the subject. However, most other controversial issues,  especially political ones, are not keeping people from salvation and do not need to be dealt with before the person is saved.  Keep illustrations brief and non-controversial, and then bring your message back to the gospel,  and the person’s need to make a decision to accept or reject Jesus.

High Court Changes Course on Religious Freedom

by Edward Gaffney,  Jr., Dean-elect, Valparaiso University School of Law

Here  in America,  we pride ourselves on the fact that  religious freedom  is the first of our civil liberties secured in the  Bill of  Rights.  Sad to say,  this liberty became a lot  less  secure because  of  a recent Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of  the First Amendment religion clause.

The case involved the sacramental use of peyote in a ceremony  of the Native American Church….While religiously-based conduct has limits,  the  government may regulate religious freedom only when the  limitation  is justified under  a  “compelling  governmental interest”  and that no less restrictive alternative to limitation exists.

In  the peyote case,  the court radically changed course  in  its interpretation of the First Amendment’s religion clause.  Without any  briefing  or  oral argument on this  point,  a  five-justice majority   abandoned  the  basic  constitutional   safeguard   it announced  in  1963.  Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that  laws  of general  applicability  are  to be presumed valid  even  if  they seriously   interfere   with  someone’s  religious   beliefs   or practices.  According  to  Scalia,  the only laws that  the  free exercise   clause  prohibits  are  those  intended  to  stifle  a particular religion.  In Scalia’s view, the nation cannot “afford the  luxury” of striking down laws because they offend  religious belief.  Individuals  must  rely  on the  political  process  for legislative protection of their beliefs and practices….

In  his  opinion,  Scalia reflected wholesale abdication  of  the proper  judicial function of assuring that  unpopular  minorities have  the  benefit of the First Amendment’s protections when  the legislature turns a deaf ear.

Editor’s note: The fact that we as Christians are not sympathetic to  the  peyote use of these Indians should not blind us  to  the significance of this major restriction of our religious  freedom. A  coalition  of  Christian and Jewish  groups,  along  with  the A.C.L.U.  which in this instance is on the right side,  has asked the Court to reconsider this decision. If they don’t, before long this ruling will be used against Christians.  It has already been used  in  a  case involving the Amish.  In  another  matter,  the Supreme  Court refused to lift an injunction by an Atlanta  judge prohibiting people from distributing literature or praying within 50  feet  of  an abortion  clinic.  This,  too,  is  an  alarming indication  of  a  move  by the Court  to  further  restrict  our constitutional rights.

Evangelism Training Opportunity

SOS Ministries operates a ministry house in Oakland, CA to train future leaders in evangelism ministry. This is an opportunity to receive practical experience in street witnessing in San Francisco, Berkeley, and other Northern California cities, as well as learn about organizing outreaches and working with local churches. To my knowledge, this is  the only house of its kind,  and men and women with a serious interest  in evangelism are urged to contact Larry  Rosenbaum  at (415)  531-5325 right away.  The house also serves as the  office for ISEMA.

Coming Events

Saturday June 2 and 16,  July 7 and 21.  Outreach  and Worship Rally.  San Francisco,  CA. Contact SOS  Ministries,  Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (415) 531-5325.

June 20-23 Flower Festival Outreach,  Lompoc,  CA.  Contact  Joan Teran, Son Lite, P O Box 554, Lompoc, CA 93438, (805) 736-3964.

June 21-27 Los Angeles Outreach. Witnessing to South Central area. Housing provided. Contact Bonnie & Odis Hayslett, Genesis Harvest Ministry, 3549 M.L.King Blvd. #C-175, Lynwood, CA 90262, (213) 609-1410 or 729-0207 (beeper).

June 23-July 10 Outreach to 1990 World Cup Soccer Championships, Florence and Rome, Italy. Witness at the world’s most popular sporting event.  March  and rally in Rome.  Street drama.  $1995.  Contact Forward Edge,  Box 65238,  Vancouver, WA 98665. Forward Edge also is  sponsoring outreaches (usually 2 week) to  Jamaica,  England, China,   Brazil  and  New  York,   Seattle,  and  to  two  Indian reservations this summer and fall. Write them for details.

June 29-30 St.  Louis V.P. Fair. A million people attend this event.  Contact No Greater Love, Box 263, DuQuoin, IL 62832, (618) 542-4503.

June  29-July 7 SOS-Hollywood.  $135  incl.  food  and housing.  Contact SOS-Hollywood,  Box 2809,  Hollywood, CA 90078, (213) 469-3027.

July  7-15  Jesus  Loves  You-New  York.  $300   incl. breakfast,  lunch,  housing.  Contact Abounding Grace Ministries, c/o  Living Word Christian Center,  62 Thomas St.,  New York,  NY 10013, (212) 571-2641 (note new address).

July 20-August 5 Goodwill Games Outreach,  Seattle,  WA. Contact Forerunner Ministries, Box 4066, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315, (714) 886-1171 or Forward Edge (address above).

August  1-5  Milwaukee  Outreach.  Contact  Heart-fire Ministries, Box 14031, West Allis, WI 53214, (414) 785-1671.

August  5-11  Black  Hills  Motorcycle  Classic,  Sturgis,  South Dakota.  500,000  bikers  attend,  including many  Vietnam  vets. Contact Alpha-Omega Motorcycle Club,  Box 17,  New Wilmington, PA 16142, (412) 652–8806.

August 17-25 SOS-San Francisco. 11th year.  $45  incl. breakfast,   lunch,  housing.  Contact  SOS  Ministries  (address above).

September  27-29 National Street Ministries  Conference,  Dallas, TX.  Tommy  Barnett,  Winkie Pratney,  Gary Greenwald and others. Contact S.H.O.M.,  Box 380306,  Duncanville, TX 75138, (214) 331-6902.

Some Final Thoughts

One  of  the  purposes of this newsletter is to be  a  forum  for discussion   of  matters  of  interest  to  those   involved   in evangelism.  We  welcome your comments concerning the teaching in this  issue on street preaching or anything else.  Also,  let  us know of other issues you would like discussed in this newsletter.

Our  Tape of the Month is “Bar Ministry and Street Preaching”  by Ken and Bill Henderson of Soldiers for Jesus.  This tape was from an ISEMA evangelism conference in Northern California.

This month we also want to offer a special book,  “Reach Out  and Touch  Someone” by Jeannie Griffin.  This is a 31-day devotional-type  book.  Each day the reader is challenged to take a  simple, specific step related to evangelism. Jeannie is Director of T-N-T for  Jesus  Ministry  and travels around  the  country  equipping Christians   in  evangelism  and  participating   in   evangelism outreaches.

Yours in His love,

Larry Rosenbaum