The blog of Sterling Franklin (DJ Sterf), servant of Jesus Christ.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Evange-lost

Hey, all. I would say hey, y'all, but I was born in New Jersey, so I can't be totally North Carolina in my blog.

I'm passionate about evangelism in various forms, including 'Street Evangelism,' and yet Street Evangelism is such a lost art in today's Relational Evangelism mentality.

A Few Definitions:

Street Evangelism - Going out on the streets or in random areas and just telling people about Jesus, asking them about their religious background, etc. Essentially, sharing the Gospel with people you may or may not know. This is a more confrontational style.

Relational Evangelism - Sharing the Gospel with people you know closely, packaged in a relationship. This is supposedly easy to do, but does it actually happen? It can.

Event Evangelism - Having a show or performance with a message in it or in conjunction with it. That's what I do with DDR and Pulse Outreach and such, for example.

Anyway, I love all methods of evangelism, but I see Street Evangelism as 'less trendy' nowadays, and so I wrote an article about it. Let me know your thoughts on it all.

Also please pray for the tour and that many people would come to know the Lord and that many people would be strengthened in their relationship with the Lord through the events! The picture on the left is me (with my backstage pass goofily on) and the ladies from Superchic[k]. I have pictures with Sanctus Real as well, but I really wanted pictures with Grits (I love Rap/R&B), though they left before I could get pictures with them.

So without much further ado (about nothing), here's my article from The Graduate Scrawl (Vol. 3, Issue 3: October 5, 2007)....

Why Not ‘Street?’ – A Brief Defense of Street Evangelism

This summer, I bought the Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game for my PC. It was the worst game ever. As I played the game with my mouth wide open at the sheer horror of its gameplay, I moved my character around wondering how such an evil could exist on earth! Interestingly and seriously though, I found something endearing to my character – despite the fact that he could randomly throw punches or be swayed by the twanging of the guitars of rock musicians on the street, he was street evangelizing. He was boldly proclaiming Jesus on the streets, actively going and telling the world that Jesus is our only hope!

Theological issues aside, I admire that character’s gusto, and it must be obvious by now that street evangelism is near and dear to me. God used several occasions of street evangelism in my late teens to make me passionate about Scripture, general outreach, and ministry. However, over the last few years, I have seen a major trend dynamic: the glorification of Relational evangelism and the abandonment of Street evangelism.

Does God work through relationships? Of course. However, the relationships themselves are not the means by which people are spiritually regenerated. In every evangelistic setting, true inward change in others only comes when God’s beautiful plan as expressed in Scripture is proclaimed. I tend to take a Nike approach to evangelism: “Just do it.” Regardless of method, God can use the most lucid as well as the most awkward presentation of Truth to convert a soul from death. Having seen various methods work powerfully, the least common denominator is definitely Scripture.

The Word of God is absolutely amazing! Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). It is what we are to proclaim. We are not to be ashamed of the Gospel, as it is “the power of Salvation to those who believe” (Romans 1:16). Thus, we need to know the Word of God thoroughly so that we will not be ashamed workmen (2 Timothy 2:15)! Scripture is quick and powerful, and it cuts us to our sinful core, and even a single drop of Scriptural exposure will work mightily (Hebrews 4:12, cf. Isaiah 55:10-11). God has truly given us a powerful way to evangelize – proclamation of His own Word!

So why has street evangelism seemingly been swept to the edges of the church sanctuary? As long as it is truly Scripturally-centered, any evangelistic method should not be ignored as a viable option of witness. One of the delights over the last few semesters for me here at Trinity has been the unofficial evangelism group (the working title is now ‘Go Fish,’ after Matthew 4:19). We meet on Fridays and/or Saturdays, pray, read some Scripture, go over some tracts, and then launch out as lights into darkness. It is always a wonderful experience, as we meet those who are spiritually needy for Jesus and tell them the good news of Salvation.

Whether we plant, water, or reap in a certain week, the results have always been encouraging. Obviously, the main goals are to present the Gospel message to a dying world and to be faithful in proclaiming Jesus as Lord. Some weeks, we see several people come to accept the Lord. Other weeks, zero. Each week, though, Scripture is proclaimed, and lives are changed, whether dramatically or bit-by-bit. Of course, follow-up and discipleship are big needs in the context of street evangelism, but seriously speaking, maybe someone you witness to may not have another tomorrow. Could it be that leaving people without the Gospel is the worst form of hatred that Christians can exhibit?

So why is there such aversion to street evangelism nowadays? Street evangelism has a very solid function in bringing the light of the Gospel to people right where they are. Street evangelism is an amazing way to share the Love of Christ. Regardless of evangelistic methodology, people need to hear about Jesus as soon as possible, and oftentimes people even in America have yet to hear the Gospel explained in full. So why not Street Evangelism? Let’s not leave behind a method of sharing God’s grace that has the capacity to bear serious fruit for the Lord’s Kingdom!


Sterling Franklin is a third year M.Div student, and is a leader in a weekly evangelism group. His name also receives more hits on Google than most TEDS faculty.



(Special thanks to Jeremy Otten and David Ro for their editing of the Graduate Scrawl)

6 Comments:

Sean said...

Uh hi, hope my words are welcome here.

Although I'm not a scholar of religious history, it seems to me that street evangelism has essentially become outmoded over the past century. A hundred years ago, back when access to printing technology wasn't widespread and there weren't the mass communication media of radio and television available, street preaching made sense because it was the easiest and cheapest way to reach as many people as possible. As churches turned to radio and television and the Internet over the past 100 years, street evangelism kind of seems like a less effective way to communicate with people. In addition, street evangelism has become so rare that most people probably equate anyone preaching a religious message in an open space with the stereotypical escaped sanitarium patient yelling about the impending end of the world on some random street corner, so people who attempt street evangelism will have that additional hurdle to overcome.

In addition, I would think that relational evangelism would be a far more effective tool for you. I doubt you could have gotten this far in your evangelical career without noticing that a technique that might convert one person may wind up turning off another person, or even more. By first forging a friendship with someone and then attempting relational evangelism, you should get a better idea of what techniques might work with that person and not risk turning off other people nearby with the same techniques.

This isn't even getting into how it's generally accepted in American culture these days that talking about religion or politics with people you don't know that well is generally considered taboo. From my own experiences of people attempting street evangelism with me, I can tell you that I felt kind of uncomfortable with someone I didn't know asking me details about my religious life, which I generally keep very private, and if anything I was kind of insulted when the people who were trying to convert me kept asking me if I was *sure* that I knew my beliefs were "true" and that I wasn't dooming myself to an eternity in the lowest level of Dante's Easy-Bake Oven.

I suppose if I could offer any advice to you, it would be to reconsider your concept of "street" in less literal terms. Certainly through this blog you're going to be able to practice evangelism and reach a great number of people you otherwise would never have access too, plus because your readers are self-selecting and can always press the back button if they find something you say that really ticks them off, it's a less confrontational tool that offers far less of a risk of backlash that a face-to-face encounter would.

I hope that at least some of this is of some use to you. I bid you peace.

October 13, 2007 3:19 PM

 
Sterling said...

Sean, thanks for the comment!

(1) I see where you're coming from on the whole 'outmoded,' though I honestly want people to avoid Hell and go to Heaven, and this more confrontational style puts an important issue into their consideration. I've been surprised at how few of the people I come across have heard about the Gospel message even in this seemingly over-Christianized nation! Gospel as in "Good News" of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ -- His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection, and Faith in Him that leads to Salvation! Also: Just because it seems taboo to go out evangelizing this way doesn't make it invalid. I've seen people come to know the Lord through street, relational, event, lifestyle, etc. evangelism. As long as Scripture is proclaimed, I'm a fan.

(2) I'm not knocking relational evangelism in itself. However, many churches promote relational evangelism as a 'safe' way of telling people about Jesus, though with this method, evangelism often never gets done because the relationship aspect becomes too important and the people forget about the penalty for sin. I think that it shows a lack of belief in the reality of Hell on the part of Christians.

(3) But in your own time, it's something deeply to consider (hehe and reconsider). Jesus did say, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6). If He was right (and I obviously believe that He was and that the account in the text of John is true), then that's a more weighty matter than life itself!

(4) How would you consider making it less literal?

Dude, thanks for the comment, as always. :)

October 13, 2007 4:15 PM

 
Jason said...

I own Eternal Forces, too, and while I don't agree entirely with your assessment of it, I have to say that I like your take on the "street preaching" in it. I'd never thought of the game that way, but it fits rather nicely.

October 13, 2007 11:49 PM

 
Sterling said...

haha, thanks Jason. God bless you!

October 13, 2007 11:55 PM

 
Sean said...

I'm glad my comments are appreciated, Sterf, although I'd kind of appreciate it if you wouldn't call me "dude" in the future. ^^; (If you have a problem with referring to me with feminine terms, just avoid using gender-specific pronouns; it can be done.)

1. Perhaps the reason why you feel that people in this "over-Christianized" country haven't heard the Gospel is because of what Christianity has become in this country. I've written to you before about how I believe that the figureheads most people in this country identify with Christianity -- Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and their ilk -- portray a twisted version of Christianity that, to my admittedly non-Christian eyes, seems far removed from the actual words and teachings of Christ. Whenever I hear them speak, very little of what they say seems to even be of the remotest resemblance to the Bible; their message is usually along the lines of, "You, as a Christian, need to be worried about X group because they want to poison the minds of your children and destroy the moral fabric of this country."

In this way, Christianity, as defined by the televangelist set, becomes less about forging a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and more about a simplistic politics of identity, a basic sense of belonging to Y group and being given an avenue to express negative feelings in condemning X group and being led to believe that this hatred is morally justified. Even if we take the televangelists and political concerns out of consideration, I'm surprised that there hasn't been a greater uproar within Christianity against the "mega-church" phenomenon of recent years. I admit that I've never identified as a Christian at any point in my life, but I find it hard to believe that churches can help parishioners build personal relationships with Christ when they're dealing with tens of thousands of people every Sunday.

I think the challenge that you're facing is that the televangelist set has kind of built up this idea in non-believers' minds that Christianity is all about the negatives -- hating X group, being against X policy/law, and so on -- and thus if you go into any venue of evangelism with the idea of "I want to save you from a fiery damnation," people who hear that are automatically going to assume that you're on the negative side. This isn't to say that you shouldn't be concerned with saving people from Hell -- far from it -- but how you frame your message plays a huge part in how well your message is received. A more confrontational approach like street evangelism seems like it would lead more easily to talk about saving people from Hell, and that, in turn, I think poses a real risk in undermining the goals of your preaching.

2. I can understand your concern with relational evangelism potentially being neglected in the maintenance of the relationship itself, but it seems to me that the risk of this happening has more to do with the evangelist than the actual method. I certainly don't think that you would ever neglect to keep evangelism in mind in any relational evangelism projects you attempt.

3. I suppose the best way I can frame my experience for you is to ask you to do a bit of role-reversal here, although for the sake of your own comfort we won't switch religions. Let's say that I'm a Wiccan preacher (although if you know anything about Wicca you know that actively going out and trying to convert people to our religion is anathema to most of us), and you're a Christian, although instead of aspiring to be a preacher you just try to lead a "regular" life in accordance with the teaching of Christ and hope to better people through the example of your own life. Imagine, then, that I come upon you on the street and start asking prying questions about your religious life and how and why you chose your beliefs, and I start quoting passages of my Book of Shadows at you in a way that makes it clear that I won't accept those passages as anything but 100% literal truth, and I keep harping on about how I don't want you to be reincarnated in your next thousand lives as a garden slug that dies a painful death when little kids use a magnifying glass to focus the sun's rays on you until your blood literally boils.

Again, this goes back to how you frame your argument. It's understandable and perfectly okay that you want to save people from Hell, but when you come right out and say that, it could very easily bring up some negative notions of Christianity in the minds of the people you're trying to convert. That's why I think the outreach work you've been talking about seems to me like it would be more effective. I can still remember the noises of astonishment that the microphone on your camera picked up right after you did the opening 16th run of Destiny Expert in that one video. The dance game stuff you do frames things in a positive way: "I can do these things because I have the strength and certainty that YOU can get too through a relationship with Christ." Particularly among the age group you've said you'd like to minister to, I think that's a far more effective message than the kinds of messages that typically come out through street evangelism.

4. I guess what I was trying to get at was to imagine the Internet as a physical presence. This blog, for instance, would be your church: your members are self-selecting, and while anyone could potentially walk in to hear you sermonize, for the most part you will have a regular audience and can build a long-lasting relationship with them through getting to know them by their own words. I suppose that in this metaphor, "street evangelism" would be going onto messageboards and trying to spread the word of Christ there.

I suppose that a concern that I've had from both this blog post and previous posts is that you come off as believing that you need to convert as many people as possible as soon as possible. Perhaps your desire to do street evangelism may be an expression of this desire. Although you clearly have a gift for evangelism and it brings you great joy, I'd caution you against trying to do too much at once, particularly given all of your school commitments. Obviously I can't quote scripture off the top of my head like you can, but I'm sure that there must be some story somewhere in the Bible that talks about how Christ wants you to make the most efficient use of the limited time you have here in this life.

You've said previously (or so I remember, please correct me if I'm wrong) that you want to minister to urban youths, so instead of doing something as wide-ranging and difficult as preaching to potentially ANYONE, why not try to do some specific outreach to that group? Not only do I think you'd have a greater likelihood of converting people by narrowing your focus, but it would also give you important training in dealing with that group, so that even if you don't convert anyone now you've at least learned more about how to interact with that group.

Again, I hope my words are of some use to you, and I bid you peace.

October 14, 2007 3:40 AM

 
Sterling said...

S^2 --

I have about 3 minutes to type, as I'm about to jet out to catch a flight for the tour!

(1) I find it interesting that in the Gospel accounts, Jesus warned more about the dangers of Hell than He preached about the wonders of Heaven! I do think it's unfortunate that there is a complication in televangelist view, though I do think those men have had their golden moments and have affected lives in positive ways, as well.

(2) True; again, I'm not knocking relational evangelism. It's definitely a method that I love and have seen the Lord work through. For example, my friend Glen. I've known him for 16 years, and I've told him about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ prayed for him at least a dozen of those years. He accepted Christ as his Savior on Sunday AND got Baptized. That was SWEET. Anyway, it's effective in part, but given James 4's point that we aren't guaranteed even another day, and given 2 Corinthians 6:2's claim that the day of Salvation is today, it's important to get the message out on the table.

(3) Haha, but as even a regular Christian, I'd be under the banner of 1 Peter 3:15, where I would need to give a reason or defense as to the faith that lies within me. I would also be under Jesus' command in Matthew 28:18-20 (The Great Commission) to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations! So really, to be a Christian is to be outspoken and evangelistically-focused.

I guess the other side of the coin is that I'm eager to serve the Lord with my entire life. I'm not so concerned with numbers, though as an idealist, I want to be a blessing to as many people as possible, and I await the Lord's blessing in every endeavor. The numbers are up to Him and are to His glory. I can't convert anyone -- that's the Gospel's work. I'm just an instrument...an eager one at that. ;)

(4) I've done urban youth for several years, and within the last year and a half, I felt really convicted that I needed to focus more on general pastoral ministry (local church), especially relating to counseling and preaching, which is where I'm planning to serve. I would plan to have an urban youth outreach in some form or another, as I love helping them and teaching them about the Lord.

:) OK RUNNING TO THE PLANE! lol not quite yet, but thanks for the comment & God bless, as always.

October 14, 2007 7:18 AM

 

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