| "While Jesus' message never changed, the way he delivered it changed regularly." This quote was by Ed Young in the "Rev!" March/April magazine. The first part of the sentence is good, but i believe the thrust of his statement lies in the second part which he was making the insertion that "Jesus changed his message regularly." This statement is profound when it comes to our current culture and how need to be "relevant" in today's culture. Later in his article he lays out his statment in the reverse order which makes more sense to me, but for some reason with less force. "The world changes constantly; and people everywhere still desperately need Jesus Christ." These quotes really stood out to me when i read it because of the insight God had given to me in Philly and especially after Philly in terms of the way i evangelize: yes, "People everywhere still desperately need Jesus Christ." For awhile now, in my church (and probably around evangelistic circles) there has been more of a push towards "friendship" evangelism, instead of what might be referred to as "street" evangelism. The criticism against "street" evangelism from the past was that it they found that it was not as effective form of discipleship making. The stats especially came from the Billy Graham and Greg Laurie crusades when they found out that although many came to the front to re/commit their lives to Christ, they later realized that there was a low percentage of people that were still connect to the life of the church. But for whatever reason, the churches began to emphasize then more about the need for "friendship" evangelism where one has a relationship/friendship and regular communication with them to effectively be a witness of God's good news and love so that might have more follow up and be connected to the life of the church. But over some time now, I've noticed that because we have made a push for friendship evangelism, we kind of left street evangelism behind, which leads me to believe that it has somehow negatively affected the life witness of the individual christian and the local church. Now personally, my criticism of "friendship" evangelism was said best by Bumble: "we like to stick with 'friendship evangelism' maybe because it is convenience and comfortable, not necessarily because it is effective or because we want to obey Christ!" and this is true for me, deep down, I know that my evangelism has decreased because I've opted for the more convenient and comfortable route. While I still believe that friendship evangelism is more "effective" for discipleship making than street evangelism, I believe that street evangelism is necessary and an important element for the Christian believer/community to regularly engage and it should not be abandoned as out dated or inferior form of evangelism. My reasoning behind the necessity of doing both street evangelism and friendship evangelism stems from my understanding of the process of discipleship making (now i'm digging a bit deep, and will probably leave this for one of my theological papers). Simply explained, I believe that there is something energizing about street evangelism. It fuels something within in the Christian that reminds them of the "good news." It draws us back to the basic message of the gospel, the same gospel that originally called us to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Engaging in street evangelism reminds believers that there are people out there that desperately need Jesus whether they are actively seeking religion or have totally run away from God. It also teaches the Christian to be humble in their spiritual walk knowing that they have a great message to be shared with the world, yet at the same time they will be persecuted, rejected and even mocked at for mentioning the name of Jesus Christ. I would go as far as to say that when we are intentionally choosing to doing street evangelism, it will somehow naturally lead us into friendship evangelism. Street evangelism naturally lends itself as an overflow into friendship evangelism, but i don't know if i can say that the transition is still the same if you were to engage in friendship evangelism intentionally. I don't know if friendship evangelism would fuel or lead you to go out and do street evangelism. Right? Ask yourself, which is the easier transition-- street --> friendship evangelism OR friendship --> street evangelism?? So what am I trying to say practically without much explaining or reasoning? I am trying to say that something unique happens to the believer and the life of the church when we engage in STREET EVANGELISM. I believe that street evangelism refreshes the Christian life and fuels the process of discipleship. I am saying that this is a missing component of our individual witness and corporate wittness as a church. If we began to intentionally participate more together in what is commonly known as "street evangelism," I believe that our church would experience a fresh wind and fire from the Holy Spirit that would re-ignite something in our hearts. If i was to make a commentary on a commonly known verse about what street and friendship evangelism, it would be: Jesus said, "Therefore go (street evangelism) and make disciples (friendship evangelism) of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matt 28:19, 20 FOOTNOTE/DISCLAIMER: I have been chewing on this theory for a bit, and after a conversation i had with a leader from el monte church, i felt like i explained it pretty well that it got me excited about documenting my thoughts, but i hope that in my writing, i did not explain it wrong, so as to lose the essence of what i felt inspired to share. If i have misrepresented or made it confusing, please ask me to explain or elaborate in person or through comments. An Nguyen |
