Street ministry here basically means walking around the streets
and handing out flyers to people with verses and church information on them. The
way that it is done here is that they go around and ask people whether they
believe in Jesus or not, and do they know where they are going after death,
heaven or hell? Honestly, I really dislike this approach, because it is very
impersonal, and I feel it is kind of condemning, but hey, it could be exactly
what some people need to hear.
As I was walking down the streets, I realized how much I
have changed and grown. Recalling back to Month 1 in Dominican Republic when at
one time we were doing the exact same thing, I was so afraid and didn’t want to
open my mouth to talk to anyone. Now, I’ve learned to listen to God and see
where and who He wants me to talk to, knowing that He will lead me to the right
person.
So two weeks ago when we were doing this, Hope and I were
with 4 other boys. As we were walking around, I felt the Lord told me to go
talk to a person in white sitting in a distance. It turns out there was an old man
sitting with the man in white. I said “Ola!” to the man in white while Hope
prayed for the old man. And then they wanted to leave to go to the next person.
But I felt something tugging inside of me, that I needed to sit down and talk
to this man. I was torn between leaving and staying. But then we chose to obey
and so they stayed and waited while I went to talk to the man. It turns out
that the man spoke perfect English and I could actually have a conversation
with him.
Halfway through our conversation, the man asked me what
religion we believe in. Gosh, it just shows how ineffective our approach is,
this “Hey, are you going to heaven or hell?” and “let me say a quick magic
prayer for you” thing. I am not trying to condemn anyone but we do need to be
clear about who we are representing because there are so many false prophets
out there walking around offering the same thing.
1 John 4:1-3
“Dear friends, do not believe every
spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many
false prophets have gone out into the world This is how you can recognize the Spirit of
God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is
from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even
now is already in the world.”
Street ministry doesn’t always have to look the same, you could be talking to the seller on the street,
or even just saying ‘Hi’ and taking photos with random people. 🙂
