Street preacher says creation ‘is the issue’
It’s time for the church to stop avoiding the questions people want answers
to
by Russell Wallace
Published: 17 October 2008(GMT+10)
I am a pastor and also part of a street preaching and evangelism team in Adelaide,
South Australia and most Friday nights we meet on a busy street corner in the city
to proclaim the Gospel. Everyone on the team is fully committed to the task.
However, whenever I raise the topic of old fashioned street preaching among fellow
Christians I receive a mixed reaction. While some fully support the ‘bold’
approach of standing on a street corner and declaring the word of God, others are
not so keen. They say that it is ‘old hat’ and ineffectual. They seem
to think that unless people are being saved on the Friday night and/or coming to
church every Sunday, this method of evangelism isn’t worth the effort. While
there are many ways to be all things to all men (1 Corinthians 9:22), street preaching has some definite
advantages, one of which is listening to, and engaging with, people in the crowd.
To the surprise of some people in the church (who think that non-Christians don’t
like talking about ‘religious matters’), many outsiders are in fact
reasonably comfortable with being asked to share about their view of God, the Bible,
religion and other topics.
street preaching has some definite advantages
Get ‘street real’
There is a common topic among young people that consistently presents itself. This
topic is evolution. While it is by no means the only topic that comes up, it is
one of the most regular, and young people like talking about it. Why? Simply because
it is what they have been taught and led to believe. It is possibly also the most
‘convenient’ way for young sinners to consciously reject God to justify
their lifestyle.
One night, I had a conversation with a 20 year old guy. He proudly shared he didn’t
believe in God at all, adding that he was a member of a rock band. He could not
see any relevance of God in his life. I asked if he believed in evolution. He said
‘yes’, looking at me as if I had just posed a trick question. When I
told him there is no indisputable evidence for evolution, his expression suddenly
changed to one of shock!
I have experienced this same reaction on many other occasions. The vast majority
of our youth have swallowed the lie of evolution. From my experience, starting a
conversation with the Easter message, for example, will sound nice, but have little
relevance to a culture soaked in humanism.
Young people like to be heard and articulate their thoughts about the ‘big
issues’ of life
On another evening, I had finished with the team and was walking down a street mall
to the train station. I passed two young men and gauged by their conversation they
were university students. I handed one a tract
and politely started asking some questions. They both believed God was a personal
idea but had no relevance to reality. This is directly in line with the evolutionary
view that there is no spiritual realm—i.e.,
it is just a ‘figment of the imagination’. Sure enough, the young men
were utterly convinced that evolution explains origins. They were sold out to the lie that the fossil record had ample evidence for
evolution. After I quoted some of the science found
in Creation magazine and the the CMI website,
the university students became interested and soon we were discussing everything
from ultimate truth to alternative lifestyles.
Where there is a belief in evolution, there can be no logical basis for
ultimate truth. I say logical because many try to mix evolution with God. This view
is popular with those within the body of Christ who try to uphold a tenuous balancing
act between the God of the Bible and evolution, commonly known as
theistic evolution—this is illogical.
Side issue—‘yeah right!’
Still, I hear my brethren in the wider local church claim that the creation/evolution
issue is not important or irrelevant, and ‘will scare people away from Christianity.’
The members of my preaching team and I say otherwise—as evidenced by our experience
of witnessing to passers-by on Friday nights. Not only do passers-by pause to talk
with us, but some will stay for quite some time, putting aside whatever other plans
they had for the evening.
Being armed with the right information and able to answer some basic questions is
a very powerful strategy to evangelize today’s youth.
For example, after an hour and a half and missing two buses, the two university
students referred to above thanked me for the discussion. Such expressions of appreciation
are typical of our Friday night feedback. Young people like to be heard and articulate
their thoughts about the ‘big issues’ of life, and to discuss such matters
with others. That’s why young minds on a Friday night in town bother
to stop and talk about such things that are considered by the majority of the church
to be ‘irrelevant’ to the Gospel. Hearing answers that make sense concerning
the ‘big questions’ helps them to think about their own view as well
as the logic of the Christian faith. They may
not believe the Gospel overnight, but when Christians set about demolishing the
atheistic strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:5) with gentleness & respect (1 Peter 3:15), it definitely sows a seed in a young
person’s mind!
Creation evangelism is an excellent tool and ties
in beautifully with the gospel message. The material I use is available in
Creation magazine and on the CMI website.
Being armed with the right information and able to answer some basic questions is
a very powerful strategy to evangelize today’s youth. Telling people to just
believe in Jesus regardless of the supposed evidence for evolution is a reason for
people not to believe. I do not expect a sensible mind to rationalize a contradiction.
The saturation of society with evolutionary thinking makes the job of evangelism
more difficult today. Sixty years ago a street preacher did not have to deal with
the frequency of today’s stumbling blocks that get in the way of the Gospel.
Some of these include the evolutionary slant on fossils,
carbon dating, the
origin of races and dinosaurs and their
millions-of-years explanations.
Let me share another example of a Friday night encounter—with a young man
named Danny. As he was passing by, he heard the preaching and hung around to listen.
I went up to him and started a conversation. He revealed that he had been through
some bad experiences with his family and no longer believed in God like he used
to. Danny had already discarded the intellectual aspects of his faith because of
his exposure to the constant barrage of evolution in school. He had no answers to
defend his faith. After sharing how the Bible can be trusted, he asked ‘Do
you believe in the story of Adam & Eve?’ Danny now had a keen interest
to know more. After I gave him my answer he fired another question. ‘What
about all the different people?’ (Meaning: Where did all the races come from?)
Danny outwardly made an effort to appear reserved but hearing this information had
clearly impacted him—I could tell he was thrilled he could believe in God
again. He added ‘You gave me reasons to abandon my doubts.’
I handed Danny a Creation magazine and
encouraged him to hand it to his sister after he had finished reading it, because,
in Danny’s words, ‘She is no longer a Christian but an atheist now.’
To my surprise, he gave me a hug then went to catch his bus.
Of course, some listeners, whether they be on the street or in the workplace might
not be comfortable about the things we say, but if you as an evangelistic believer
are prepared with answers, any objections from the people you are witnessing to
will be easier to deal with.
And when you see how your answers positively impact the ‘Dannys’ out
there, it makes it all worthwhile. God is good.
Some readers’ comments:
Raymond A B, New Zealand
Great to hear this Preacher & his team are doing the Great commission! It’s
not about cafes, youth groups, dance troups or Christian Rock (God Forbid). It’s
about telling people the ‘Good News’ and telling people like it is from
the Book! Pray for this man & his team of helpers! The harvest is huge—the
workers/labourers few!
Paul H , United Kingdom
I fully agree with the Street Preacher.
As a 21 year old atheist and pro-Communist I was (over a period of time) fully convinced
of the weakness and bankrupt theory of Evolution - even though I had strongly been
convinced it was true due to my being brought up in an atheist home.
When faced with facts presented in a way I could understand, I became a seeker after
real truth (I still could not get my mind around God for quite a while). However
after several years of ‘seeking’ THE truth I found God was real by a
revelation in my bedroom while reading the Bible.
I knew God was real. I just knew it. About 9 months later I made a personal commitment
to Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and started to REALLY live! My excessive
consumption of alcohol and pleasure-seeking lifestyle was totally transformed.
That was 40 years ago now and I have become more and more convinced of the truth
of Genesis 1 account of creation and of the validity of the WHOLE Bible to experiencing
real life. Through many trials my God has been so real and dependable.
And it ALL started with an understanding of the false anti-scientific claims of
Evolution.
Thank you for your work in providing undeniable truth about scientific facts that
prove Creation is the only scientific explanation for HOW we got here and (more
importantly) WHY we are here - and WHERE we are heading.
|
Related articles
Further reading
Related resources
(Also available in Albanian)
|
