Being Bold - On the Streets

God has been teaching me and Seth a lot recently about being more bold for Him. Sometimes I lose sight of that need to be a bold witness, even though I live amongst the largest unreached people group in the world. I think just like in any other situation, we all find ourselves settling into comfort zones, being distracted by things of this world, and if we are not careful we can forget the urgency of sharing the Good News! It really is GOOD news after all.

So in several aspects of life we have been trying to think of new ways to get the word out about Jesus to this city.  I will be writing about a few different ways in the next few posts.

Seth oversees all the Outreach that we do at church, so he is constantly racking his mind to think of creative new ways to share the message of God's forgiveness through Jesus to as many people as possible.

One new experiment is doing on-the-street surveys. Seth and Ryan head out to a very busy area of the city where hundreds of people are out walking around at all times. They simply stop people on the street and explain they are doing a survey. (This actually is quite common) They are able to ask people all kinds of questions like

• Do you believe in God? -  many say "maybe" 
• What do you think happens when you die? - "I don't know" or "we are reincarnated"
• Have you ever been to church? - usually "no"
• Do you know a Christian - mostly "no"
• Have you ever heard the main idea of Christianity - most all say "no"
•    Then Seth asks if they would like to hear the main idea simply stated, many people (over half or more) say "sure why not", and in 3 sentences or so Seth shares about sin, forgiveness in Jesus' death, and live everlasting with God through faith in Christ. 

Then they get a church invite and head on their way. This is a win-win because Seth and Ryan are able to learn about people's ideas and experiences with faith and Christianity, while also sharing a brief gospel message with anyone who wants to hear it. Think about how for most of those people, its the first time hearing the main idea of Christianity! WOW!! In just a few hours they can talk with 30 people or so - thats some good productivity for the gospel if you ask me!

Please be praying that we would see people come to church from these interviews and that it would be an effective way of spreading the Awesome News in Osaka.