Many of you will want to do a gospel presentation of some sort. While I admire your zeal, this is actually one of the lesser concerns. Many of the homeless can tell you the gospel presentation better than you can; if they stay in the mission they have to sit through it in order to eat and to sleep inside. Many of them have heard the “good news”, but what is sorely lacking in many of their lives is seeing the gospel lived out.
In my experience, if you listen to them, befriend them and actually come to love them you will have near unlimited opportunities to talk about spiritual matters. Do not focus on numbers of conversions: focus on how many people you loved that day.
Despite my warnings, I know many of you will be out there, tracts in hand, eager to “convert” some folks. If you feel this is something you “must” do, know this is an area that requires a great deal of care and tact, for two reasons:
- Their emotional state
- The potential damage you can do to those who follow you
These people are often broken, damaged and hurting. Many of then have addictions and/or emotional problems. Even those with no mental difficulties often have huge amounts of guilt and for many, depression is never far away. Telling them that they deserve to die and go to hell or that their life will be better if they “accept Jesus” is asking for emotional repercussions.
While I do not intend to argue theology with you, the cold hard fact is that if they do “get saved”, they will still sleep in the alley tonight, Jesus or not. If you tell them that Jesus will make everything better, get them to say a prayer from a tract and then move on to the next victim person, they will resent you when they are cold and hungry tonight. Further, they will have a poor opinion of the gospel and of Christians in general, which makes it much harder for those of us who follow you.
The legions of well meaning (but insensitive) church workers who are eager to save their souls but willing to let them go to sleep hungry has caused layer upon layer of cynicism to be built over their hearts like armor. I really urge you to focus on loving them; eventually you will earn the right to be heard.
