On Thursday, October 1, Scott from Anchor Ministries and brethren from Middle East Fellowship in Detroit conducted their first open-air preaching outreach on the campus of UM Dearborn. The original description of that event is reprinted below. The following week (10/8) they preached in the mall area at Wayne State University where the MEF brethren do it every week while the good weather holds up. Scott and his would-be preacher friend Joseph were on-hand."There are a lot of students here who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and many are Muslims. We've done this before at Wayne State University (last fall), but never at UM-D. Three brethren from Middle East Fellowship will do the actual preaching. What I like about the way they do this is that they truly present gospel truths in a bold and loving way. They use an easel with white paper to paint a simple watercolor picture with images of the biblical concepts they present. Students are attracted to the spot by the painting in-progress, then they listen to the painter who is also presenting the message. One thing new this time is that we will do this under the identity of "The Living Stone" church/Bible Center, the name my partner Tom Bear and I have given to our newly envisioned church-plant endeavor. At the event we'll hand out tracts with this label: http://thelivingstone.ws/. Thanks for interceding for Bruce, Carl, Wissam, Tom and me (Scott), and the students and staff we talk to."
On October 1 we met and gathered for prayer outside of the SW entrance to the University Center building. Then Carl and Bruce set up the easel in a prominent place, and Carl was chosen to go first. Carl is a new transfer student to this university. Because of the class schedule, most students were still in classes at that time, so there were very few students outside as Carl started to paint the simple water-color picture (above). But that didn't keep a lone passer-by from stopping to ask what this spectacle was all about. Carl first responded by asking him, "What does this picture look like to you?" And the student gave his interpretation of the picture. Carl told him that was a fascinating guess, and then asked him if he wanted to hear his version. The young man agreed. Carl then began adding more detail to the painting as he started into the gospel message. He started by writing YOU in big block print at the bottom of the page to illustrate that everybody knows a lot about and cares for themselves. Then he wrote GOD in block print at the top of the page to say that God also knows and cares a lot about YOU. On the right-hand side he wrote SIN to point out the destructive effects that sin has wrought in people's lives, and the separation that it has caused between God and man. Finally, he painted a big cross to introduce the solution to the SIN problem. (I wish I had a transcript of the talk, but you can imagine it.)
About 5 minutes after Carl started his talk classes let out. Soon there was an influx of students passing by as they went from one building to the other. And by the time Carl got to the crux of the talk he had a decent crowd of students hovering around him. And the really interesting thing was that many of them were Muslims. As I (Scott) facilitate or observe ever-more of these events I am noticing a pattern: Muslims are especially attracted to open-air preaching. This indicates to me that open-air preaching (of one form or another) is an important method for communicating the gospel message to them. When it's done right it can be a very strategic means of both gospel proclamation and making personal contacts with them for future conversations, which is also very important.
Only a few minutes after Carl had finished I prompted Bruce (the leader) not to wait but to launch into another talk immediately. By then the flow of foot traffic was at its peak and it was important to seize the moment. Since most of the students seemed to be new faces, he did the same message and painting that Carl had done, though he clearly does it with more confidence and projection. One of the students who had stopped this time was a heckler, a white student named Ben who we learned was an atheist. He began asking hard questions that were obviously intended to draw attention to himself and away from the message. Thankfully, that's when my partner Tom Bear stepped in to engage the young man in personal conversation. This action effectively absorbed Ben's attention and stopped him from his distracting behavior. Tom and Ben stood in that very spot and talked about "sin, righteousness and judgment" for the next hour at least. Good move, Tom.
Meanwhile, Bruce and I went into the adjacent CASL building to set up the easel in the atrium. Because of it's open architecture this is also a very good place to do evangelism of this nature. In fact, while some groups have been asked to leave from their outside position, groups that do evangelism inside this building (like IV) have so far never been asked to leave. Once in the atrium Bruce leaned the easel against the wall and got the paper and paints ready for action. And he was conscious not to be too loud. There were about 15 students studying nearby, and a person who really wanted to get heard would position himself aimed right at them. But we didn't do that. Instead we set up in the hall. It was class time so there were very few students going by.
But as soon as Bruce started painting/preaching (with an inside voice) one student stopped to listen. His name was Hussein. He stood there and listened for the entire 12-minute message. After that he began to ask Bruce questions, and the two of them got into a long conversation about the existence of God, etc. Although I tried not to butt in, at one point there was an appropriate time for me to do so. I soon learned that Hussein was an atheist from a Muslim background. And he wasn't a secret atheist like some are. Sometime in his past he had decided to announce his unbelief to his parents and relatives, which he said was very hard to do. Hussein and I continued to debate the existence of God until I was able to change the subject. In the course of the conversation he had told me that he had read the Bible, so I asked him if he knew what Jesus claimed about himself. Hussein began stating what he thought about Jesus, but that's not what I had asked him. Rather, I asked what did Jesus think of himself? What were his claims about himself. Then he said, "Tell me."
And that was the moment I was looking for. The "teachable moment" as some like to call it.
For the next 10-15 minutes Hussein listened without interruption as I explained to him the claims of Jesus. For example, he claimed to be the "bread from heaven" (John 6:35-40), the "living water" (John 4:10), and the "resurrection and the life" (John 11:25-26). With this last claim I took Hussein to the story of how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. I explained that it was a profound object lesson for each of us because we are all dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1-3) and only Christ can "raise us from the dead" and give us new life unto salvation. Jesus claimed for himself what no mere man nor prophet would/could credibly claim were he not able to validate his claims. In essence, Jesus claimed divinity. And by his death and resurrection he proved that he had power over death and hell, and could redeem us from our state of corruption deserving of God's wrath. I wish I could say that Hussein repented on the spot, but no. However, he did say he wanted to discuss these topics more another time. Bruce and I each gave him our email address so he could reach us when he's ready. Please pray for Hussein, that the Holy Spirit will lead him down the path toward saving faith in Christ.
While we were gladly preoccupied with Hussein (2:30), many classes let out and the student traffic flow surged past us through the main CASL hallway. We were conscious of it but of course we did not want to abandon our talk with Hussein. We were disappointed that hundreds of other students walked by without getting to hear the gospel. And later, as we debriefed, we realized that the next time we do that we should have someone ready to do the presentation while others are having personal conversations. A good lesson learned. Bruce and I were also encouraged that the CASL building will be a good place to do presentations in the winter (they usually do not do it in the winter).
When Bruce and I left the building we returned to our first set-up site behind the University Center, and whom do you suppose was still there? You guessed it: Tom and Ben. They had had a very good conversation too.
Conclusions
There is much evangelistic potential with creative open-air communication (e.g preaching, art, music, poetry, etc.) to engage Muslim students at UM-Dearborn. Thankfully, the IV chapter is very active on campus there too, with which I was involved for 6 years. Now that Anchor is developing our own platform for campus ministry with Living Stone Church, we hope to elevate evangelism to Muslim students in particular. There is also much potential to energize Christian students and help create a "culture of evangelism". This is a means of evangelism that is still relevant for today, and we would do well to redeem it.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” John 11:25-26
