Pastoral guidance necessary

By Rev SEIK PITOI
MANY pastors today have had the experience of street preaching.
Street preaching is completely different from having a nice pulpit handed to you in church, in front of familiar faces smiling at you as you preach.
Nothing very threatening with that. But to stand in public talking to strangers or drunkards can be quite daunting. Some so-called evangelists wear their titles like badges but will not go out into the public arena to preach. They all queue up waiting for the pulpit in the church, or for the circuit to formally arrange the next evangelism crusade where they will be rostered to preach.
Street preaching is not like that. It is spontaneous work that takes a certain boldness to face the public.
My own experience in street preaching began after my conversion at the Boroko United Church. Under the late Rev Sione Kami, everyone was trained in one-on-one evangelism through Campus Crusade’s 4 Spiritual Laws material. Our youth group, under leaders like late Rev Barry John (then Barry Sari) and Posa Evera, hit the markets every Saturday morning.
As a stutterer and a shy person, I always stayed at the back of the group. But as my confidence grew, I opened up and took part by sharing my testimony. Soon, I too began to preach.
But it was years later, this time with the Assemblies of God church at Gerehu, that I really got involved in street preaching. One person who mentored me in that ministry was Pastor Peter Solomon of Living Waters ministry. Previously a pastor with Gordons AOG, Pastor Peter and his wife Carol would go down to town with a couple of their youth boys and set up on the traffic island near where the clock now stands. I would leave my office at Waigani at 11.30am, catch a bus to town and join them for the outreach.
After some singing, we would have a testimony, followed by the word of God – brief and to the point! Then, we would pray for those who indicated their need for prayer. I can testify that people got saved, and sick people were prayed for and many were healed.
I did not know too much of the Bible then. I just knew that Jesus saved me out of the junk I was in, and I wanted to tell others about Him. I knew just enough scriptures to get me through when preaching my messages. No arguing, no theological debates – just God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life! How simple it was in those days.
Years later, as a minister with the United Church, I would invite our young people to come with me for lunch hour outreach at Ela Beach. Only brother Timothy Nakon would accompany me, my wife and son.
Marama Avie would pray around the perimeter while Timothy and I took turns preaching. I typed out small tracts in Tok Pisin and we would hand these out and pray with people afterwards.
In hindsight, I thank Pastor Solomon for his encouragement many years ago to keep taking the Gospel to the people, rather than waiting for the people to come to church!
As we can see, there is a place for street evangelism. But what about those who are not preaching God’s word correctly? The story in Acts chapter 18 has a message for street both preachers and church leaders.

Act 18:24-26 (GNB)
At that time a Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he proclaimed and taught correctly the facts about Jesus. However, he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and explained to him more correctly the Way of God.

Apollos may have been known around the market place as an eloquent orator. It’s possible he had been communicating his message as a street preacher. But the Bible tells us he is now preaching in the synagogue. Apart from his zeal, the young preacher is good in most but deficient in some areas. He needs to be taught correctly.
In the congregation is a couple called Aquila and Priscilla. They were tent makers and friends of Apostle Paul whom they met in Corinth. As the couple listen to this young man, they notice he is ‘off’ in some areas.
Because they are willing to help him, they invite him to their home and explain to him “more correctly” the word of God. The result is Apollos becomes a faithful preacher and servant of the Gospel, with some people even putting him on par with the great apostles Paul and Peter (e.g., in 1 Cor 1:12).
Now, here is our problem. Our young street preachers are also zealous for God, yet they too lack knowledge in some areas. They know their salvation story well, that Jesus saved them. That is enough. But they want to start talking about prophecy, politics, church doctrines etc., and in the process, they go wrong. That is where they need to be corrected.
How many of these boys belong to churches with pastors or elders? Like Aquila and Priscilla, these leaders should move around and see what is happening. If they notice their young men preaching, they should stay around and listen to what is being preached. Where necessary, they should correct and direct them along the right path.
On the other hand, as Apollos was humble enough to take correction from the couple, our young preachers must be willing to humble themselves and submit to their spiritual parents and be corrected. If they do not wish to be corrected, they should be banned from preaching in public.
Cornerstone AOG senior minister Rev Tony Dalaka stressed the importance of that phase of ministry: “Why ban street preaching? The only requirement is that the preachers must operate under the authority of the local church. That will hold them accountable. Otherwise, street evangelism is a crucial part of the ministry of the church and must be encouraged”.
Rev Jino Pala, the Superintendent Minister of the United Church also expressed his support for street preaching but challenged pastors to be more involved with their young people.
“My youth members regularly go out for street evangelism and often I am with them, listening to their preaching. I will know if anyone says anything wrong so I will correct him straight away. The reason we are having so many problems is that young preachers do not want to submit to their pastors, while pastors do not pay any attention to what the youths are doing. Don’t ban street preaching, just make sure preachers are properly taught and authorised by their local churches,” he said.
I witnessed a classic case recently. A preacher had worked up a huge crowd at Tabari Place. While advocating for his particular day of worship, he also labelled other churches who worship on Sunday as “pikinini blo devil satan” (children of the devil). Not satisfied, he called an old man out from the crowd and interrogated him about his love for God, which he claims, must be demonstrated by keeping the Sabbath.
Being from another church, the old man started to explain but before long, the preacher ridiculed him, calling him a son of the devil. Strangely, this got the applause of the crowd, who jeered at the old man as he walked away.
I spoke to David from Enga, a spectator who walked away angrily from that gathering. He said: “That is rude. How can that preacher make fun of the poor old man? And what right does he have to spoil other churches. Autim tok tasol, noken bagarapim ol narapela (just preach the word, don’t spoil others)!
That is a classic case of why violence erupts from so called street preaching. There is no place for such rudeness in our country!
In summary, I agree that street preaching is an important activity of the church. Publicly preaching about God is a privilege we are enjoying as part of our democratic system of government in the free world.
Let us not abuse it. Other Christians in Muslim, Hindu or communist countries do not enjoy that freedom. They are killed for their faith while people from those countries come to PNG to run their businesses while practicing their faith freely. Our freedom to publicly preach about God must not be curtailed. However, I strongly agree that church leadership must be held to account if a preacher purposely creates trouble by putting down other churches. Outreach messages should be focused on the person of Jesus Christ alone. All the intricate details of what that entails should be left to private teaching sessions run in one’s own local church for their own members.
Finally, God’s word commands everyone, even street preachers, to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

• Rev Seik Pitoi is a freelance writer.