Street Witnessing

Part 3 in a Series of 6 on “How to Share Christ”

What is Sharing with Strangers?

1.      It is speaking to strangers and passing out tracts in high-traffic, public places. The purpose is to confront people with the Gospel, telling them about Jesus Christ, God’s Son and how He died for their sins.

2.      The best place to do this type of witnessing is where there are lots of bars and clubs, along with tattoo parlors and stores that sell drug paraphernalia. In other words, the worst part of town! People living in or frequenting these areas are generally not believers. High-traffic and lost people are the perfect combination for street witnessing.

3.      There is quite a surprise element in sharing Christ in these areas.  People you encounter on the streets in bad areas of town are generally there because they are living in darkness and the last thing they want to see is the light of Jesus Christ. When you approach them, they may act surprised because a Christian is the last person they expect to see there.  But this is good because then you’ll get to explain that you are there to tell them about Jesus and how He died on the cross for their sins.

Be prepared

Be sure that you’re “prayed up” and ready for spiritual warfare when you share Christ like this. You’re in Satan’s territory and he doesn’t give up his captives without a fight.  The rewards for your work are bountiful though because as you pray and commit yourself to the Lord, He will empower you for this work. Also, there is no fruit sweeter than seeing a sinner come to Christ who’s been living full-time for the devil.

A Real-life Example of Street Witnessing

I once had a group of people with me in Juarez, Mexico and we were doing this type of witnessing in the red light district.  Prostitution is legal in Mexico and it was past midnight on a Saturday night as we walked the streets.  There were so many people milling around, it was hard to keep our group together.

We had a wonderful response from the people we talked to that night and one man who prayed to receive Christ was a male prostitute that God touched in a profound way.  At one point, as we were passing out tracts, we stopped and talked to people who were waiting in a long line outside a night club. Many of them spoke English which made it easy for our group to share Christ with them.

One young lady I talked with clung to me when I handed her a tract and shared Christ with her. Her friends kept laughing and pulling her away and I could tell she was torn between serving God and Satan. She was crying as she left. Looking back at me, she kept saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I have to go with them!”

This was very unsettling for our entire group and we grieved for her.  It was as if the Lord gave her a chance to follow Him and turn away from her sin, but she gave in and went with the crowd instead.  The one consolation I had was that she kept the gospel tract I gave her and I knew the Lord would use it in her life.       

That tract contained the Word of God and the Lord says in Isaiah 55:11 NKJV, “So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Silent witnessing

Leaving tracts in public places is a form of street witnessing, but it’s totally non-confrontational It can be a powerful tool in reaching people for Christ. Some Christians keep tracts with them at all times and deliberately leave them in unlikely places as they go about their daily business. Others regularly make trips to government buildings, shopping malls, flea markets, etc., strictly for the purpose of placing tracts where people will find them.  Either of these methods is an easy way to spread the Gospel and almost anyone can do it.

Many people are not sure what type of tracts to use.  There are a lot of different styles and types of tracts available, but a good tract is simply one that someone will pick up and read!  Whatever type you choose, it should be attractive, clean and not crumpled.  It should be biblically correct with clear steps for a person to follow in giving their life to Christ. If you can find them, tracts that have a salvation prayer that a person can follow are the best.

Chick Publications makes a good case for using cartoon type tracts; a Missionary told them that Communists in China developed a powerful way to reach the multitudes and they stole the technique from us! It seems that years ago their agents watched our children spend hours and hours reading comic books.  So they spent millions of dollars printing their propaganda in a cartoon format – and their results were extremely successful!

We have enclosed a cartoon-type tract for your use. If you’re interested in ordering more you can do so at; The American Tract Society (www.atstracts.org). The cost is about $2.50 for a pack of 20 tracts.

Before you go, prepare:

• Pray and commit your steps to the Lord and ask others to be praying for you.  Pray for safety
• Praise Him and thank Him for what He is going to do through you
• Remember that you cannot “save” anyone, but ask the Holy Spirit to prepare the hearts of those you will be reaching out to and ask Him to give you His words to speak to them.  Jesus saves, we’re just His messengers!
• Plan ahead. Have your tracts in an accessible back pack, tote bag or whatever way will make it easy for you to work from.  This may take some trial and error for you to work out what is best for you.
• If you will be in a bad part of town doing street witnessing, do not go alone, plan to take someone with you. In Mark 5:7 NAS, Jesus sent out the twelve disciples in pairs.

As you go, remember these things:

• Pray unceasingly and remember that you’re a threat to Satan because you’re pointing people to Jesus who are otherwise headed for hell.  Stand against your enemy in the name of Jesus who defeated him on Calvary through His shed blood
• Never put anyone down and don’t be drawn into an argument
• Smile and express the love of Christ – you are on His business and you are His ambassador
• As you go, have an attitude of praise
• Don’t force a tract or your words on anyone.  Be gentle and considerate. Titus 3:1-2
• Be positive and bold when you speak to people
• Don’t be discouraged if you’re rejected.  Satan devises ways to discourage us so that we’ll give up and stay away from those he holds captive.  Press forward in the name of Jesus!

A Real-life Example of Using Tracts to Share Christ

In 1971, my husband Dave accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  He was 35 years old.  Looking back at the years that preceded his salvation experience, I can see how the Lord worked in our lives.  He allowed good and bad circumstances to shape and move our family toward the time when He would confront Dave with the reality of a Savior that loved him so much that He died for him personally.

After Dave was saved he told me how the Lord had used Gospel tracts to point him to Christ.  We owned a business and each day he would check the different jobs we had going.  There were no cell phones then, so he frequently stopped at phone booths to call the office and get messages. Very often, too often to be a coincidence, he would find a Gospel tract lying on the tray under the pay phone.  He was drawn to the message and in his curiosity to learn more, he would look around to be sure no one was watching, then he’d shove the tract (pamphlet) in his pocket and read it later in his truck.                                                                                  Dave & Barb Leonard, 2003                            

                                                                                                                                               

God dramatically used those little tracts to acquaint Dave with the loving Savior, Jesus Christ. We’re grateful to the faithful Christians who put tracts in places where he’d find them. God used them to plant seeds that in time, would lead Dave to accept Christ.