A debate about street evangelism

First, there was this video published on You Tube about anti-gay preaching on a Toronto street.

Then there was the reaction by many people at what they thought was happening.

Then there was this report by the Toronto Star and this by the National Post.

It’s more a study in human psychology than a debate about the Gospel. But if the two newspaper reports can be trusted and if the people they interviewed were being truthful, it seems that the charge of “homophobia” was hugely overblown and simply untrue. Whether this is the best way to evangelize in our post modern world is another matter. It might be. It might not. The whole thing gets bogged down in who has the right to do what they want to do. And that is not where the debate should end up.

One question that comes up is if this is a legitimate way to evangelize why aren’t more Christians doing it? If it is not what God wants us to do, why were they at it? Do I not do this simply because it would make me uncomfortable? I have to confess that it is not my style and I would not promote it for our church.  My mother’s words come screaming in my head “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”. If we criticize this church for doing what they are doing can we give alternative approaches that we are doing that are better? The “just leave me alone and let me go to church if I want to” is not the advice we should follow. But how should we seek to reach our communities with the Gospel? Was this church’s manner less than Christian? Is mine?

Lots of thoughts to mull over.