Three Ways to Bring the Gospel Where You Are
By Lawrence M. Ventline, D.Min.
To walk, or, to talk?
That is the question. At the corner of Chene and Lafayette Avenues in Detroit, Michigan, that is the initial concern I have as noticing becomes key to engaging passersby further.
Does the passerby I see in this busy downtown business and residential area, across from the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Apartments, want to engage with me? If his or her body language negatively indicates more than my smile and greeting, I pass, after saying, "Good Day!" And, if she or he seems to be a willing conversant with me, I say, "Hi., how may I pray for you today?"
In furthering my conversation, here's proposing three ways to bring the "Good News" of Jesus the Christ on the street, in particular, but, generally, these ways work at the office, in the domestic church at home, and, in the neighborhood also.
(1) Greet and Meet
Hospitality is crucial for anyone who may perceive me as a stranger who is perceived as unfamiliar. "Stranger danger" in my Motown where I grew up near the Detroit City Airport, enfolds many residents. Fear is paramount in our culture today, even though Jesus suggests in the Bible that fear is useless, and, what is needed is trust. Since 9/11/2001, people seem on edge, let alone in some instances angry. Gentle assertion is in order, therefore, in every step of evangelizing.
(2) Content of My Approach in Street Ministry
After assessing that the passerby is welcoming, I am able to attract my fellow pilgrim near downtown Detroit, the auto capital of the world, and, home to more than fifty nations in the Detroit, Dearborn and Hamtamck, Michigan region. After all, immigrant fled their homelands of Poland and more in the 20s and 30's for the Dodge Plant in Hamtramck. They sought employment and a salary for their own maintenance, and, for their family back in the mother land. After all, my own parents emerged from farming towns of Bad Axe and Cheboygan, Michigan, northern areas where agriculture dominated both of my parents merged families of twelve siblings in each home. My dad came to Detroit and worked for the Budd Company while a teen, while my mother left Cheboygan to work at Pilgrim Laundry, or, to clean huge homes occupied by Jewish families in northwest Detroit, for example.
"How may I pray for you?" I ask. Inevitably, most name their own issue as the need for employment, or, for recovery from addiction, or, some illness. Armed with contact information for the iconic Focus:HOPE, a civil and human rights service, employment training, and a women's, children's and senior's feeding center, for example, I hand her or him a card or a sheet with the address and phone number to resources for passersby to benefit from in their need.
They gratefully acknowledge the information I hand each of them in my few hours of 'making the rounds of pastoral care. What a street evangelizer says will make or break the well-intentioned encounter. Content is crucial. At times, a lit bar-b-q grille with hot dogs or hamburgers become the way to a man or woman's soul as each passes on Chene, for example. The aroma fills passersby nostrils. They stop and ask, especially if they are hungry, or seeking God.
(3) Prayer is Vital Before and After Each Encounter
Well before I arrive by 10 am at least three days a week at what I like to dub as, Occupying the Corner with Good News, Psalms, Liturgy of the Hours, Mass, the rosary, or, centering prayer, comprises my conversations and prayer with God.
I cannot give what I do not have. Without sustenance in prayer, I am without the "fuel," let alone the fire for renewal, recovery, and Good News to share, for sure.
Furthermore, keeping the focus of this entire encounter demands a prayerful heart. Like Solomon of the Hebrew Scriptures, I pray for an "understanding heart."
Concluding Summary
Most days fill me with satisfaction as I arrive home after a few hours of intense evangelization on the corner near downtown Detroit, called, Elmwood Park Community. I would be less than honest if I failed to report that frustration may also fill my time spreading the Good News. After prayer, for example, one may say, "I don't need a job; I get what I need from Uncle Sam." Jobs give people meaning and purposeful living with satisfaction in helping grow the economy and the community, more importantly. Entitlements may work against my moments with each passerby.
I entrust each session, and, encounter with a passerby to the Creator. After all, it is God's world. I am an agent for the Maker. And, an important one, but, only that.
(A Catholic pastor, and, a board certified professional counselor in the Archdiocese of Detroit, MI., Father Lawrence M. Ventline, earned a doctor of ministry at Saint mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, MD. His doctoral thesis is, "The Witness Value of the Visit of Pope John Paul II to Detroit in 1988: Its Meaning and Message." He directs the VENT-Line Center for Inter-Religious Dialog in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Harrison Township, MI., where he currently resides.)
L. Ventline
25559 Waterway
Harrison Twp., MI. 48045
(313) 530 2777
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