16th Street Mall

As I was walking to the office today I noticed a group of people who were in a line along the 16th Street Mall, standing on chairs, and all wearing shirts that read, "Religion is a lie." There was also a link to this site on their shirts.

I figured out fairly quickly what they were doing. They were marking religion as a set of man made rules and regulations and promoting a relationship based Christianity. However, a lot of people along the mall weren't sure what was going on and would engage them in conversation, giving them an opportunity to share their faith.

While I'm not sold on their definition of religion and think that, at some point you need some kind of lens to view Scripture through (the Early Church called this the "rule of faith"), I can say that their approach is a step up from the hunt people down and beat them with Bible verses that occurs far too often along the mall.

Of course, you still have the challenge that it's a one time hit that lacks clear opportunities for follow-up, but at least it's less inclined to build up walls that prevent future conversations.

I've said quite a bit about evangelism on here over time, for example, don't do this, or this, but this, or this, or this, would be good ideas. Well here's another idea on something women could do ... I don't guys could get away with it without being accused of just trying to cop a feel. It's nothing new or radical, actually, there are books on the topic, but something happened yesterday that prompted it when I was walking home from work and ran into this gal on the 16th Street Mall:

She made the comment that, right before she hugged me, she'd hugged a huge crowd of people who were on their way home from a funeral and it just added a bit of joy to their day.

So, what if Christians just engaged in giving free hugs, or doing other random acts of kindness along the mall? Just little things to bring some joy to people's day or make their life a bit easier. Some people would just accept the gift and walk away, but others would want to know why, which would prompt a simple opportunity for Christians to say, "I just want to share a bit of the love Jesus has shared with me." If pressed, maybe give out a card that points people to a site like the Fishbowl or something like that.

Thoughts?

It's not unusual to get hit up by a panhandler when walking down Denver's 16th Street Mall, but yesterday I had experience that was anything but normal.

I was walking down the mall with Robbie in his carriage and noticed a couple of young people walking towards me. It was a guy and girl who were in dressed up in a goth style and seemed to be stammering a bit. As I passed them the woman looked at me and asked if I had any change. Before she could finish, the guy grabbed her arm saying, "You don't ask people with kids!"

The whole experience struck me as being rather strange. Any thoughts as to what else might have been behind it?