Does Evangelism Belong at Chicagos Top Tourist Attraction?

Published: Sept. 25, 2019, 1 p.m.

Most Friday nights during the school year, a group of Wheaton College students takes the train into downtown Chicago together. Their purpose? To share the gospel with the people they meet that night in the city.\nLast year, Wheaton\u2019s Chicago Evangelism Team traveled to Millenium Park, home to one of the city\u2019s most popular attractions: the Bean. When students began to approach people with pamphlets, a park employee told students they were forbidden from doing so. Similarly, when one student began preaching, they were told that they were breaking a Chicago ordinance. Read The Chicago Tribune\u2019s\xa0report.\nThis account comes from the lawsuit four students filed against the city of Chicago last week, alleging that the city\u2019s park rules improperly restricted their freedom of speech. The rules divided up the park into 11 sections and banned the public from \u201cthe making of speeches and passing out of written communications\u201d in all but one of the sections. That section was not the Bean, which was where the students specifically wanted to evangelize.\xa0\nThe public\u2019s strong reaction against evangelism comes as more and more companies are aggressively trying to sell you on their brands and products, says R. York Moore, the national evangelist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA.\xa0\n\u201cNow, as we see, people tend to associate proselytization with big tech companies or someone trying to sell you a credit card,\u201d he said. \u201c...It\u2019s no longer unique.\u201d\nMoore joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss why evangelism can make us feel uncomfortable, what bad evangelism looks like, and what makes public proclamation of one\u2019s faith beautiful and unique.\xa0\nThis episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you in part by Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God's Image, a newly updated and combined book by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, from InterVarsity Press. For 40% off and free US shipping on this book and any other IVP title, visit ivpress.com and use promo code POD19.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices