"They Won't Step Foot In Church" Mission Reaches Youth Culture On The Streets (+podcast)

Friday, November 15 2024 by Monika Kelly

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Young people with signs that say things like "God Gives Free Will" "Jesus Only Hope" and "God is jealous for you"
Steiger/Bryan Hopper
Steiger volunteers

With a mission to reach young people who wouldn't walk into a church, Steiger International started in post-Christian Amsterdam in the early 1980's. 

Punk rock shows staged on a houseboat tied to a pier (Steiger is the Dutch word for "pier") and audiences filled with anarchists, Steiger volunteers would present the Gospel to the crowd. 

Even now, Steiger reaches out to a completely secular youth culture. 

Three young women, praying
[Photo Credit: Bryan Hopper/Steiger International] Steiger outreach

Hear the conversation here: 

Bryan Hopper, regional development officer at Steiger says, "They're not coming to our churches, they're not coming to your worship nights, they're not coming to our Christian concerts."

Man worshipping with a huge Jesus sign on the wall behind him
[Photo Credit: Bryan Hopper] Bryan Hopper At Steiger Missions School, in Meissen Germany 

Volunteers encourage people to see themselves as God's creation.

"They'll walk around with a large square painting or portrait with a drape over it and they'll ask college kids, 'What's the most beautiful portrait that was ever created?' They'll say the Mona Lisa or the Last Supper...they'll pull the curtain back and it's a large mirror." 

This unique approach is working.

Man preaching in the middle of a circle of young people in a European city
[Photo Credit: Steiger/Bryan Hopper] Steiger outreach

"We had an outreach in a park and a 21-year-old young man came and he'd never prayed in his whole life. Yusef (one of the team members) prayed for him and he got emotional and he was overcome and he said he'd felt something he'd never felt before."

Two people praying for a young man on the steps
[Photo Credit: Steiger/Bryan Hopper] Steiger volunteers praying for a young man on the street

"We know that something is actually Someone--Jesus Christ."

For more on what Steiger is doing in your area, visit www.steiger.org . 

  

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