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Sowers
Painting a good picture
Sowers Intl. uses old-time street sketches to draw new believers
By Called and Sent Staff
CAINTA, Philippines—John Edwards and his team inch their 4x4 past the tin-and-plywood shanties, scoping out the right spot to set up.
“How about over there?” says Norsie, the team’s main speaker today, pointing to a clear spot on the side of the street.
John, the team leader, says it’s OK but prefers a spot in front of a small convenience (sari-sari) store. It’s a busy spot but well clear of the basketball game in progress about 50 meters away.
John parks. As Norsie constructs an easel, John cranks up folksy guitar music over a portable loudspeaker. An audience (mostly kids) starts to gel. John pulls out a brush and paints a border on a sheet of blank newsprint. John’s wife, Winsome, watches silently along with Norsie and Reagan, the music leader.
The music stops. As John grabs a microphone to speak, he suddenly has about 80 people watching.
It’s a prototypical Sowers International street meeting. The psychology is subtle but consistently effective: The set-up and intro sketch are done silently to arouse curiosity in passersby. As one team member paints, the others watch—again, silently—creating an instant audience.
As the painting engages people’s eyes, the background music engages their ears. And subtlest of all, as the first speaker begins to talk, the rest of the team forms a semi-circle around the easel, facing the speaker—the skeleton of the “auditorium.”
Everything, from the colors and fonts that Sowers use to the way they enter a street corner like this one, is designed to generate people’s interest and encourage them to participate in the Gospel presentation.
“It’s a fun way of evangelizing, it really is,” says John, 64, a mission development facilitator (trainer) who has been with Sowers for seven and a half years. “It’s a team ministry. We teach them that they’re not artists, they’re preachers. The sketches are just a means to an end of conveying the message.”
Fully trained Sowers go through five course levels but begin doing open-air sketches at Level 2. Wherever Sowers ministers—including the Philippines, Chile, India and several African nations—its goal is to give churches a vehicle to literally take the gospel to the streets.
During a recent Sowers recruitment meeting, John noted that open-air evangelism not only is portable and economical, but it also enables churches to reach people who wouldn’t think of attending a church.
“One of the best ways to fill empty services is to go out into the streets,” John says. “We want to multiply evangelists. The end result will be more converts joining local churches.”
Or new churches altogether. About three years ago, in the province of Zamvales on northern Luzon, John and Winsome did a seminar for 19 people. John and Winsome took the team out for one demonstration sketch to show them the ropes. From that, the 19 trainees counseled 33 people who had expressed interest in Christ. Last year, the Edwards checked back to see what ever came of it: Out of that group of 33 sprang a brand-new church that at the time had 20 adults and 100 children.
“This happens continually,” Winsome says.
Sowers began in the mid-1960s in the Philippines as Open Air Campaigners. The New Zealanders who founded it wore Salvation Army-like uniforms and traveled in vans with modern A/V systems and fold-down sides that created an instant stage.
The Campaigners ran into two problems: They didn’t have local partner churches ready to counsel their new converts, and their equipment didn’t fit local budgets. So they stripped the basic gear down so that local churches could replicate the ministry themselves.
Today, the basic Sowers kit comprises a sketchboard, paint box, brushes, five colors of water-based poster paint and 50 counseling booklets. The kit costs 2,000 pesos (about $40 U.S.), significantly less than a van and sound stage but still a steep price in a country where minimum wage is about $7 U.S. per day.
Nevertheless, after several years of dormancy in its native country, Sowers is undergoing a local renaissance and boasts trained presenters in several cities countrywide.
The team today is just four people, at least two fewer than John would like. The numbers aren’t so important during the presentation as afterward, when team members counsel audience members responding to the gospel presentation.
John says that open-air evangelism also is a prime opportunity to witness to men, a difficult-to-reach group in the Philippines (men here generally feel great peer pressure to not be seen congregating with so many women and children in public).
“Some of our best [male] preachers have been saved at open-air meetings,” Winsome says.
Open-air street talks have drawn fewer and fewer people over the years in faster-paced societies such as the United States, Australia and the Edwards’ own New Zealand, where people tend to be cash-rich but time-poor. The reverse is true here in the Philippines: This particular evening, the people crowding around the sketch board didn’t appear to be doing much of anything else beforehand.
Tonight about 20 adults and 60 children listen intently as Norsie preaches through his sketch of a person being saved by God out of a sea of kasalanan (sin) and Kamtayan (death) by a life ring reading “Jesus ligtas (saves).” The key action words for the evening: talikad (turn), tiwala (trust) and tanegap (accept).
The sketch board is set up to help presenters sketch key words quickly in large block or capital letters. For instance, “Jesus ligtas” emerges on the life ring as Norsie draws short black lines inside pre-drawn squares, creating black space around the suddenly obvious yellow block letters.
Almost every kid stays for the whole 30-minute program. Most of the adults peel away one by one until maybe 10 remain. As dusk approaches, Norsie concludes the sketch talk and invites anyone who’s interested to take a Gospel tract. As Reagan takes the kids to a separate spot for some group-participation songs, Norsie and John stay with the adults to counsel any takers.
Tonight, despite the lack of counselors to follow up with people, interest is good, Norsie says. As usual, he feels it is Sowers distinctive format that has generated a lot of the attention.
“It’s unusual for them to have a meeting like this,” says Norsie, who pastors a church in Metro Manila and has done about 40 open-air meetings. “Most meetings here are formal. This is very informal.
“We don’t need to call them. Because of all the attractive painting and sounds, their attention is captured.”
© 2006 Called and Sent Magazine. All rights reserved.
 | |
Norsie, a pastor in Metro Manila, illustrates Jesus as Savior in recent a street sketch in a squatter village. MORE PHOTOS
|
By Called and Sent Staff
CAINTA, Philippines—John Edwards and his team inch their 4x4 past the tin-and-plywood shanties, scoping out the right spot to set up.
“How about over there?” says Norsie, the team’s main speaker today, pointing to a clear spot on the side of the street.
John, the team leader, says it’s OK but prefers a spot in front of a small convenience (sari-sari) store. It’s a busy spot but well clear of the basketball game in progress about 50 meters away.
John parks. As Norsie constructs an easel, John cranks up folksy guitar music over a portable loudspeaker. An audience (mostly kids) starts to gel. John pulls out a brush and paints a border on a sheet of blank newsprint. John’s wife, Winsome, watches silently along with Norsie and Reagan, the music leader.
The music stops. As John grabs a microphone to speak, he suddenly has about 80 people watching.
It’s a prototypical Sowers International street meeting. The psychology is subtle but consistently effective: The set-up and intro sketch are done silently to arouse curiosity in passersby. As one team member paints, the others watch—again, silently—creating an instant audience.
As the painting engages people’s eyes, the background music engages their ears. And subtlest of all, as the first speaker begins to talk, the rest of the team forms a semi-circle around the easel, facing the speaker—the skeleton of the “auditorium.”
Everything, from the colors and fonts that Sowers use to the way they enter a street corner like this one, is designed to generate people’s interest and encourage them to participate in the Gospel presentation.
“It’s a fun way of evangelizing, it really is,” says John, 64, a mission development facilitator (trainer) who has been with Sowers for seven and a half years. “It’s a team ministry. We teach them that they’re not artists, they’re preachers. The sketches are just a means to an end of conveying the message.”
Fully trained Sowers go through five course levels but begin doing open-air sketches at Level 2. Wherever Sowers ministers—including the Philippines, Chile, India and several African nations—its goal is to give churches a vehicle to literally take the gospel to the streets.
 |
| John Edwards explains a sketch called "Four Faces" to a group of people in a squatter village in Metro Manila. The faces illustrate four different attitudes of people facing an impending disaster. |
During a recent Sowers recruitment meeting, John noted that open-air evangelism not only is portable and economical, but it also enables churches to reach people who wouldn’t think of attending a church.
“One of the best ways to fill empty services is to go out into the streets,” John says. “We want to multiply evangelists. The end result will be more converts joining local churches.”
Or new churches altogether. About three years ago, in the province of Zamvales on northern Luzon, John and Winsome did a seminar for 19 people. John and Winsome took the team out for one demonstration sketch to show them the ropes. From that, the 19 trainees counseled 33 people who had expressed interest in Christ. Last year, the Edwards checked back to see what ever came of it: Out of that group of 33 sprang a brand-new church that at the time had 20 adults and 100 children.
“This happens continually,” Winsome says.
Sowers began in the mid-1960s in the Philippines as Open Air Campaigners. The New Zealanders who founded it wore Salvation Army-like uniforms and traveled in vans with modern A/V systems and fold-down sides that created an instant stage.
The Campaigners ran into two problems: They didn’t have local partner churches ready to counsel their new converts, and their equipment didn’t fit local budgets. So they stripped the basic gear down so that local churches could replicate the ministry themselves.
Today, the basic Sowers kit comprises a sketchboard, paint box, brushes, five colors of water-based poster paint and 50 counseling booklets. The kit costs 2,000 pesos (about $40 U.S.), significantly less than a van and sound stage but still a steep price in a country where minimum wage is about $7 U.S. per day.
Nevertheless, after several years of dormancy in its native country, Sowers is undergoing a local renaissance and boasts trained presenters in several cities countrywide.
The team today is just four people, at least two fewer than John would like. The numbers aren’t so important during the presentation as afterward, when team members counsel audience members responding to the gospel presentation.
John says that open-air evangelism also is a prime opportunity to witness to men, a difficult-to-reach group in the Philippines (men here generally feel great peer pressure to not be seen congregating with so many women and children in public).
“Some of our best [male] preachers have been saved at open-air meetings,” Winsome says.
Open-air street talks have drawn fewer and fewer people over the years in faster-paced societies such as the United States, Australia and the Edwards’ own New Zealand, where people tend to be cash-rich but time-poor. The reverse is true here in the Philippines: This particular evening, the people crowding around the sketch board didn’t appear to be doing much of anything else beforehand.
Tonight about 20 adults and 60 children listen intently as Norsie preaches through his sketch of a person being saved by God out of a sea of kasalanan (sin) and Kamtayan (death) by a life ring reading “Jesus ligtas (saves).” The key action words for the evening: talikad (turn), tiwala (trust) and tanegap (accept).
The sketch board is set up to help presenters sketch key words quickly in large block or capital letters. For instance, “Jesus ligtas” emerges on the life ring as Norsie draws short black lines inside pre-drawn squares, creating black space around the suddenly obvious yellow block letters.
Almost every kid stays for the whole 30-minute program. Most of the adults peel away one by one until maybe 10 remain. As dusk approaches, Norsie concludes the sketch talk and invites anyone who’s interested to take a Gospel tract. As Reagan takes the kids to a separate spot for some group-participation songs, Norsie and John stay with the adults to counsel any takers.
Tonight, despite the lack of counselors to follow up with people, interest is good, Norsie says. As usual, he feels it is Sowers distinctive format that has generated a lot of the attention.
“It’s unusual for them to have a meeting like this,” says Norsie, who pastors a church in Metro Manila and has done about 40 open-air meetings. “Most meetings here are formal. This is very informal.
“We don’t need to call them. Because of all the attractive painting and sounds, their attention is captured.”
© 2006 Called and Sent Magazine. All rights reserved.