How to Interact with Security at a Farmer's Market.

Evangelism out in public can be scary, for many people it is outside their comfort zone, the thought of going up to strangers and asking them to talk about Jesus, definitely not always easy for many people. Not to mention the fact that you may encounter obstacles along the way. Such as the security guard at a public event. Now to be far most security guards to a great job, they are hired to provide a service and keep safe the people who participate in an event and of course those who attend these events. 

Now to be clear there is a difference between an event that is private and one that is open to the public. If an event is private, on private property and may require a ticket to enter, well in that case the security may ask you to stop or leave the property. My advice in that situation would be to comply, for example if I go into a store like Walmart or Target and while I am in the store I am walking around passing out gospel tracts (which I have done on occasions) and a security guard or employee comes up to me and asks me to stop or leave the store, I would comply, because it is a privately owned business and their property. 

But what about a public event? Well, if the event is public and taking place on public property, then you have every right to be there and engage in evangelism. 

Just remember why you are there... to glorify the Lord and be a witness for Christ, so how you evangelize and engage does matter. That's not to say that you shouldn't at times be stern or bold in your witness but that you keep in mind the most important thing is to glorify God and see men and women come to faith in Christ. 

So what should you do when a security guard comes up and asks you to move along and/or tries to move you away from the event? 

First, I would say to be kind, remember the security guard is in need of the Lord just like everyone else, and there may be many reasons why they are asking you to move along. It could be they were asked by the event coordinators who hired them to move you along, or it could be that they are hostile to the message of Christ and just want to silence you, again though it is important to remember, they need Jesus also. 

So be kind, offer them a gospel tract, inform them that you are just going to continue to hand out tracts and talk to be and keep on moving. Colossians 4:5-6 says, "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

Here is a short clip of an encounter a brother and I had with security at a local farmers market. 

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Thankfully the Lord provided us peace with the security guard the rest of the day. And while the interaction I had with the security guard was short, we interacted with kindness and yet still informed him we were going to keep on walking and handing out tracts. We had no issues the rest of the day by the security guard as we continued to evangelize. I was reminded of Proverbs 16:24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. 

In Christ, 
Ricky Gantz