BoingBoing.net links to a story where a price comparison website ran an experiment on the streets of London and Manchester offering passers by a £5 note if they would only stop and ask for it. The results confirm that people are skeptical of freebies:

“Despite encountering over 1800 people, only 28 passers by bothered to take advantage of the offer…[and] all but 7 of the people who claimed the free cash were men.”

Though considerably different, what does this say of trying to “hand out” the Gospel?

“If you stop and ask me how to know Jesus, I’ll tell you.”
“You can go to heaven for free. Ask me how.”

Using these lines on the street would likely yield similar results if not attracting even less people. Why?

First, it’s interesting that many people could have actually used the five pounds for their day’s commute, but stopping and asking for money makes one lose face and appear needy. Stopping to have a chat about the Gospel may similarly appear as being needy or spiritually bankrupt, feelings most people will likely want to avoid though prerequisite for coming to Christ.

What’s the solution? Well, it doesn’t seem like the marketing folks have yet designed a strategy for passing out money for free, so it’s not surprising that passing out the Gospel would be equally as perplexing. But this has to depend largely on the audience. Go to a slum where people have obvious need that’s clear to everyone: you better believe there would be more takers for the free money than on the streets of major cities where the average passer by is more concerned with saving face (or time) than taking someone up on a good offer. Go then to a slum and share the good news of Jesus Christ to people who are more tuned in to their deficiencies: I would think more would respond than in the cities because of their pressing needs which would take precedence of reputation or time.

This doesn’t mean we don’t share the Gospel wherever we go, but this helps us to understand the people with whom we hope to share the Gospel.