I'M LISTENING AS FAST AS I CAN
Night Ministry in San Francisco
Don Stuart established the Night Ministry in San Francisco and served as its director from 1964 to 1976. He walked the streets from early evening until dawn seeking out individuals needing assistance. It was an especially wild time during the hey-day of Haight-Ashbury.
"I believe that one of the major reasons so many of the people with whom I worked at night had difficulty in improving their life, or even in finding it, was the low opinion they held of themselves as well. So many had difficulty in recognizing who they were not only in relationship to God, to their brothers and sisters but especially to who they were within themselves. It was not my objective to “preach” to street people in the usual sense. This was a ministry of presence, and presence at a time inconvenient for the traditional Church to respond. It was stemming the flow of blood from slashed wrists or from a beating. I rarely intruded on a person’s privacy unless they gave me an opening to do so or unless my help was obviously needed. I didn’t mark the success of my nights by counting up how many souls I had “saved” or how many new members I had added to the church rolls. I simply planted seeds. If the people couldn’t see that the love of God was being shared with them through a tired and soaking-wet clergyman coming at two or three o’clock on a rainy morning, they would hardly hear my words."
—from the Foreword
“The San Francisco Night Ministry plays a significant role in the battle to control some of the city’s seamier aspects.”
—The San Francisco Chronicle
“The
Night Ministry offers all matters of assistance from the practical to
spiritual. No required prayer meetings, no commitments to church
membership, no gimmicks, no obligations.
—United Press International
Stuart,
Donald E.;
184 Pages (PB)
$15.95