Street Preaching
 

Is street preaching a worthwhile practice? Should one engage in this practice vs. say, one on one witnessing? Or should one do both? What about restrictions on who should preach on the street (married, single, long time christians, etc.) Whad'ya think?

Re: "Street Preaching"
 

Aloha buzzoff,

It's NOT what we "think" - It's WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? :confused:
{John 5:39; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15}

Ok. So what's the best way to find what the bible says?

1. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Get a King James Bible.
3. Open your Bible. (You should start with John.)
4. Pray for His direction.
5. Read it.

The Holy Spirit guides and teaches us in the word of God. If you cannot understand anything you read, you probablly need to be saved.

Yes. It is a Biblical practise and I believe many lost souls have come to Christ as the result of it, also many Christians have come back to Christ as a result of street preaching.

Street preaching is one of many methods of witnessing the gospel, there is no need to compare one method with another. I would say that every street preacher also witnesses one on one, especially when out on the streets before or after his preaching session, but not every Christian who witnesses one on one (and we all should) is a street preacher.

Simply put, you don't just decide one day to go out street preaching, but rather you are sent out to do it by God, it's a calling. It is not for the faint hearted, and it is not for the novice new Christian who is unskillful in the word of God.

Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Preaching "on the street" is really the oldest form of preaching there is. It is probably better termed "public preaching", for it consists of taking the word of God to the public (masses, perhaps), and outside the four walls of today's churches.

Be certain not the form an opinion of the practice based on videos you might find online. Most of them are posted for their entertainment value and do not give a true image of the biblical practice.

Instead, search the scriptures. Just to get you started, consider where Enoch would have been found preaching his sermon found in the epistle of Jude. Run through the whole Book, and you'll find that they were all "taking it to the streets."

Jer 11:6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.

It really grieves my heart to see that this is a dying form of preaching (dying, as in not practiced as much as it used to be)....and it's a shame that more CHRISTians (especially in bigger cities) don't practice it, and that more preachers don't disciple their flocks and equip them for street preaching!

See I thought that as well, but I've read some material recently in which the author thinks that, while everyone might not be called to actually preach on the street, that everyone should be involved in street ministry.


I guess I should've been more clear. Or, more specifically, finished my thought. What I Meant was, what's the best way to find what the Bible says on a given subject?

I believe he understood you perfectly. ;)

Perhaps. I've gone to church most of my life. But yet I'm still a "babe," if not unsaved. I have issues to work through.

That's an easy problem to solve. How about you simply just ask the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Saviour? Salvation is simple and easy. Just trust the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior. Free and simple. :)


Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved . . . .
Acts 16:31

Exactly; Bible study is of great importance to you in this stage of Christian growth. The Lord will grow you through that Word and strengthen your faith through through prayer and personal experience. The closer you get to God through His word, the closer He'll get to you! (James 4:8)

We used to have a "Street Preachers Conference". Later, we called it "Public Preachers Conference". :director:The reason is we also preach in market places, cemeteries, etc., and these are not "streets".:car:

Do you only preach in the cemeteries on All Saints Day 1st November, or at other times as well?

"Open Air Preaching" would be the more general term, yet "street" preaching does have it's precedent in the Bible:

2 Samuel 1:20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

Jeremiah 11:6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.

Matthew 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. 19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.

Luke 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

I used to go street preaching every Monday - in the market place in the morning and in the streets outside a mall down in the city in the afternoon. Also we preach in pumpboats and inside public jeepneys. Saturdays, we also did open air preaching Saturdays.:car:

What caused my polyp was, in addition to public preaching, I taught day and night classes in the Bible school, and I also taught student choirs and church choirs. In other words, my voice works 8AM - 9PM every day plus weekly street preaching plus no voice rest. "Shame on me" for overusing, misusing, and abusing my voice.

But thanks everyone for your prayers! My voice is back in business, minus excessive shouting and no more street preaching -- except when there is an opportunity, and with a microphone or megaphone:director: if possible. For example, my grandma asked me to preach to her former classmates on a pumpboat last week!:fish2:

Buzz, the Jack Hyles/Sword Of The Lord crowd emphasis soul winning as the main thing to the exclusion of all other work for God. I believe there many ways we can win souls. The front line soldier may fire his weapon, he needs 10-30 people in the rear area to support his position in the foxhole. He needs food, he needs ammunition. Do not be intimidated by the Guilt Trip Evangelists, many of those never leave home, have never passed out a tract.

My calling for personal evangelism is the street. We had at one time a small street ministry in The Oregon District in Dayton Ohio on Fifth Street, a covey of adult book stores, bars, nightclubs, in an alleged "historical" area of the city. You never know what's going to happen next or what you will meet. The nursing home ministry was not for me, neither was the jail ministry.

Paul said be instant in season and out to answer EVERY man at ANY time in ANY place. If you feel called to the street, then by all means do so. God gave each of us a unique personality with unique talents. One of mine is writing. Another is, as a former bouncer in a biker bar that became a gay bar, I am not afraid of confrontation. I'm a "street" person myself, I am not homeless, but understand the street. Pual was a Pharisee and probably the most weel educated human on earth. He preached Christ crucified in synagogues, in homes, on Mars Hill among the gnostics, anywhere was his pulpit.

Children, young adults, and many adults have their "heroes". John Wayne, Al Pacino, Madonna, etc. One of the few heroes I have is Arthur Blessit, who carried the wooden cross 36,000 miles over the earth. That's a street ministry to me, and Arthur is a man we should emulate if we emulate any.

Grace and peace

Tony Bones

I agree with you. But the thing to stress is that we all should be doing something. There is no excuse to do nothing. I at least keep tracts in my pocket at all times and I leave them in the soda drop in soda machines, pay phones, under peoples windshield whipers, in restrooms, etc. The point is to get the gospel out there. Street preaching is one way to do that, but it tends to be very condemning and repulsive to folks (though this isn't the case with all street preachers, mostly the James Lyman croud). This is why I think door to door soulwinning is a great way to get the gospel out there. Also brother Luke explained to me what letter boxing is and I think that it is another great way to get the gospel out there (though I think this is illegal in the USA, therefore leaving a tract and invitation on the doorknob is advisable! ^_^), and it's a good way for shy folks (like myself!).

Peace and Love,
Stephen

I agree with everything you say here, my friend. My only contention I have ever had are with some people in the past who took it to an extreme degree. Like leaving a wife at home after appendix surgery, still fighting an infection. Another group rose up in arms that I was writing tracts. "There are plenty of good tracts available.". Not on Jesus Only/Oneness Pentecostals. Not a one, matter of fact. So I wrote one after researching their beliefs.

We had one charming lady in church who placed tracts in 12 packs and cases of beer. Another pair of kids got the idea to put tracts in helium balloons, after renting a tank of helium. They did like 500 balloons, maybe 4000 tracts. That is a GREAT way to get kids interested in witnessing and evangelism. Of course, the ballons go up, I think 10,000 feet and pop, the tracts rain down. They may catch a headwind and travel thousands of miles. The myriad ways of witnessing and getting the gospel is limited only by the number of Christians to be sent forth, and there are many ingenius ways of witnessing and giving out tracts, as posted above. Have a meeting at your church, have young people, bring up the idea of the balloons. Have a thorough discussion on ways to get tracts out, as the lady with her 12 Pack Ministry. She got results:)

My main thrust is cults and hardcases you meet on the street. Give them a tract, if they respond badly, that's an infinitely better sign than them taking it, thanking you, moving on and throwing the tract down and maybe being in hell for breakfast the next day. On the street, do not impede their travel, but if they want to stop and fuss with you, you have them interested. Be polite. If they shovel you down woth feces, stay polite. We had rocks, bottles, baggies with unidentified liquids thrown at us, we took that for a sign we were doing RIGHT. Peter said if you suffer persecution for doing right, then you must be on the right track, you touched a nerve.

A bountiful harvest to you Stephen. Plant the seeds, another wil water, God will give the increase for His glory.

Grace and Peace

Tony Bones

A team of us were out last night street preaching and tracting, when a Christian approached me, and instead of commending the work which we were doing proceeded to tell me how I was disobeying God and making myself an authority over the Bible because I am a member of a denomination, that being Independent Baptist. Talk about a discouragement! Then I got to talking to an agnostic vegan, who had the audacity to tell me that the Bible is full of many contradictions. When I asked him if he had ever read it through he said "no". I wasn't surprised. After speaking to him about many different issues, with me always trying to get the conversation back to the salvation of his soul, he left smiling with a tract and the gospel message driven into his head by the mere fact I told him how to be saved about 10 times! :cool:

Kiwi, don't let that rascal discourage you brother.
Your efforts/service will be rewarded.

1. Yes it's certainly worthwhile, if done properly.

2. Witnessing door to door is also effective, and can be done many ways, such as Gospel tracts, a simple presentation combined with a handshake or prayer, etc... also starting a Bible study during lunch breaks can be very effective, you can meet off property once a week and have a picnic with fellow employees. Home Bible studies can be an excellent tool for witnessing to neighbors and friends.

3. The only restrictions to "preaching" would be the limitations of the preacher. A man who is familiar with the Bible and dealing with groups/crowds can certainly pull it off, but a new believer who has little knowledge of the Bible could get caught in a web if there are hecklers present. Public speaking requires a certain amount of discretion, and a decent handle on communication skills. Not everyone has this calling. The best thing is to get involved in a local Bible believing church in your area and team up with an experienced mature Christian who can show you the ropes.

Matt, I wonder if this Christian was Church Of Christ, they got a hangup about being a "denomination", which they ARE, if they have a unique set of beliefs, which they DO. I am former Church Of Christ. Don't be discouraged, this person may not have been a Christian.

Be aware of this scam in Christianity: When anyone says, "Oh, I am NON-denominational..." you can translate that as "I am Pentecostal".

How can ye say, a book hath errors, when ye hath not readeth it? People say to me, prove God exists. My reply is, prove He don't. Folks say, the KJV has errors. Kewl. Show me one.

DON'T BE DISCOURAGED BY OPPOSITION. The person who opposes you is THE REASON YOU ARE THERE. They are at odds with themselves, you have no idea the battle waging within them. Pity them and be graceful and be filled with JOY, you have planted a seed and if it don;'t bloom, it may just need water and God will make that seed grow. The more they abuse you the more the words has cut them. Don't lte them hit you, but my wife has had beer bottles thrown at her. And rocks. All from moving cars, of course.

Of course.

The street ministry was at it's height during the time Last Temptation Of Christ was released. It was shown up the street from the Oregon District in Dayton Ohio at the Neon Movies. I went up and watched the Charasmatics sing, jangled guitars, cursed the movie house, and gazed at coming attractions. The minister in charge asked me if I had a question. I said, when you get done with this foolishness, come up the street and do some REAL work. They didn't close a single bar on Fifth Street.

One time they came in a group, got in a huddle, whooped and shouted, named Fifth Street and claimed it and then LEFT. Not an adult bookstore was closed by them.

We didn't close a single bar or adult bookstore either but when we see not through a glass darkly but face to face am curious at the fruit He harvested from just giving the gospel.

Matt, in an area such as this, businesses and bars and bookstores and nightclubs, there is a cut-off hour when it's really not safe for you or your women on the street. Hit them early and pack up about 11-midnight, many are too drunk to respond anyway.

It's sad but not discouraging when you meet a Christian while you are doing what you were doing, and they oppose you rather than bum extra tracts and jump into the trenches with you.

Never ever if an atom bomb goes off while you are tracting and witnessing, never ever forget this FACT: His words will not return unto Him void.

Be of good cheer my friend and much fruit to you in the Harvest. He's got your back, go forth with joy. Be instant in season and out of season and have an answer for everyone. I'm not Pentecostal but we are on shoutin'; territory here, I'm ready to run the aisles.

Grace and Peace

Tony

Tony said:

That's a good answer, but an argument from science and pure logic can also be made.

1) we know life exists now

2) we know that life has always been observed to arise from life 100% of the time. We have observed life arise from non-life exactly 0% of the time.

3) therefore, we know if all life ceased to exist, then life would never arise again.

4) therefore, we know that life has always existed in eternity, because life exists now. This eternal life is God.

The evolutionists will try to argue that life arose spontaneously by chemicals mixing in some pool eons ago, but they cannot do that in the labratory under perfect conditions. Even the most simple life on earth came from a living parent.

I haven't gone door knocking in a long time, but I used to do a lot of it years ago. You can run into some real interesting people.

I remember a fellow came to the door once. He told my pastor he was a Hindu. My pastor asked him if his life was better since becoming a Hindu. He said, "Oh yes, it has made me a much nicer person, I used to hate religious people, I would have probably punched you in the nose before I became Hindu."

My pastor then asked if he had children. He said, "Oh no, I hate kids!" :pound:

[QUOTE=Winman;16024]Tony said:

That's a good answer, but an argument from science and pure logic can also be made.

That was a pretty good one about the Hindu, Win.

I think this is what the scholars call "onotological" arguments. If anything, I will give atheists the Laws Of Thermodynamics:

1. If matter can't be created from nothing, where did it come from? God created it of course, we know that, they deny it.
2. If matter cannot be destroyed we are back with Law One: Where did it come from? Ah, a steady state Universe. But this leads us to Law 3:
3. By the time the Universe scatters there is NO gravitational pull to bring it to shrinking again, entropy CEASES at absolute zero and the atoms are scattered so far there is NO way they can regroup.

By this time both of us are going in circles. The word of God is the only way to find the solution for these wretched people:

We are saved by grace through FAITH. Paul and the apostles knew Christ PERSONALLY but knew Him no more after the grace program given to Paul came into being. God WILL NOT give physical evidence of His existence, NOTHING provable empirically. ALL must be of faith, as salvation is, otherwise the grace of Paul ceases to operate. ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, ALL of us doubted His existence at one time. He gave me no physical evidence, I believe He exists BY FAITH through the Scriptures. The fool has said in his heart there is no God, I am not a fool.

The athiest must also see as we did. He'll get NO evidence. It's how salvation has been ordained by God, it's how EVERYTHING has been ordained by God, through FAITH. Most athiests have a hate going on against God anyway. They can't attack Him, so they attack us.

Great day to you Win.

Bones

LOL, I used to have a url to a site that had a bunch of soulwinning stories. Of course I can't find it now... Nevertheless, you meet a lot of interesting people out there! :D

Peace and Love,
Stephen

Hi brother, no this guy wasn't Church of Christ, he didn't want to affiliate himself with any group whatsoever. When I asked him if he attended a church he said he held one in his home with a few other believers, then told me I should be doing the same because that's what they did in the first century church. I encouraged him to keep it up, but he kept insisting that I should do the same.

I've been going out on the streets since I got saved in '93, I've seen and heard a lot out there, I consider it the 'front lines' of a warfare between God and the Devil, and I feel privileged to be a part of this ministry. Yes I've seen much opposition out there, but also much blessing. I am definately not discouraged now, but at the time last Friday night, especially went I expected to be encouraged by another brother in Christ, it did have a negative effect on my spirit, I couldn't help it. It certainly didn't discourage me enough to stop witnessing, it would take more than a disgruntled Christian harping on about his pet doctrine of 'denominational separation' to do that, even past beer bottle throwing hasn't deterred me!

Thanks for your comments and sound advice.

I've found that debating creation and evolution in the streets can get a crowd really quick, but it's hard to control, especially with young people, who just love hearing the sound of their own voice, and won't actually listen to anything you say in response, because they are too busy thinking up their next "Is there a rock so big God cannot lift it" zinger.

LOL, just tell them that there is 3 things God cannot do. God cannot lie, He cannot sin, and He cannot save a wicked sinner like them unless they want to be saved. ;)

For Jesus' sake,
Stephen

Matt, I believe our rewards are those we preach the gospel to. Not building and wealth, people. Go forth, we war not with carnal weapons, one more deadly to Satan, the words of God and WE GOT THEM TOO.

Carry on my brother.

Tony