Open Air Preaching

I have been watching videos on youtube on open air preaching. For the majority of the videos I see preachers yelling at sinners to stop sinning, which I think is a oxymoron. I hear alot of I's, such as I repented, I stopped sinning, and they appear to be self righteous, like the reason that they are a Christian is because they are stronger mentally to overcome sin and live in holiness. They fail to mention the grace of God, I can tell you personally when I was in my unregenerate state I tried to stop sinning, but within a few days went back to my habitual sin. When I was born again it was the Holy Spirit convicting me of my sin not some preacher bring condemnation on me. I also do not hear the love of Christ in their voice or rather pleading with men. It should be all about Christ when preaching, he is the one who regenerates us and give us newness of life, transforming us from the kingdom of darkness to light. When preaching, the seriousness of sin needs to be brought up, like its a crime against God to sin and that God is holy and will one day judge the world in righteous. What is your opinion?

I was in Ybor City, one evening, when I came across someone who was trying to preach. He was very green and was reading the bible and really doing a bad job of it. I had the notion to take the bible out of his hand and read it like he meant it.

On the other hand, I never understand why many open air preachers preacher with anger. I can tell you that many preach out of their flesh and those who hear their noise walk away because to them it is as if mom and dad and trying to discipline them but in a wrong kind of way.

I have mixed emotions about open air preaching. On one hand, I really admire those who do it because quite frankly I am too chicken to do so.

On the other hand I am not sure how effective it is. I am not sure there is clear precedent in scripture- perhaps Jeremiah and Ezekiel..

but in the NT John the Baptist was in the wilderness and people went out to him to hear; the crowds came to Jesus, or he was in a synagogue where people already were expecting to hear something from someone. Peter's sermon in Acts 2 may have been open air; but people were coming around due to the phenomonen they were seeing/hearing. Paul generally went to the synagogues.

Sometimes open air preaching makes ME feel uncomfortable so I can imagine how it must make unbelievers feel. If they were made to feel uncomfortable out of conviction, well that is the goal, but I think that is rarely the case.

Greg- I appreciate you posting the video because I appreciate your spirit and style and I didnt sense any anger or judgmentalism.

Out of the abundance of the heart a man speaks. If a preacher indoors or out does almost nothing but preach about sin it is because their heart is full of it.

Peter said we are called to proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Let's do that. Or let's go home.

Agree with others here that the spirit in which we preach is vitally important. As to whether or not it is biblical for today, here are parts of a short article I wrote a while back on the topic:

Old Testament:

Proverbs 1:20-21 declares, “Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings”

Isaiah was an open air/street preacher.
In Isaiah 58:1 the Lord says to Isaiah, “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.”

Jeremiah was an open air/street preacher.
In Jeremiah 11:6-7 the Lord says to Jeremiah, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; hear the words of this covenant and do them.”

Jonah was an open air/street preacher.
In Jonah 3:1-4 we read: “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you." So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.”

New Testament:

John the Baptist was an open air/street preacher.
Matthew 3:1-2 says, “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was the greatest open air/street preacher.
Matthew 5:1 tells us, “When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them…..” And He went on to preach that famous Sermon on the Mount. There are many other accounts of our Lord preaching to crowds in the outdoors.

The Twelve Apostles were open air/street preachers.
Luke 9:1,6 says, “And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases….Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”

Philip the evangelist was an open air/street preacher.
Acts 8:5-8 declares, “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. So there was much rejoicing in that city.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “Where would the reformation have been if its great preachers had confined themselves to churches and cathedrals? How would the common people have become indoctrinated with the Gospel had it not for those far-wandering evangelists….and those daring innovators who found a pulpit on every heap of stones, and an audience chamber in every open space near the abodes of men?”

An article I came across states, "After the reformation other great movements were started by street preachers. The Methodist Church, co-founded by George Whitfield and John Wesley, is an example of this period. These two were Anglicans, but being banned from speaking in churches since they were not licensed, they took to ‘field preaching’, boldly proclaiming God’s Word to large crowd in streets and markets. They traveled throughout England and the American colonies and were instrumental in the Great Awakening… The Methodist Church was started by street preachers.”

And there are many more examples, even in modern times, of how God has greatly used this method of open air/street preaching.

But in many cases in the NT the crowds were submitting themselves for preaching. John the Baptist was in the wilderness and people went out to hear him. The crowds followed Jesus around-- he always had an audience if he wanted to speak. The fact that he worked miracles obviously helped.

Of course I am not saying that there was no cases of true open air preaching in the NT-- but in most cases there seemed to be a willing audience-- although admittedly sometimes they were only willing to listen in order to accuse the speaker.

Amen thingsabove! Thanks for the encouragement.

QUOTE: "I have been watching videos on youtube on open air preaching. For the majority of the videos I see preachers yelling at sinners to stop sinning, which I think is a oxymoron. I hear alot of I's, such as I repented, I stopped sinning, and they appear to be self righteous, like the reason that they are a Christian is because they are stronger mentally to overcome sin and live in holiness."==ALD0025

Yea, this is common and brings back memories of when i was in college (secular, liberal arts) and a group of "Christians", led by a grown man, came from somewhere and decided to open air preach on our campus. The only thing they succeeded in doing was to offend people because they criticized female students for the way they were dressed, calling them "whores"; they said they were whores for the way they were dressed. They yelled and they shouted and they argued with the students. Nothing at all Christlike. Did Christ yell? Did Christ shout? Did Christ engage in arguing? Did Christ call the woman at the well a Whore? Did he call Mary Mag a Whore? Did he call the woman caught in adultery in John Chapter 8 a Whore? Anyway, last time i checked, a whore is someone who gets PAID for their services and if someone is going to be called one they should be getting paid. There was no love nor grace in their tone or their words or their teachings. They were finally ordered to leave the campus and all they left behind was a bad impression. Nothing they said or did brought glory to God. It was positively shameful.

It is interesting to note that the apostles did not make the sins of their hearers their main topic in the book of Acts. They preached so as to inspire saving faith in a risen Christ. For you can convince a man he is a sinner and he will still die and go to hell. But if you persuade a man that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, that sort of faith will change his eternal destiny.

Brothers, we must not throw out the baby with the bath water. Just because there are many bad examples of street preachers doesn't mean we should do away with it altogether. Scripture is full of examples of that kind of preaching, from the prophets, our Lord Jesus, the apostles and disciples. It was the most prominent way by which God communicated His Word to the people.

edit for grammar.

I agree with everything said here. You could copy and paste those exact people, with the exact impressions, for my campus. I am a senior in college, and am ashamed at what open-air preachers do on my campus. People argue with them, throw things at them, play loud music next to them, it's really horrible. Don't cast your pearls before pigs, ya know?
Anyways, in my Christian walk, I have never met a soul who was saved from open air street preaching. I whole-heartedly agree with the approach, though. I have nothing against street-preaching. My encounters with open air preachers have just been negative. I tell you though, if Greg Gordon showed up on my campus, I'd stop and listen. Never have encountered street preaching like that.
When witnessing to a non-believer, you don't open with "You're going to Hell, you're against God, etc." They know their situation, but I just don't find it polite calling out people like that. Kind of like those bumper stickers that say "Try Jesus, if you don't like Him the Devil will always take you back!" ...My heart breaks at that because you get the same result as all the college students I saw turn away with disgust.
I was walking by a street preacher one day and he looked at me and said "Sinner! Repent before you go to Hell!" I just walked by and thought, "You know, he has no idea I'm called to be a missionary."

that is some exelent advice amen things above

Would not Billy Graham qualify as an open air preacher?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIQ60AdL5AU

QUOTE: "I would also add that we do not limit the points God wants us to proclaim to sinners just to the book of Acts. The whole of the New Testament as well as the old testament declares that rebuking people and calling them to repent of their sins is part and parcel of “all the counsel of God.”==THINGSABOVE

Well said; i agree. To say that a person should never preach about sin while street preaching is totally false. One must be careful of the spirit one speaks with however, and "speak the truth in love". One must speak with humility and compassion, remembering one's OWN sins and faults first, and not speak in a self-righteous, critical or judgmental manner. Jesus never did so. And the only ones he REBUKED were the self-righteous religious crowd.

Of course we must preach about sin and hell. But if we use Isaiah 6 as an example, should men get a revelation of the majesty of Christ, they will see how sinful they are without going through a laundry list of their sins. Or like Peter who saw the Lord and declared he was a sinner, and tossed himself into the sea.

A poor man doesn't need somebody to remind him he is poor when he is the dinner guest at a rich man's house.

Thingsabove wrote: "Our Lord and savior as well as the apostles were street preachers."

I guess it depends how you define "street preachers" I agree that they were "open air" preachers because they preached outside.

I define a street preacher as a person standing uninvited and perhaps intrusively on a busy street corner or the middle of a college campus who begins preaching to people passing by, 99% of whom have no interest at best or are totally turned off at worst.

I still assert that there is very little of this in the NT. Jesus always had a WILLING audience-- and it seems for the most part that the apostles did as well. Perhaps not in every instance, but on most instances. LIke I said-- they were indeed "open air" preaching because they were outside. But that doesnt change the fact that in most cases people there were there because they wanted to be.

That being said, and like I said at tmy first post, I admire unsolcited street preachers (if they do it the right way) and I believe there is a place for it. But as others have observed, I do not believe it is very effective.

It is simply not a fair portrayal of NT preaching in the open air to compare it to street preachers standing in the middle of a busy campus or city street corner giving unsolcited messages. Two different animals. A much better comparison can be made to the OT prophets. They were often ignored as well.

The word "evangelist" comes from the ancient Greek word for herald or town crier. It was the job of the herald to go to the center of a town and announce to the citizens there that a new king had been established, or to annoumce new decrees on his behalf. This news was unsolicited. And individuals like Phillip carried out this function.

But they didn't over stay their welcome. I don't think street preachers today should either. One shouldn't be rude in their proclamation. A few hours a day in one location for a few days in a row should be the general length of one's stay somewhere at most in my opinion.

A poor man doesn't need somebody to remind him he is poor when he is the dinner guest at a rich man's house.

Clydebank 1887-88

Renowned Methodist preacher Samuel Chadwick experienced what his biographer described as three years of revival during his period of ministerial probation in Clydebank between 1887 and 1890. Born in Burnley in 1860 into a devout Methodist working-class family, Chadwick became a Christian at the age of ten. While in his teens, he sensed a strong call to the ministry and would rush home after a twelve-hour factory shift to engage in five hours of prayer and study. As a lay-preacher in Stacksteads, Lancashire in his early twenties, Chadwick experienced a fresh baptism in the Spirit. This added greater authority to his preaching and quickly thereafter revival spread through the valleys, with hundreds being converted to Christ.

In 1886 the fiery young preacher moved to an Edinburgh circuit for a year, then to Clydebank, where a new church had just been completed, albeit ‘without congregation or prestige!’ 37 There was no reception for him, as nobody knew of his arrival. The first that people saw of him was at a street corner on Saturday night preaching the gospel. ‘He found a place which he thought was ideal for an open-air meeting. There was a row of houses opposite. He went to the end cottage and knocked at the door. It was opened by a big, bulky, strong-looking woman, with her sleeves rolled up above her elbows. Mr. Chadwick asked her if she would let him have a chair for an hour. “No!” she said, banging the door in his face. The young man was not dismayed. His first impulse was to ask at the cottage next door, but thinking he might get the same reply, he ventured to knock at the same door again. The same woman answered. The second time he asked for the chair. “I told you once”, she said, “you won’t get it”, and again the door was closed. He knocked a third time. The woman opened the door in a rage. “I want to give you a shilling for the loan of a chair”, said Mr. Chadwick. The woman was hesitant for a minute, then she replied, “why didn’t you tell me that at first?” She brought the chair and he put his hand in his pocket and gave her the shilling, saying, “I’ll give you another if you will come and hold it for me while I stand on it”.

‘The big woman walked across the square with the frail-looking little minister. He put the chair where he wanted it, stood on it, and told her to put her hand on the back of it. Then he turned round and gazed at her. What a scene for the middle of a Scottish town on a Saturday night! A young man standing on a chair, gazing down at a big, masculine-looking woman! Some people were passing, and they stayed to see what it was all about. The man on the chair uttered not a word. More people came and stood. Presently there was a crowd around. “What is it for?” shouted somebody. Mr. Chadwick did not answer. “He’s selling pills”, replied another. Still Mr. Chadwick did not speak. The crowd began to get excited. At the end of twenty minutes the woman had had enough, and bolted. Mr Chadwick preached to his first audience at Clydebank. Within a few days the whole town was talking about him. His church was soon full. His own converts became the first church officers, and three of his keenest workers he got from behind the publican’s counter 38 .

Every Saturday night Chadwick stood in the open-air to preach, and remained for hours afterwards answering questions. Brewers had secured the most strategic positions in the neighbourhood for public-houses and drunkenness was a huge problem. Once, when applications were made for five new licences, Chadwick vigorously opposed the move in court. In all, scores of drunkards were converted through Chadwick’s ministry, and he became the trusted friend of the people. They brought their troubles to him and sent for him to settle their quarrels.

By this time, the young minister’s name and reputation were becoming known throughout Methodism, and when he was ordained in 1890, he was called to be Superintendent of the Leeds Mission. Here, and again in Sheffield, Chadwick saw revival fires burn and hundreds of souls turn to Christ. The final phase of his life was spent as Principal of Cliff College, a Methodist training school for preachers situated in Hope Valley, near Sheffield, and it was here that he wrote his famous book, ‘The Way to Pentecost’, which was being printed when he died in 1932.

your welcome

Thought I would share some thoughts regarding preaching unsolicited messages to people in public places. In the Gospels and in the book of Acts we see that the preaching done by Christ and the apostles and disciples wasn't always welcomed. There was much opposition much of the time. There were always some who received the message and some who didn't. I have found that to be the case in my experience of preaching to crowds on the streets over the years. Many hate, mock, or ignore the message but some receive it with an open heart.

To be sure we do see that there were many signs and wonders and conversions of multitudes many times during their preaching, things we do not see often today. Part of the reason may be because we, including myself to much shame, do not pray and fast and seek the Lord as we could or should.

On the other hand, it could be that even if we did seek the Lord as we should it would be no guarantee for signs and wonders and success all the time, as in the case of many OT prophets and some in the NT.

The main thing is for us to be faithful in whatever calling we have from the Lord and that we seek Him with all of our heart.

I believe these exhortations given to Ezekiel can apply to evangelists even today:

"Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, 6 not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. 8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
10 Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. 11 And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.”(Ezekiel 3:4-11)

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul."(Ezekiel 3:17-19)

Here is Paul Washer Open Air Preaching, I thought Paul did a most excelant Job. I would encourage everyone to watch this video.

Paul Washer Open Air Preaching in Lima

https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/myvideo/photo.php?lid=987

Guidelines for Open-Air Preaching

I think that this is a most helpful video for anyone interested in open-air preaching

http://www.bibletube.tv/viewvideo/2016/open-air/guidelines-for-open-air-preaching.html

hi,a dear friend of mine gathered together a group of youth that had a clown show and a puppet show and some Godly music... he also bought hot dogs and drinks . he had a young preacherboy and the coloring book. he took the troupe toevery project in new orleans.thousands of kids got savedand a few parents.a church came to him and challenged his authority to do this on his own and were thrown out of his office.as i have ministered in new orleans on and off for years, i have seen the turn or burn guys come and go with little to no results.most that do well speak of the love of Jesus and his mercy to sinners(people who go to new orleans to have fun).jimp the coloring book has 4 pages 1. is black with sin 2. red with blood(His blood) 3. soul in salvation...white 4. gold...we will walk on streets of gold.

Much of what I have seen plastered on the internet of Open-Air Preaching is an Embarrassment to Christianity, But there is a need and I believe a call for true heart felt Spirit filled Open-Air Preaching. As the video about Guidelines for Open-Air Preaching that I posted pointed out A.W. Tozer was converted after Hearing a message from a street preacher.

///Just before his 17th birthday, Tozer heard a street preacher on a corner in Akron, Ohio, as he walked home from his job at a rubber factory. He could not shake off the simple message. "If you don't know how to be saved," the preacher said, "just call on God, saying, 'Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.'" Wrestling with God for some time at home, Tozer emerged from his attic sanctuary a new creature in Christ./// http://www.awtozerclassics.com/page/page/4891821.htm

Billy Sunday was converted after hearing a gospel preaching team from the Pacific Garden Mission preaching on the corner of a street

///On a Sunday afternoon in Chicago during either the 1886 or 1887 baseball season, Sunday and several of his teammates were out on the town for their day off. At one street corner they stopped to listen to a gospel preaching team from the Pacific Garden Mission. Attracted by the hymns he had heard his mother sing, Sunday began attending services at the mission. A former society matron who worked there convinced Sunday, after some struggle, that he should become a Christian. He began attending the fashionable Jefferson Park Presbyterian Church, a congregation handy to both the ball park and his rented room.///
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sunday#Conversion

We need to becareful not to be discouraging towards those whom may be feeling led to open air preach but rather encourage them to be of the right heart and motive.

I am so thankful for the open air preacher as I got saved in Liverpool city centre, in England.

I truly feel that the Lord had led me there because my life was just filled with depression and hopelesness in this world. It seemed to me like there was no way out of complete blackness. I had nowhere to go to hear about God, or Salvation. I didn't know that there was such a thing as salvation. I also had no friends.

A few months before I heard this man preaching about Jesus I had tried to end my life with tablets. I had such a terrible fear of death that I couldn't stop my depression and it led me try to commit suicide. Dark voices used to command me to inflict terrible pain on myself or they would bring about my death. So I was constantly trying to bang my head on the wall and to bite through my tongue.

When I tried to end my life in the bathroom the Lord miraculously appeared there and I heard Gods voice speaking to me and revealing the love He had for me.

A few months later a desire came for me to go into the town centre to hear a man who was always standing on a box who I knew talked about God.

I got off the bus and looked hoping to see him there. I was so pleased and when I got there, I saw a crowd of about 20 people listening.

He seemed so sincere in what he spoke about and he had others there to help him.
One of them came to me and asked if I had heard of Jesus and if I knew that he came to die for me.

A short while later I bowed my head in prayer in front of a number of people. Doing that in public was so hard for me to do.

I said a sinners prayer and asked Jesus to forgive me and to come into my life. It was at this time that I heard the same dark voices that used to speak to me talking to me and telling me that nothing was going to happen to me. I said to them : I don't care I believe something will happen. Just then the power of the Lord came on me and filled me with the Holy Spirit.
I had been depressed for 6 years without a break but when the Lord filled me the depression was forced out of my head and I was filled with a joy that seemed to have come from nowhere.

I would just say to anyone that if you feel you are going to be a bit judgemental in your preaching then take another friend along with you to make sure he can guide you into how you are coming across as well as doing other things like conversing with anyone stadning there listening...

Also if you are preaching alone and someone comes up close to listen to you or seems to want to speak then stop preaching and go and talk to them. A lot of these people are afraid to speak to someone who is a preacher and won't hang around for you to finish your whole preach. They will think you are more concerned with preaching than about them.

There's a lot of broken people isn't there ?

Hi davidkeel, wounderful testimony

Hi I agree that some street preaching just makes you cringe, it's so bad or like throwing stones at folk.

However for those who are called to this, it can be an effective tool to reach people and to glorify God.

Here is a very good example of someone called Josh Williams who is gifted in street preaching. Not offensive, but very clear and engaging without any compromise of truth. One guy comes forward at the end to respond to his need for Christ.Very effective.

Take a look, you will be blessed I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhDlH3CMaVo&feature=youtube_gdata_player