Virtually every Saturday evening you can find me and others on the Denton Square openly proclaiming the gospel. Without fail, every week we have people come up to us who are shocked that we are in the public square speaking about Jesus. Sadly, this astonishment is not just from those professing to be atheists and agnostics, but even Christians. As we engage in conversation with any and all naysayers, it seems that they all have the same argument, “You should be doing this in a church, not out here for the general public to hear.”
Hmm. Are they right? Are we right? Should evangelism be reserved only for buildings with the word “Church” on them? Well, even though "open-air" or "street preaching" has become rare, it is nothing new. In fact, it has been around for thousands of years.
We see many examples of it in both the Old and New Testament Scriptures. It has been prevalent throughout church history, and it is through the open-air proclamation of the gospel that great awakenings and revivals have occurred.
Although this is not an exhaustive list, here are some excellent examples of street preaching in both the Old and the New Testament Scriptures.
Examples from the Old Testament
Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness” referring to his call for people to repent before the flood of Genesis (2 Peter 2:5).
Solomon “with a loud voice” addressed the entire nation of Israel (1 Kings 8:54-56).
In the “open square” Ezra called the people of Israel to repentance (Ezra 10:9-14).
While standing before the people of Israel, Ezra openly read and explained the law of God (Nehemiah 8:1-8).
Jeremiah stood at the gate of the Lord’s House and “proclaimed” the words of God (Jeremiah 7:1-3).
Jonah openly preached repentance to the Ninevites (Jonah 3:1-5).
The Old Testament prophets heralded the word of God at the city gates (Isaiah 5:29; Amos 5:10).
Examples from the New Testament
John the Baptist was the first street preacher to herald the good news in the open-air (Matt. 3:1-2; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3).
Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount in the open-air (Matt. 5-7).
Jesus’s disciples went about preaching on the streets in many villages (Luke 9:5-7).
Peter preached to all the Jews who were gathered in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-40).
After healing the lame beggar, Peter preached in the open-air at Solomon’s Portico (Acts 3:11-26).
Philip openly preached the gospel to large crowds in the city of Samaria (Acts 8:6-8).
Peter and John preached the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans on their way back to Jerusalem (Acts 8:25)
Paul openly preached the gospel to the entire city of Antioch (Acts 13:44-52).
Paul stood atop Mars Hill and preached to the men of Athens in the open-air (Acts 17:22-34).
Apollos publicly proclaimed Christ Jesus and boldly refuted the Jews in Achaia (Acts 18:27-28).
Examples in Church history
Many revivals and spiritual awakenings throughout church history were spurred on by street preaching. Some more well-known open-air preachers, since the Reformation, were John Bunyan, John Knox (founder of the Presbyterian Church), John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Charles Spurgeon. Other famous ministers such as A. W. Tozer and Billy Sunday were also brought to Christ by the means of street preaching.
Spurgeon not only engaged in street preaching but aggressively defended it, as you can see from his following statements:
"It would be very easy to prove that revivals of religion have usually been accompanied, if not caused, by a considerable amount of preaching out of doors, or in unusual places."
"No sort of defense is needed for preaching out of doors, but it would need very potent arguments to prove that a man had done his duty who has never preached beyond the walls of his meeting-house. A defense is required for services within buildings than for worship outside of them."
In summary, although preaching in the open air has become quite rare, it is thoroughly biblical and Christian. It is a means by which God calls lost sinners to Himself and a vehicle that has produced spiritual awakenings and revivals throughout history at many times and in many places. What about you, have you ever thought about street preaching on your city streets? Why, or why not? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at info.thechurchatpecancreek@gmail.com.
~Jeff Patton, Elder