I think so, it is normal to preach in the street because Jesus did it himself. it reveals that benefits, because in doing so, the hearts are touched by the message either immediately or later, a seed that is sown, will yield harvest.
Kodjoo,
Are you aware of the international ministry on the streets of
Open Air Campaigners? They preach in the open air, using visual aids, wherever people gather. Two weekends ago I was at a conference organised by a retired open air campaigners' couple, Jim & Grace Vine.
There's a ministry around the world an it's operating here in Brisbane. Take a look at what
Operation 513 is doing in outdoor outreach in downtown Brisbane. A friend has invited me to go to this outreach and even though it means quite a bit of train travel for me, I'm planning to go to be part of the team in preaching and handing out tracts.
Operation 513 gets its name from Matt 5:13-16 (NIRV):
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But suppose the salt loses its saltiness. How can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything. It will be thrown out. People will walk all over it.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill can’t be hidden. 15 Also, people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand. Then it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine so others can see it. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will bring glory to your Father who is in heaven.
I recommend a read of '
Colossians 4:5 and Street Preaching'.
Should everybody do street preaching? No! Only gifted evangelists and preacher-teachers should preach on the street.
Will you experience resistance? Of course! In the faith chapter of Heb 11 we read:
11:36 And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth (NET).
If the stalwarts of the faith experienced it, so will you and I.
Josh Buice wrote:
When reading through church history, we see many men who labored in open-air preaching. Perhaps the most famous open-air preacher, in modern history, is George Whitefield. Whitefield shook the world with the gospel. When the doors of churches closed to him and his preaching, he took to the open-air and God filled the fields to hear the man preach. As we read about Whitefield, we see his success. When we look at our modern day church culture and glance at an open-air preacher on the street with no massive crowd gathered, we immediately think it’s not successful, unfruitful and outdated. Charles Spurgeon once said, “I fear that in some of our less enlightened country churches there are conservative individuals who almost believe that to preach anywhere except in the chapel would be a shocking innovation, a sure token of heretical tendencies, and a mark of zeal without knowledge.” (
source)
I'm of the view that the Wycliffe Bible Translators/SIL initiative of story telling (Story the Bible) is a practical demonstration of how to do powerful street preaching. There is a
training session on this approach being conducted near where I live shortly. I'm planning to go, but have a clash of appointments that I need to negotiate.
Frankly, I'm tired of attending evangelical churches that have no interested in outreach evangelism, except for 'Christianity Explained'. I'm longing to do street preaching and engage in street evangelism and will engage in that ministry shortly in my city.
Even though I'm an old Aussie bloke!
Oz
