"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 rather for services within buildings than for worship outside of them."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 76
"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. The first avowed preaching of protestant doctrine was almost necessarily in the open air, or in buildings which were not dedicated to worship, for these were in the hands of the papacy."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 56
"The great benefit of open-air preaching is that we get so many new comers to hear the gospel who otherwise would never hear it. The gospel command is, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mar 16:15), but it is so little obeyed that one would imagine that it ran thus, "Go into your own place of worship and preach the gospel to the few creatures who will come inside."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 78
"The open-air evangelist frequently picks up these members of the “No church” party, and in so doing he often finds some of the richest gems that will at last adorn the Redeemer’s crown: jewels, which, by reason of their roughness, are apt to be unnoticed by a more fastidious class of soul-winners."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 80
"It would be an interesting task to prepare a volume of notable facts connected with open-air preaching, or, better still, a consecutive history of it. I have no time for even a complete outline, but would simply ask you, 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 been for those far wandering evangelists, the colporteurs, 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?"
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 59
"Glorious were those great gatherings in fields and commons which lasted throughout the long period in which Wesley and Whitefield blessed our nation. Field-preaching was the wild note of the birds singing in the trees, in testimony that the true springtime of religion had come. Birds in cages may sing more sweetly, perhaps, but their music is not so natural, nor so sure a pledge of the coming summer. It was a blessed day when Methodists and others began to proclaim Jesus in the open air; then were the gates of hell shaken, and the captives of the devil set free by hundreds and by thousands."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 69
"Our Lord Himself, who is yet more our pattern, delivered the larger proportion of His sermons on the mountain’s side, or by the seashore, or in the streets. Our Lord was to all intents and purposes an open-air preacher. He did not remain silent in the synagogue, but He was equally at home in the field. We have no discourse of His on record delivered in the chapel royal, but we have the Sermon on the Mount, and the sermon in the plain; so that the very earliest and most divine kind of preaching was practised out of doors by Him Who spake as never man spake (John 7:46)."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 80
"Some of our brethren are prosing on and on, to empty pews and musty hassocks, while they might be conferring lasting benefit upon hundreds by quitting the old walls for awhile, and seeking living stones for Jesus (Eph 2:19-22). Let them come out of Rehoboth and find room at the street corner (Gen 26:22)."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 80
Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) was a well known street evangelist in the Chicago area. Commonly known as "Crazy Moody".
"One of his regular practices in the late sixties was to exhort the passersby in the evenings from the steps of the court house. Often these impromptu gatherings drew as many hecklers as supporters. Once as he strove to overcome the jeers of opponents, he discovered he was also shouting against the shrill voices of inmates of the city jail cells for women, which overlooked the scene."
Dwight L. Moody, American Evangelist by James Findlay, p. 93
It was Dwight L. Moody's open-air preaching that got the attention of the song writer Phillip Bliss.
Mr. Moody was holding Gospel services in Chicago, and for half an hour preceding his meeting he was in the habit of speaking in the open air from the steps of the Court House near by. One Sunday evening Mr. Bliss and his wife went out for a walk before going to church, and came upon Moody's open-air meeting. He was attracted by the earnestness of the man, and when the invitation was given to go inside, Mr. and Mrs. Bliss decided they would go too. That night there was no leader for the singing, and the music was rather weak; Mr. Bliss, from the audience, helped on the singing, and thus attracted Mr. Moody's attention; and when the meeting was over, Moody had Bliss's history in two minutes, with a promise that he would come and help him with the singing. This was the commencement of their acquaintance, which only terminated with death, to be renewed in the land above, where partings shall not be known.
www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biobliss19.html
"After dinner, therefore, I went upon a mount, and spake to as many people as came unto me. They were upwards of two hundred. Blessed be God that I have now broken the ice! I believe I never was more acceptable to my Master than when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields. Some may cenusre me; but if I thus pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
Whitfields' first open-air public preaching, George Whitefield's Journals, Saturday, February 17, 1739
"I never spoke with greater power. My preaching in the fields may displease some timorous, bigoted men, but I am thoroughly persuaded it pleases God, and why should I fear anything else?"
George Whitefield's Journals, Monday, March 5, 1739
"Being forbidden to preach in the prison, and, being resolved not to give place to my adversaries, I preached at Baptist Mills, a place very near the city, to three or four thousand people, from these words, 'What think ye of Christ?' Blessed be God, all things happen for the furtherance of the Gospel. I now preach to ten times more people than I should, if I had been confined to the churches... Every day I am invited to fresh places. I will, by the Dividne assistance, go to as many as I can..."
George Whitefield's Journals, Wednesday, March 14, 1739
"I am well assured that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father's tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit."
John Wesley
"I preached on the quay, at Kingswood, and near King's Square. To this day field preaching is a cross to me. But I know my commission and see no other way of 'preaching the gospel to every creature'"
John Wesley, The Journal of John Wesley, Sunday, September 6, 1771
"I wonder at those who still talk so loud of the indecency of field-preaching. The highest indecency is in St. Paul's Church, when a considerable part of the congregation are asleep, or talking, or looking about, not minding a word the preacher says. On the other hand, there is the highest decency in a churchyard or field, when the whole congregation behave and look as if they saw the Jufge of all and heard Him speaking from heaven."
John Wesley, The Journal of John Wesley, Sunday, August 28, 1747
"What marvel the devil does not love field preaching? Neither do I; I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit. But where is my zeal if I do not trample all these underfoot in order to save one more soul?"
John Wesley, The Journal of John Wesley, Saturday, June 23, 1757
"I preached on the green at Bedminister. I am apt to think many of the hearers scarely ever heard a Methodist before, or perhaps any other preacher. What but field-preaching could reach these poor sinners? And are not their souls also precious in the sight of God?"
John Wesley, The Journal of John Wesley, Saturday, September 17, 1763
"I preached to a huge multitude in Moorefields on "Why will ye die, O house of Israel?" It is field-preaching which does the execution still; for usefulness there is none comparable to it."
John Wesley, The Journal of John Wesley, Sunday October 10, 1756
“You have one business on earth – to save souls.”
John Wesley
"Preach abroad….It is the cooping yourselves up in rooms that has dampened the work of God, which never was and never will be carried out to any purpose without going into the highways and hedges and compelling men and women to come in."
Jonathan Edwards
"We take Christianity into the streets because men ought to have it, whether they want it or not."
General William Booth, Born to Battle, p. 85
"Preacher, you don't have to waste God's money on expensive attractions to get a crowd. You don't have to have a special singing to get people to hear your preaching. Just take your Bible, some tracts, some Scripture signs, and a few faithful Christians to a busy intersection and start preaching! In less than an hour hundreds of people will have HEARD and SEEN your message!"
James Melton, Why I Preach on the Streets
"Apart from the night that I received Christ as my Saviour, I know of no greater feeling of inner peace and assurance than that of street preaching. I preach or teach from a pulpit four times every week, but still, there's nothing like street preaching. There's a spirit of boldness and power which accompanies street preaching, unlike pulpit preaching. I can remember the very first time I went. I was very nervous, but as soon as I opened my mouth the Holy Spirit just took control! The moment I said, "The Bible says..." the whole thing changed and I felt right at home at that busy intersection."
James Melton, Why I Preach on the Streets
"To say that public preaching is somehow not a Biblical or Christian practice is to display massive ignorance of the plain truth of the matter. One could say they do not like it, and they would be consistent with historical fact. Atheists, idolaters, pagans, satanists, adulterers, drunkards, murderers, molesters, et. al. have never enjoyed having a light shined upon their darkness (John 3:19-21), but that does not make something non-Christian. This is evident to the thoughtful individual.
A converted Jew (John 9), a converted Gentile (John 4), a converted devil-worshipper (Mark 5), and a converted religious leader (Acts 9) all preached in public.
Peter, Stephen, James, John, Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Thomas, etc., that is, every apostle and disciple mentioned in the church history book of Acts preached the word outdoors to people who were going about their business.
Contrary to the false reports circulated by the unlearned and bigoted in our day, to keep Christianity in the church and not make it known in the public forum is the non-scriptural position."
James Knox, Public Preaching
"Everyone in the ministry cherishes the stories of our champions in the faith, and thrill at the stories of John Wesley preaching to ten thousand in the cornfield, or Whitefield able to be heard one mile away as he preached publicly. Our blood moves quickly as we read of General William Booth on the streets of London, or J. Frank Norris going and preaching at his own public hanging.
Some, in the final days of this Laodicean period, need to continue this heritage, or it may happen that a whole generation could grow up and pass from the scene without ever having witnessed the public proclamation of the gospel. The children of these last days have the same right as those on the streets in Booth's day. Maybe they will never get on a bus and go to Sunday School. Maybe they will never find the rescue mission on Skid Row. Some of them will be raised in such high society that they will never come into contact with a Bible-believing church. But there may be an obedient street preacher whom the Lord can place in their public crossroad to warn them of their wicked way. I extend an urgent call to preacher boys looking for a place to preach, pastors who have lost touch with true public opinion of their message, young men who desire to spiritually show themselves a man, and to all servants - big or small - who desire to participate and carry on this richly rewarding ministry, to take up the cross of public evangelism, and let the redeemed of the Lord say so."
Gerald Sutek, The Street Preachers Manual
One of the most valuable benefits of street preaching is that those who preach are mightily strengthened as they could not ever be in any other form of ministry. I have watched young men be filled with zeal for the LORD's work and, as a result, grow at a much more rapid rate than those who may exercise themselves in any other fashion. Street preaching is the steroids of spiritual growth, and is the most vital hormone in the development of the "last days," frontline soldier of Jesus Christ. Once injected, it travels fast into the bloodstream of the Christian, but I must warn you, "It can be habit forming!"
Gerald Sutek, The Street Preachers Manual
“Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?”
Leonard Ravenhill
"Other men may preach the gospel better than I, but no man can preach a better gospel."
George Whitfield
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost
Luke 19:10
|
