# Street preaching techniques - video clips and analysis



## Pergamum

I am still looking into the pros and cons of street preaching. 

Below are several clips. 


First clip: Journal from the Street: Street Preacher...A Day in the Life

This first clip is from Jeremiah Cry guys, i think. They seem to be a very solid group and very zealous. And respectful to passers-by. I know several churches that minister with these guys and they seem to be a great group.



Second clip: YouTube - Fiery Street Preachers Cause a Stir in Town Centre

This second clip is from Manchester, England. I was really surprised at the number of people in the crowd, even though most seem to be there as hecklers. I am not sure why the two guys seemed to focus on homosexuality, or if the clip only shows these parts more clearly. The speakers also seemed respectful to the crowd and seemed to proclaim a basic biblical message.


The third clip: YouTube - "Christian" passionately opposes street preacher

This clip is intriguing because a person in the crowd who is a professing Christian appears to be critiquing the street preacher. Noticeable is the youtube title which states that a "Christian" opposes street preaching. This appears to cast doubt on the person's salvation when her only opposition seemed to be an opposition to the methodology and not the Gospel itself. She advocates a relational approach to the Gospel, which I, too, have seen as more effective. The preacher was respectful and listened and attempted to answer her questions though. The preacher does claim that "street preaching [which I would take as open air preaching in general] is the main way" that the Gospel was spread in the NT, which seems a very flimsy claim, and the preacher tells the girl that she then "disagrees with Jesus."


The 4th clip: YouTube - Surfers Paradise Street Preaching

This guy seems genial enough and tried to give a more positive message and tried to be inviting. 

The 5th clip: YouTube - Mardi-Gras Bourbon Street Preacher 2008 series #2

I haven't tried to cherry-pick these clips but for the most part put solid-looking guys on this OP. But the 5th clip above seems to epitomize several distateful trends among some street preaching I have seen, a. the big _Hell's Fire_ intentionally provocative sign-board, b.the bantering and confrontational style, c. waving bye and calling folks Satan and seeming to be judgemental, d. not to mention the scraggly-looking beard that is not the norm for most folks in the states. 



*General observations:*


It looks like the preachers are psyched up or must get their game face on before a sermon. This indicates that they anticipate opposition.


Adjectives such as "fiery" or "sold out street preacher" occur in these sorts of descriptions. This seems to indicate that a Christian's zeal, if they are sold out, would lead one to do, support, or sympathize with these street preachers.

None of the street preachers are representing a local church that I see or advocating joining a denomination.

The themes of hell and judgment are the primary themes.

Opposition to the methods of street preaching is often assumed to be due to a lack of evangelistic zeal or a false profession
.


Furthermore,


Most of these guys seem very solid and upstanding.

They seem, overall, to be respectful and motivated out of love

They seem concerned for their cities

They seem theologically convinced that open air or street preaching is the main means or one
of the main means of reaching the lost.


Finally:


There are many of these guys who seem to tape themselves

These guys expect to gather a crowd and create a spectable and get heckled.

"Opposition" or throwing something at the preacher often gets filmed and put on youtube. Evidence of their "persecution"?

The folks who do this seem to take on the personal identity of "street preacher." it is not merely of something they do, but intrinsic to how they see themselves.

The primary demographic of street preacher seems to be young, energetic men who are not pastors.



*

My personal experience:*

I have witnessed door to door and in public places passing out tracts (in some of the worst parts of town). these were church-based efforts and we also represented a local church and were tasked to do this by the church.

But, I have never done street preaching. I was a member of an urban black sovereign grace church that rented a place in a local city park and preached so that people could come and listen (just like any summer concert series or local bands do), and I supported their efforts. 

Here in my current country I walk from village to village and I gather the locals to preach. Though this might seem like similar methodology, my situation does not seem analogous because we don't really have streets and when an outsider shows up, he is already the center of attention and they want to hear from me, and so I already have a ready-made crowd. I am not trying to grab the attention of passers-by who don't want to hear, I preach to a gathered assembly, usually giving a few minute's notice of the place and time (10 minutes in so-and-so's hut, or this area, or in the church building).

On the coast of this province where I live I have approached and called groups of drunks to repentance because I know that many of them claim allegience to church membership in one of the protestant denominations here. I have also passed out tracts. 

But I have never "street preached."

I have had several supporters and one visiting elder tell me that I should be street preaching here and that, if he were here, he'd be beating the street every night. He seemed surprised when I told him I didn't think that this was the most effective means of evangelism here. I defended a more relational approach that cultivated deeper contacts (much like the young lady in film clip number 3). He reminded me that "preaching" was the main means ordained to reach sinners. I asked for an operational definition of "preaching" and why or why not what I did was or was not preaching, but he did not give a deep and thorough answer to this.


*My thoughts at this point:*

My thoughts at this point are that usually there are more effective means of reaching Western cities, and that the claim of street preachers for theological support is over-rated. 

Also, a sustained strategy of follow-up with local Christians seems usually to be lacking in these sorts of ministries. While these exploits get a lot of attention, are these folks really bringing in disciples to the church?

Comparisons to Whitefield abound, but it seems that Whitefield primarily preached at request and people usually came to him. Spurgeon gives a commendation of street preaching or open air evangelism and gives helpful practical tips.

I do not want to discount the means, however, but I have just usually considered this method to be an inferior means in the Western context. Of course, I fully expect my use of the terms 'effective" etc to gain me some critiques.



My present plan:

I am reconsidering all my present methodologies and I am open to doing more "street" stuff if i am convinced that it is a good long-term strategy. 

I have prepared some tracts and have already prepared christians to circulate these among their family groups on the coast and in the highland villages. We have duplicated and passed out thousands of vcd films of evangelistic messages in urban places where tvs are common.

I will even set up on a street cornerand buy a bull-horn if I were convinced that I should do this, or if I were convinced that this methodology should be given greater energy or priority than my present pursuits (none of us have unlimited time, after all, and so I want to invest in something long-term that is sustainable and leads to further contact and assimilation and discipleship into a local body).

I do feel a little guilty because I myself feel offended by some street preachers and, when I have actually been approached by street evangelists, this was not welcomed by me (trying to get to work, and who is this strager approaching me anyway?). I would also be annoyed rather than overjoyed probably if I were held up on a busy street trying to get around someone with a microphone or loud voice telling me to repent or speaking about hell and if this were directed at me. One is made to feel like a target and a prey and it seems very logical for many to tell the preacher to shut up, especially if there is a strong ethic of minding one's own business in public (as it is in the West). 


*My wish:*

I would love for many of these street preacher types to come overseas to contexts where they would be better received and where their zeal could be translated into sustainable impact in a region that is not hardened to the Gospel.

Also, I wish more booths and handouts were set up in appropriate public places, and venues created so that passers-by could voluntarily approach the evangelist and discourse politely instead of with raised voice. Western society has too many pushy people and loud voices and one cannot even watch the news anymore without seeing a yelling match. I don't want my faith associated with that.

Also, I wish that the many urban churches had their doors open or that community churches were open or
available and that any sort of street evangelism was more strongly tied in with solid, local bodies who could make relatinships with and disciple any fruit gained by street evangelism.


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Are my wishes valid, or off-base?





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Any additional thoughts or clips to consider?


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## LeeJUk

Hey Pergamum,

Sorry I've not really got much to say but I wanted to recommend this video put out by Ill Be Honest (Grace Community Church's internet outreach/teaching ministry) who put out stuff by Paul Washer and such.

YouTube - Guidelines for Open-Air Preaching

They also have a PDF guide you can get here to accompany the video. Guidelines for Open-Air Preaching | Kevin Williams | I'll Be Honest | illbehonest.com by clicking the PDF button under the video.


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## seajayrice

Are these street preachers ordained? How is the Church connected to this preaching?


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## Pergamum

CJ: 

While that is one of my concerns (to be at least endorsed by a church), that is not the main concern.


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## seajayrice

Pergamum said:


> CJ:
> 
> While that is one of my concerns (to be at least endorsed by a church), that is not the main concern.


 
That is what I thought you might think. I believe ordination and the Church are essential to publicly proclaiming the gospel. I also believe that position is biblical. What biblical basis is there for street preachers? I have nothing against Preachers publicly preaching on the street. People preaching on the streets that are not Preachers I find objectionable.


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## Pergamum

CJ: 

If you want we can start a new thread specifically about that one aspect of the larger issue. 

Let's not turn this into a question of the propriety of street preachers. True, that IS one point, but I want to explore other aspects as well. 

I believe, too, that street preachers ought to be endorsed by a church even if ordination is un-needed (as is consistent with the 1689). and one glaring weakness of many such endeavors is the there is no local church follow-up or even knowledge that evangelism is occurring near them. If follow-up and discipleship could happen, rather then a one-time sort of exposure, that would be ideal.


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## Jack K

Pergamum said:


> Also, I wish more booths and handouts were set up in appropriate public places, and venues created so that passers-by could voluntarily approach the evangelist and discourse politely instead of with raised voice. Western society has too many pushy people and loud voices and one cannot even watch the news anymore without seeing a yelling match. I don't want my faith associated with that.



A good point. Starting a yelling match, no matter what you say and how good the words may be, communicates disrespect and arrogance and an argumentative spirit these days. Tone and subtext _are_ part of communication. Gospel words mixed with non-gospel mannerisms does not make for a gospel message.


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## LeeD

From the 2nd clip in Manchester, England you have Kevin Williams who is the pastor of Puritan Fellowship (Puritan Fellowship) in Manchester. He is a dear brother and friend. He has been faithfully (along with other from their church) doing street evangelism every week (I think Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons) for a couple of years (at least). He goes whether rain or shine and not only preaches but passes out literature and CDs of sermons. God has blessed the work there and added new believers to the church. There church there isn't growing by leaps and bounds, but has seen steady growth and this seems to have primarily come through the evangelistic outreach. Kevin preaches the biblical gospel and is very Christ-centered in his evangelism. I was able to spend nearly a week with him this past February (year ago) and thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with the flock there.


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## Pergamum

Lee,

Great to know this info about Kevin Williams. I selected that clip because I didn't want to bash street preaching but to present some of the best examples I could find, and this brother seemed to represent the Gospel very well. I am also very glad he is connected with a local church and that there is fruit, albeit small, from his endeavors. Do you know if they have tried other methods as well or sink most of their efforts into street preaching in this manner?


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## LeeD

Well, their fellowship is very evangelistic and many are active in passing out tracts, John Blanchard booklets, New Testaments, sermon CDs, and so on. This has definitely been one of the major methods of outreach over the years. I admire and thank God for the CONTINUED faithfulness to this type of ministry / evangelism. That is unique. I know that each time they go out there are many opportunities for one on one, extended conversations as well. People now even recognize them by the shirts / hoodies they wear. Many end up on their website as well which is full of quality content to devour.


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## Kevin

Pergy I think that your expirience is more similar to the ANE as Jesus & the Apostles practiced out door preaching. in my opinion the advocates of "street preaching" engage in a historical fallacy, by assuming that the cultural practices of the ANE that led to outdoor gospel presentations of the 1st century to be a command to "preach" on the streets. The practice that you described sounds much more similar to what the Apostles practiced, then yelling at passers-by.

However, outdoor gospel presentations are possible in our culture. They just look very different then the type of "street preaching" that we most often see. 

I visit the local farmers market every Saturday with my messanger bag over my shoulder. Inside I have a few ESV NT's with a sticker with my contact info on the front & a few pamphlets & sometimes a book to give to someone. Since I spend several hours a week there I know most of the 100+ vendors & they know me. I engage people in extended conversations over several weeks. I invite people to outreach events, and to our Sunday night service that we hold in the Market Building. I am well known to the town council, the market board, and the city staff from the executives over that division of the city to the janitors. In fact the former mayor gave us the current rental deal as a thank-you for my work at the market. I even dress as Santa at Christmas time & pass out candy canes to the kids for the city.

A city council member was following me through the market a year ago & asked me if I was running for the city coucil in the upcoming elections. She saw me talking to everyone & pausing to chat with people & she thought that I was campaigning.

Our church plant consistes of people from 5 of the market booths. And we have several other that we met there. Visitors that are cutomers or vendors are a regular part of the life of our church. In fact most of them come from the market.

On any given Saturday I will give away Bibles, share the gospel, counsel some young men, challenge some cult members (I have an ongoing converstion with some people trapped by the word of faith cult), and invite people to services. In fact I tell people that "this is my parish" & I am not joking.

Now this is much closer (in my opinion) to fulfilling the spirit of the Apostolic "outdoor" ministry then the street preachers that occasionly visit the market. They show up (rarely)and bring with themselves props, an entourage, video cameras, and copies of court decisions that allow them to be on the sidewalk. They stay for a couple of hours then leave to upload their videos to you-tube. Sometimes they stand on picnick tables to better tell the people eating their lunch that they are on their way to hell, and occasionaly they get into physical confrontations with the staff.

My cynicism asises from this practice that they call "persecution". The one case that I am thinking of then got into a shoving match with a non-christian staff member.


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## Pergamum

Kevin,



> in my opinion the advocates of "street preaching" engage in a historical fallacy, by assuming that the cultural practices of the ANE that led to outdoor gospel presentations of the 1st century to be a command to "preach" on the streets. The practice that you described sounds much more similar to what the Apostles practiced, then yelling at passers-by.



Please, let's explore this more because I think you are right.

My situation is that I see SO MANY opportunities here where I would REALLY appreciate and value the work of street preachers here. But, in the US or West I really have a hard time appreciating them and find many of them annoying, even while supporting their motivations in theory (for which I feel a bit guilty).

I do not want to impugn the motivations of any, nor do I want to restrict methodologies. I do wish to weigh methodologies and I believe that certain methods work better in some contexts than others (i.e., context often determines effectivness, a statement that, as you can imagine, gets some criticisms as well). And I think that, apart from strong theological convictions that somehow street preaching is where it is at and THE MAIN method of NT evangelism, that many churches would have otherwise switched to more appropriate measures.


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## Der Pilger

Hello all,

First of all, I think that you have done a good job at trying to be unbiased and thorough in the video clips you selected. I commend that. I am quite certain, though, that you are not approaching this from as biblical an angle as you should. For example:



> This clip is intriguing because a person in the crowd who is a professing Christian appears to be critiquing the street preacher. Noticeable is the youtube title which states that a "Christian" opposes street preaching. This appears to cast doubt on the person's salvation when her only opposition seemed to be an opposition to the methodology and not the Gospel itself. She advocates a relational approach to the Gospel, which I, too, have seen as more effective.



How do you define "effective" in this context? Do you mean "producing converts," "having a profound spiritual impact," "conducive to conversation," "leading to opportunities to present the gospel" or something else? The first two cannot be adequately discerned by human beings since it requires a knowledge that only God has. The last two effects can, in fact, be observed and measured, but they are the result of insincerity if what is meant is the forging of relationships as a means to an end.



> The preacher does claim that "street preaching [which I would take as open air preaching in general] is the main way" that the Gospel was spread in the NT, which seems a very flimsy claim,



I respectfully disagree. It is not a flimsy claim when you consider: 1) If Christ and the apostles focused on public speaking, there must have been a reason. If you say that it fit the culture of the time, there is no evidence in the Bible that this was their reason; 2) Paul explicitly taught that the verbal proclamation of the gospel message is what brings about salvation, and James taught clearly that the "word of truth" is the means by which the new birth comes about (James 1:18). I'm sure you don't disagree with these points, but they do furnish more than "flimsy" support for what that speaker said.



> Also, a sustained strategy of follow-up with local Christians seems usually to be lacking in these sorts of ministries. While these exploits get a lot of attention, are these folks really bringing in disciples to the church?



While you are right that often street preachers and other public evangelism ministries lack follow-up (unfortunately), once again you make the mistake of evaluating a ministry approach based on visible results. in my opinion, that is a serious trap you are falling into. As long as you take that approach, you will never be able to discern whether a ministry is done biblically. An evangelistic technique should be evaluated on the basis of what it teaches, not its results, because we cannot know for sure what spiritual impact a street preacher has on someone. How do you know whether many people in the crowd on the street--not the hecklers, but the ones who are silently listening--are coming under conviction of sin and being drawn to Christ after they walk away? You can't know for sure, so results-based evaluation of a ministry is futile.

It reminds me of the Gideons. As much as I respect that organization for their zeal in distributing the Word of God around the world, their literature and training consist almost entirely of personal testimonials of people who allegedly came to Christ, having signed the decision page at the back of the Bible/testament they got. Their logic apparently boils down to this: 

1. Many people make professions of faith after receiving/reading a Gideon Bible or testament.
2. These testimonials are 100% accurate and reliable.
3. Therefore, what the Gideons do is right. 

Now I do believe that what the Gideons are doing is generally right and biblical, but I arrive at that conclusion by other means.



> I do not want to discount the means, however, but I have just usually considered this method to be an inferior means in the Western context.


I find it alarming how many Christians nowadays regard the direct, public proclamation of the gospel to be inferior. The Word of God will always accomplish its purpose. It is not hindered by this or that cultural context. It cannot be.



> Of course, I fully expect my use of the terms 'effective" etc to gain me some critiques.



Indeed it will.  You need first to define "effective evangelism" from a Scriptural standpoint. In all your analysis of street preaching, you haven't done that (at least not that I've seen). If you haven't first established what biblically constitutes "effective," you cannot rationally, biblically evaluate any evangelistic approach.



> My present plan:
> 
> I am reconsidering all my present methodologies and I am open to doing more "street" stuff if i am convinced that it is a good long-term strategy.



Again, how do you plan to go about evaluating this? What will be your criterion for determining what is a good strategy and what is not? Are you going to look at visible results? the doctrinal content of the message presented? the degree of faithfulness to gospel doctrine? something else?



> I do feel a little guilty because I myself feel offended by some street preachers and, when I have actually been approached by street evangelists, this was not welcomed by me (trying to get to work, and who is this strager approaching me anyway?). I would also be annoyed rather than overjoyed probably if I were held up on a busy street trying to get around someone with a microphone or loud voice telling me to repent or speaking about hell and if this were directed at me.



That may very well be true, but your personal preferences and experiences should not be the criteria for determining an evangelistic strategy. The Bible should be. What are your *biblical* criteria?



> One is made to feel like a target and a prey and it seems very logical for many to tell the preacher to shut up, especially if there is a strong ethic of minding one's own business in public (as it is in the West).



Jesus and the apostles received lots of public backlash for their preaching, much of which was due to the very fact that they were going directly against the grain of their culture. Jesus sometimes said things to Jews that were extremely offensive from today's viewpoint (for example, calling them "children of the devil" and saying they were not children of Abraham). Humanly speaking, that was something anyone wanting to win over Jews back then should never have said, yet Jesus did so. Paul and others underwent heavy persecution because the very gospel they preached was radically contrary to pagan culture they were trying to reach. As soon as you proclaim the gospel, you are going against the grain of human culture because its content is oposed to human culture. Rejection of, and hostility toward, the gospel is inevitable. Even if you used an approach that fit the culture like a glove, widespread rejection of the gospel would still take place because the real source of the hostility is man's enmity toward God, not the lack of contextualizing the gospel message.




> Also, I wish more booths and handouts were set up in appropriate public places, and venues created so that passers-by could voluntarily approach the evangelist and discourse politely instead of with raised voice. Western society has too many pushy people and loud voices and one cannot even watch the news anymore without seeing a yelling match. I don't want my faith associated with that.



I sympathize with you on this. I don't yell out on the streets, and I disagree with street preachers who do that in a way that is blatantly insulting to people. There are a lot of people out there preaching on the street who, in my opinion, would be better off staying at home and praying for the preachers who are doing it right.


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## puritanpilgrim

Myself and other evangelists in the Houston area do both open-air and individual conversations with people. Currently when are set up at Marti Gras. We set in front of the entrance to the Strand in Galveston and as they wait in line to enter Marti Gras we preach the gospel. The reactions are mixed. We aren't rude, instead we give a clear gospel presentation. It isn't fun, and I don't recommend it if you aren't prayed up. As far as, is it effective, perhaps you could as Jeremiah the same question. How effective was his ministry pre-exile. At the current rate of evangelism, most people do not hear the gospel. We go out to where the people are and bring them the gospel. It like there is a group about to walk off of a cliff. I'm trying to get their attention and let them know they need to turn around. Yes, it's weird and it isn't social normal, but there were many in the Bible who weren't following the social norms of the day. For instance, the prophets, Jesus and John the Baptist all violated social norms. That doesn't excuse being arrogant, prideful or a jerk. The gospel must be the offence, not us. These people are on their way to Hell and they are in need of the gospel. I try to ask myself, "If I were passing out free pizza, coupons or hugs in the manor I was presenting the gospel, would people be offended?" If the answer is not, then the offense is likely the gospel. We normally, just talk with passers by individually downtown of Friday night, but we there are large groups somewhere in the city will do open air. We did open air last black Friday, that's much easier than Marti Gras.


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