Open-air preaching

Open-air preaching, street preaching, or public preaching is the act of evangelizing a religious faith in public places. It is an ancient method of proselytizing a religious or social message and has been used by many cultures and religious traditions, but today it is usually associated with Evangelical Protestant Christianity.

Saint Vincent Ferrer preaches to the crowd by Giandomenico Tiepolo
Street preacher in Los Angeles, California, 1972

Early Methodist preachers John Wesley and George Whitefield preached in the open air, which allowed them to attract crowds larger than most buildings could accommodate.[1][2]

Motives for open-air preaching include to glorify God and to fulfill the command to preach and make God's Word known.[3][3]

Some who believe street preaching is Biblical include examples such as Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount that of the prophet Jonah, who reluctantly obeys the command of God to go to the city of Nineveh and preach "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!".[4] Others listed include Paul's speech to the Athenians in Acts 17. However, others believe from scripture that Jesus was not technically a street preacher nor could possibly be one, "He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets."[5]

The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry lists the "many examples of street preaching in the Bible" as including Noah, Solomon, Ezra, Jeremiah, Jonah, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, Peter, Paul, Phillip and Apollos.[6]

The ministry "Open Air Outreach" lists legal rights of open-air preaching, like "We have the right to exercise our religion and speak in all quintessential public forums," "We have a “guaranteed access” to streets, parks, and other ‘traditional public forum” and mere inconvenience to the government will not outweigh our free speech interests," and "Our freedom of speech may not be prohibited merely because it offends some listeners."[7]

See also

References
  1. JOHN WESLEY.; G. Holden Pike's History of the Great Methodist and His Associates, New York Times
  2. The first Great Awakening Archived 2010-01-25 at the Wayback Machine, Tony Cauchi, Jamaica Gleaner
  3. "The Motive for Open-Air Preaching". Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2016., American Gospel Missions Inc
  4. Jonah 3:4 KJV
  5. Matthew 12:19 KJV
  6. Tony Miano/Matt Slick, "Are There Examples of Street Preaching in the Bible?" Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry http://www.carm.org/biblical-examples-street-preaching
  7. Jesse Morrell, "Legal Rights of Street Preachers" Open Air Outreach https://openairoutreach.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/legal-rights-of-street-preachers-how-to-handle-police-jesse-morrell-2/


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