My Conviction For Open-Air Preaching

Is open-air preaching a valid method for proclaiming the Gospel?

Objections Stated:

1. Open-air preaching is not relevant to today’s culture.

2. Open-air preaching associates the Gospel message with homeless people who put ‘God Bless’ on their signs.

3. Open-air preaching is not Biblically justified (i.e. not a New Testament practice).

4. Open-air preaching is offensive to those standing in a line (i.e. not fair to a captive audience).

Answers:

Not relevant to today’s culture?

The objection being asserted is that the mechanism of open-air preaching is out-of-date or even offensive to 21st century Americans, and therefore, open-air preaching is not a valid method of reaching the people of this culture with the Gospel message.   The following statement was made; "a better way to reach people with the Gospel message would be to ask them if they needed prayer." Then, offer to pray for them and use that as an opening for the Gospel. Or another suggestion was; "use tracts as a way to get the Gospel message out."  
My response would be; it should not be a case of either/or, but rather of both/and.   We should use all available mediums, modes and mechanisms for disseminating the Gospel message. 

At the outset, I would agree that preaching the Gospel outside the walls of the ‘church’ building, to more than one person at a time is definitely not ‘the norm’ in the culture of the 21st century United States of America.   So, although I understand the concern, I don't see the objection as holding weight, so as to invalidate open-air preaching.

• It is a scriptural truth that not all Christians are gifted or called to perform the same tasks and functions within the body of Christ (Romans 12:4).  
• In terms of relevance, (1 Corinthians 9:20-22) would seem to imply that the burden is on the preacher to make the message of the Gospel relevant to his hearers.  
• The outcome is to be left to the Lord, but the responsibility of obeying the Lord’s call is our’s: God commanded Ezekiel to “speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.” (Ezekiel 2:7)
• Preaching may not be the preferred method (culturally speaking) of proclaiming the Gospel, but it is indeed the scriptural method.  

Proclaiming the Gospel message in the open-air associates it with homeless people who put ‘God Bless’ on their signs?

You could say the same thing about the tel-evangelists on TV. Just because there may be corrupt people who would associate themselves with God, the Bible and the Gospel, should that deter us from proclaiming the truth in love?

The answer here is multifaceted:

• We, as open-air preachers must make a point of communicating to our audience that we desire nothing from them.   As it is spoken of in 2 Corinthians 11:7, we must communicate only that we only desire something for them: (eternal life and a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ.)
• We as open-air preachers must proclaim Gospel message in as lucid and coherent way as possible.  1 Peter 3:15-16 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.”
• We must set ourselves apart from any appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

Not Biblically justified (i.e. not a New Testament practice)

The word 'preach' or 'preaching' occurs 141 times in 134 verses in 'The New Testament' of the King James Version of the Bible.   We can cite many examples here:

• John The Baptist (Luke 3:1-20)
• Jesus “The Sermon On The Mount” (Matthew 5-7)
• Peter (Acts 2)
• Paul (Acts 7, 17)

Offensive to those standing in a line (i.e. not fair to a captive audience)

This is a valid concern.   I can only speak for myself; when I preach to an audience I make an effort to be considerate and appreciative of their time and attention.   I do not continue my message indefinitely and as best as possible, I try to keep to the topic at hand (the Gospel).   It has never been my intention to incite or provoke my audience.   I avoid berating, belittling or browbeating my audience.  I always preach on public property and if I am informed (as I have been) that I am indeed on private property, I am quick to apologize and leave.   That being said, I feel, that opportunities to preach to a captive audience are well within my prerogative as a Christian, Biblically, socially and legally.

I would solicit your comments, questions and suggestions regarding this response to objections to open-air preaching.

Thanks and God bless...