Does street preaching make you cringe?

A few weeks ago I asked what you thought when you saw someone preaching the Gospel on the street, perhaps with a microphone or a megaphone. I have done this quite a few times over the years myself (without a megaphone). A while ago my wife and I joined a great team of people from the School of World Evangelism for a day of outreach. We positioned ourselves in a very prominent place in the Town of Caerphilly, near Cardiff on a sunny Saturday afternoon as part of an evangelistic open air. I know that some people call this type of event “Cringe Factor Evangelism”. I do have to admit that at times I have felt the same when I have been out shopping and heard someone shouting at the top of their voice about hell, sin and condemnation.

I have to say though, that if this type of evangelistic endeavour is done well, people do come to Christ through it. But much more importantly than that, being led by the spirit to do it makes a huge difference; after all it is God who gives the increase. I fully appreciate this type of evangelism is not everyone’s cup of tea. I have a friend that went on the streets every Saturday for three years without fail, initially with a colleague, and eventually ended up carrying on alone. People do need to hear the gospel somehow.

In his book “Evangelism By Fire” Reinhard Bonnke says “Meanwhile people are dying. Isn’t that enough reason to preach the Gospel”? I know Christians that love evangelising in this way right through to others who are vehemently against it. When I think about it, my mind is always drawn to the scripture: 

“For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe”. 1 Corinthians 1:21. I am certain that some of the passer’s by that day thought that we were indeed foolish.

For a period of the outreach I stood handing out leaflets and chatted to people as they passed by. It is true to say that some people definitely did not like what was going on as the name of Jesus was lifted up through preaching, testifying and worship songs. For the 90 minutes or so that we were there we received a varied number of reactions and responses. First of all, lets go through some of the reactions. A few people shouted abuse as they went by, some laughed while others pulled confused expressions on their faces. A young man was on his mobile phone as he walked by and shouted to the person on the phone “Can you hear that”? laughing as he walked off. Others looked a little irritated by it. Quite a few people looked stunned because they had not seen the like for many years.

Before moving on, motivational speaker and Christian Zig Ziglar gives a simple explanation of the difference between a reaction and a response. If you imagine for a moment that a person was very sick in hospital and they were being treated by a medical team who were administering some form of medicine or drugs. A close and worried relative is in attendance and asks the Doctor in charge how things are going. If the reply the relative received was “The patient is reacting to the treatment” it generally means that is it not a good thing and something is wrong. However if the reply was “ The patient is responding to the treatment”, it means that it is a good thing. Based on that, you may well think that the reactions we got were not good. Well, I will cover that shortly.

Getting back to the outreach. Some of the responses we had were really encouraging. Quite a number of people stopped to listen, a few for a minute or two, while others stayed for much longer. Some people were prayed for on the street as they needed healing in their bodies. Others came to an evening outreach meeting as a result of being invited on the street. One lady heard the preaching while she was in her garden, and came to the church with her friend. They had both previously had followed the Lord and had fallen away, they asked for prayer and recommitted their lives to Christ, had prayer for healing and literally bounced out the church full of joy. They returned that evening as well. On the street a young lady who desperately needed to be set free from the bondage of drug addiction gave her life to Christ and is now in the process of joining a Christian drug rehabilitation centre. At the evening service the Lord moved powerfully and touched many lives.

I was taught that there are many ways to reach people with the Gospel, and I am a believer that sometimes people come to Christ through things like friendship evangelism, while others need to be confronted with the Gospel. It was certainly true in my own case. Being told straight that I was lost and was headed to hell really affected me. In fact when I was told that, I reacted to it. I got angry and wanted an argument. But the thing was that the seed was sewn in my heart. It took a while to germinate, but I am glad that I was spoken to in that way. My point is that the Holy Spirit guides us when we witness one to one or in a group as we were that day in Caerphilly. He brings scriptures to remembrance and He can tell us how to communicate the message. You may think it is a cliche when people say the God isn’t interested in our ability, but rather in our availability.

If we make ourselves available to God, pray for boldness and do what we perhaps fear. Be that street preaching, handing out tracts through to witnessing one to one. It can be a bit nerve wracking.

My boss used to say “When you do what you fear, the fear will disappear. My heart always beats a little quicker when I am handed a microphone on the street. But then I remember what Paul said in Romans 10 : 14: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

You may agree or disagree with what I have said. In either case I would love to hear from you.