“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

“Go, stand and speak” (Acts 5:20).

Part two in a four-part series on open-air preaching.

If there is one déjà vu moment that makes every street preacher cringe, it is encountering a professing Christian on the street who strongly objects to open-air preaching. Why are you doing this? Didn’t Jesus evangelize people personally, on a one-on-one basis? Is street preaching even biblical? These questions reveal common objections that deserve a thoughtful response. Ours is twofold.

First, we agree that Jesus engaged in relational evangelism (and so do we) by way of friendship and hospitality. Still, relational evangelism is not going to reach everyone. There are myriads of people in our culture who have no outreach-minded Christian friends or neighbors. What about them?

Second, we believe that open-air preaching is both biblical and historical. It is biblical in that it flows from clear scriptural exhortations and examples. It is historical in that it has a robust pedigree, especially within the Reformed tradition.

Biblical Examples

Charles Spurgeon argues “with small fear of refutation, that open-air preaching is as old as preaching itself.”¹ Prof. John Murray and Rev. Calvin Cummings concur: “Preaching and teaching under the canopy of heaven is a very ancient practice.”²

The Old Testament contains many examples of open-air preaching. Peter describes Noah as “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5). This word preacher signifies a public herald. We can imagine Noah standing in the midst of an unbelieving culture, warning vast multitudes of his unsaved countrymen of the coming flood and calling them to flee for safety into God’s ark.

Samuel preached in the open air at Gilgal amid “thunder and rain, by which the Lord rebuked the people and drove them to their knees” (1 Sam 12:18).³ God sent Jonah to preach a message of judgment in the streets of Nineveh, a wicked and violent city, where many thousands of unconverted men, women, and children stood on the brink of a lost eternity. According to Spurgeon, if Jonah “had hired a hall”⁴ and proclaimed his message indoors, a vast majority of Ninevites would probably never have heard the warning.

God also sent Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, to preach His Word at the “gate of the Lord’s house”—a public place where thousands would hear him (Jer. 7:2). In all likelihood, such prophetic warnings at the city gate were not uncommon (Isa. 29:21; Amos 5:10). Again and again, when foolish sinners “say in their hearts, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1), the Lord sends His prophets, through whom “Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square” (Prov. 1:20).

Open-air preaching also appears in the New Testament. John the Baptist lifted up his voice openly and publicly in the wilderness at the river Jordan (Matt. 3:1–2). Jesus Christ—our meek and gentle Savior, who ate with publicans and sinners—also did the same. “Our Lord Himself,” observes Spurgeon, “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).”⁵

Christ loved the lost and desired their salvation. Therefore, in the Great Commission, He commanded His church to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). This word preach suggests the imagery of a town crier heralding news in the public square. Hence, on the day of Pentecost, Peter arose and “lifted up his voice,” preaching in the open air to the men of Jerusalem (Acts 2:14). Philip the evangelist traveled to a city of Samaria and publicly heralded Christ to its many residents (Acts 8:5). When Paul visited Athens, he first went to the synagogue, then afterward visited the “market daily,” publicly proclaiming “the good news of Jesus and the resurrection to them” (Acts 17:17–18).

The Bible presents open-air preaching as a normative method of evangelism for God’s people under both testaments.

Church History

Every autumn in Grand Rapids, Mich., we evangelize at a festival called ArtPrize. On one such occasion, a young woman stopped and began to stare at us. She could see a man street-preaching, some men and women handing out tracts and talking to people, and a man named Bryan standing behind our literature table. Approaching the table, she asked, “What group are you are a part of? Are you Pentecostal or Baptist?”

“No ma’am,” Bryan replied, “we are evangelical, Bible-believing Presbyter­ians sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.” A look of perplexity immediately came over her face, after which she remarked, “Presbyterians don’t do outreach on the streets; I am Presbyterian myself, a member of the OPC.” If only this dear sister knew about our rich evangelistic heritage as Reformed Christians!

Most of us are aware that the Protestant Reformation was preceded by various forerunners who helped God’s people recover Scripture and the gospel. What few realize, however, is that many of these men were avid open-air preachers. In the 12th Century, Peter Waldo (founder of the Waldensians) sent men throughout Western Europe, two by two, to preach in the public square. In 14th Century England, John Wycliffe (founder of the Lollards) preached under the canopy of heaven on a regular basis. Jan Hus of Bohemia was also known for his open-air sermons. Indeed, time would fail us to elaborate on the numerous Reformers who went into the marketplaces, town squares, and fields to herald Christ: men such as William Tyndale, George Wishart, John Knox, and William Farel.

The most famous open-air preacher of all time is undoubtedly George Whitefield, who once said, “I believe I never was more acceptable to my Master than when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields.…I now preach to ten times more people than I should, if I had been confined to the Churches.” In 18th Century England, church vitality was waning, church attendance falling, and immorality skyrocketing. As a result, Whitefield decided to take the gospel directly to the people. This led him to preach the gospel near the coal mines in Bristol, where a riot had previously broken out in response to an evangelist. Whitefield, being a mighty man of prayer and a Spirit-anointed preacher, arrived at the mines “in power, and in the Holy Ghost” (1 Thess. 1:5). Hardened men wept over their sins. Witnesses saw the black, dust-covered faces of the miners turn white as tears rolled down their cheeks. There was also much joy as many believed upon Christ and received the forgiveness of sins. This was not an uncommon occurrence in the life of Whitefield. O that we might see such glorious days again!⁶

Spurgeon was also a man who loved street preaching, especially during his first pastorate in Waterbeach, England, where he would street preach almost every day. In his second charge, he often went out into the “highways and hedges” of east London, preaching to lost souls. Spurgeon firmly believed that a man who cannot preach the gospel to the lost has no right to be in the pulpit. Under his watch, therefore, no man was permitted to enter the gospel ministry without first learning to street preach. “I am persuaded,” he once declared, “that the more of open-air preaching there is in London the better.…Not only must something be done to evangelize the millions,” he insisted, “but everything must be done” that we may “go forth into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23).⁷

While the 20th Century saw a decline in Reformed open-air evangelism, men like John Murray⁸ and Cornelius Van Til⁹ served as notable exceptions. Thankfully, the 21st Century has witnessed a steady revival of the practice within Calvinistic circles led by men such as Paul Washer, Ray Comfort, Jeff Rose, Jeremy Walker, and Tony Curto.

Reformed Presbyterians have a rich history of open-air preaching as well. One thinks of 17th Century Scottish Covenanters like Donald Cargill and Richard Cameron, preaching in the town squares of Rutherglen, Glasgow, and Sanquhar during the Killing Times. One also recalls John G. Paton (1824–1907), whose open-air preaching in Glasgow’s poor east end met with such opposition from local businesses that he was arrested by the police. Undeterred, Paton went on preaching in obedience to King Jesus. Eventually, a high-ranking Christian police officer ordered his men to protect rather than hinder his ministry.¹⁰ This turned out to be the perfect training ground for his mission work in the New Hebrides, where he regularly preached Christ in the open air on the islands of Tanna and Aniwa. Today, at least three RPCNA congregations routinely herald Christ in public, several others are exploring the possibility, and our seminary (RPTS) offers a course that includes open-air preaching. What an encouraging trend!

C.S. Lewis observed, “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”¹¹

As we have seen from the pages of Scripture and from church history, open-air preaching is biblical, historical, and Reformed. We would all do well, therefore, to heed Lewis’s counsel, allowing the past to expose our modern blind spots, that we might recover our Reformed heritage and “Go, stand speak” (Acts 5:20) to the lost souls in our communities.

Craig Scott is pastor of First (Grand Rapids, Mich.) RPC. Adam Kuehner is pastor of Southfield, Mich., RPC.