Street Corner Preaching

[JTTNMinistries]

I was wondering what everyone here thinks about street corner preaching. I have been involved in it for a while but I feel like the Lord has had me take a break for a while and do some other forms of evangelism.

Usually the first question people ask is "what kind of results are you getting?" This is an honest question. Sometimes I have good results where people are immediately ready to repent and other nights it seems like nobody is listening.

Mostly I just wanted to ask what your honest perceptions of most street preachers are, good or bad, if you have ever tried street preaching, and what you think about using that form of evangelism today.

[TJJJ]

Some places it is illegal without a permit. Other place it it might work depending upon the man. I have seen people do something different. They will get 2-3 musicians and sing a song and then one of the ministers will invite people to the service that night to hear more singing. That has been sucessful for some.

[A.W. Bowman]

Generally, it is not effective. For several reasons.

First, it is a shotgun approach. Unlike with the apparent N.T. approach, street corner preaching does not have a context of a relationship from which one can share a common reference. This usually requires sometime to develope.

Second, people seldom just "hang out" on a street corner, they are moving from one place to another location for a purpose and there is usually a time frame for their trip to be accomplished.

Yet, if just one soul can be reached through a street ministry, is the effort and thousands of disappointments not worth it? Look at all of the people Jesus has lost in His ministry over the years! If we lived to be a thousand, we could not match His failures. However, even in our own failures, what if you should reach that one individual whom God has called and ordained to actually evangelize a great segment of the world? Would not your ministry then be classified as a success? Perhaps this is why we are usually not given to know the results of our ministries, so we don't become spiritually complacent or simply live on our former accomplishments (becoming prideful).

[Jason B]

IMO, street preaching shows a great burden, but is not pratical for today. I work in a very public place and have talked to a number of people, anytime in the past street preaching comes up worldly people are very turned off. I think that our society has painted with a broad brush all street preachers to be crazies and hell fire preachers. I know its not fair, but that is what the perception seems to be.

I haven't done street preaching, but have done done knocking several times, which it seems the jehovahs witnesses have ruined for everybody- (not to mention door to door salesmen). To me the most proven way to build a church is through personal interaction and relationships with people. We don't like that because it takes time and process. However, those are the people who stick. I also like the idea of flyers, newpaper ads or other forms of "advertising". I think it goes back to the saying, "they don't care what you know (truth), until they know how much you care."

[Sabby]

Originally Posted by Jason Badejo

IMO, street preaching shows a great burden, but is not pratical for today. I work in a very public place and have talked to a number of people, anytime in the past street preaching comes up worldly people are very turned off. I think that our society has painted with a broad brush all street preachers to be crazies and hell fire preachers. I know its not fair, but that is what the perception seems to be.

I haven't done street preaching, but have done done knocking several times, which it seems the jehovahs witnesses have ruined for everybody- (not to mention door to door salesmen). To me the most proven way to build a church is through personal interaction and relationships with people. We don't like that because it takes time and process. However, those are the people who stick. I also like the idea of flyers, newpaper ads or other forms of "advertising". I think it goes back to the saying, "they don't care what you know (truth), until they know how much you care."

[Neck]

Originally Posted by JTTNMinistries

I was wondering what everyone here thinks about street corner preaching. I have been involved in it for a while but I feel like the Lord has had me take a break for a while and do some other forms of evangelism.

Usually the first question people ask is "what kind of results are you getting?" This is an honest question. Sometimes I have good results where people are immediately ready to repent and other nights it seems like nobody is listening.

Mostly I just wanted to ask what your honest perceptions of most street preachers are, good or bad, if you have ever tried street preaching, and what you think about using that form of evangelism today.

If you did it on the streets of Milwaukee they would think you were nuts...

[JTTNMinistries]

Originally Posted by Neck

If you did it on the streets of Milwaukee they would think you were nuts...

It doesn't matter where you do it, they will think you are nuts. It has been rejected in every generation. They threw pieces of dead cats at John Wesley's outdoor preaching in the UK.

[Sister Alvear]

we do it at times on the mission field.

[doc77]

it worked in Missouri this group does it all the time http://methequalssorcery.com/

[Sabby]

It's been years since I did this. We had a positive outcome, but it had to do with gawkers parking close enough for the pastor to corner them while they were listening...It was the only time I have heard or seen SP "work"... The world doesn't view SP favorably at all... where I live it could be grounds for arrest for hate speech.
I agree w/Jason about the burden, because it can be intense and I can see why it might work in other countries (re: Sister A). But in the good ol' USA, we are not compared to Oral Roberts or Pat Robertson anymore. We are competing against an entertainment saturated culture (American Idol, Dancing with the Stars). It's a different culture than 50 years ago, sad to say.