Advice on Open Air Preaching from R.A. Torrey

 

It's been good to see the positive response people have been having to Steve McCoy's post on open air preaching. I mentioned in my own post that I hope to contribute to the conversation with the advice I've found from some of the great preachers of our tradition. Well I've found some. The preacher I have in mind is R.A. Torrey. He preached around the world with D.L Moody, was one of the first deans of BIOLA University, as well as an itinerrant preacher. His legacy include a lot of devotional and theological works worth your time, Moody Bible Institute, and the streets. 

A few years ago, I came across his book How to Work For Christ. It is a great collection of ideas on how to get out and minister to people evangelisticaly. The chapter I linked to is called Open Air Meetings. Torrey believed in open air preaching and in this chapter gives some reasons to go outdoors, how to conduct meetings, and practical advice for the minister. Some of the information is outdated (unless you have a gospel wagon), but a lot of what he says still rings true. For instance, he warns that you should find a place to preach where you won't get dishwater thrown at you. It would be pretty distracting to be in the middle of a gospel presentation and all of a sudden end up wet. (I think he spoke from experience). He also advises to preach in the shade on warm days. Great practical advice that I hope helps you in your work. But I wanted to share advice that seems to apply at all times. For instance.....

Don't Be Dull

He writes "Dullness will kill an open air meeting...do not preach long sermons. Use a great many striking illustrations... Be energetic in your manner. Talk so people will listen. Don't preach, but simply talk to people". 

Don't Do It Alone

Torrey believed this was a group activity so you should find some fellow workers to go with you. You don't have to do all the heavy lifting. 

Don't Antagonize Your Audience

Forgive my bluntness, bit preachers who go out just to call women "whores" and men "fornicators" are complete idiots. Please don't be that person. All you will do is close off ears to the gospel and perpetuate the crazy street preacher stereotype. 

Don't Be Long

10 to 15 minutes is what he advises. Past that and you'll lose your audience. Though today it might be even less than that. 

Depend on God

He's the one who will touch people, not you. 

Depend on God's Word

Torrey believed in the power of the Word of God. He advised that know how to show someone their need for Christ, how they may be saved, and assurance of salvation and discipleship. Spend time in the word. Better yet, memorize it. 

What about modern technology? Does it have a role in our outdoor witness? It might surprise some to see that Torrey believed in using the latest technology. For instance, on the chapter called "The Use of Autos, Trailers etc..." he says about films

We all recognize the use of the visual in attracting and holding attention. Biblical pictures on inexpensive films can be effectively used on children and grown ups, for, remember, no one is ever too old to be interested in pictures.  

Those of us living in the age of youtube, power point, and flickr, might have use to the church yet. 

Missional Street Preaching????

Yesterday, over at the Reformissionary Blog, Steve McCoy wrote what Joe Thorn is calling "the most important post of the year". I came across it early on and thought it would be another cool blog post from a great missional reformed blog. I was certainly surprised when I read it. Was it about some new ministry method? A new Reformed book? Another (sigh) Reformed controversy? No. He's calling those of us in the Young Reformed Camp to return to our great heritage of street preaching.

Street Preaching. That is the new cutting edge idea he is advocating. I'm sure we've all seen street preachers screaming at local shopping centers or colleges that the people are sinners who are going to hell.

This is him on a good day

Heck, I've cringed at the sight of well meaning people screaming like maniacs on street corners. But Steve asks a very good question:

What if evangelicals hit America with 200, or 500, or 1,000 theologically strong, gospel-centered pastors who start preaching in open-air and public places in their cities, beyond their Sunday morning worship services, at least once a week for the rest of 2011? What would happen? 

These guys know something about street preaching

 Let that question hit you for a moment. Our movement is made up of some godly, theologically informed people. Image if more of us went out there to preach the good news? McCoy outlines ten things that might happen. Among them are a raised awareness of the gospel, and outreach to people who wouldn't normally enter your church walls.  It might shock a lot of us in the camp to know that the people we look up to (Spurgeon, Whitfield, Edwards, Van Til!) were also street preachers. Since yesterday, Steve has updated his blog with some information a few of us shared with him, and I encourage you to take a look and join the conversation. I'll try and post some of that as I can. Please visit the conversation going on at the Reformissionary blog.   Please pray and see if this is a ministry area that God is leading you into.

I should add, this may not be a ministry for everyone. But I do think there are a lot of us that might be able to use this ministry tool. I"ll try and post my findings in the days to come.