Useless Ministries – Annoying Street Preachers
There are almost 7 million people who live in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas – and almost every one of them has been yelled at by the street preachers in Fort Worth.
It’s happened every time I go to the Sundance Square area (an otherwise wonderful place). They gather around the block near the parking garages and yell at people who are waiting for the crosswalk signal to say “walk.” (Some of us just start running through traffic to get away from them.) They scream in your face about needing to be prepared for the judgment seat and repenting so you don’t go to Hell. And they always mention that those of us who are Believers are not safe and must start repenting, too. But it’s not the message that annoys people; what is annoying is the hateful and forceful way they scream at people. It’s a form of assault, frankly.
Some street preachers stand behind their laurels and say that they are doing God’s work and shouldn’t be criticized if people are turned off by the message, but that’s not what’s happening. There is no one who appreciates being verbally attacked for any cause, and no good message can be effectively conveyed this way.
These people are hurting Christianity – not helping it. They are not suffering persecution when they are dismissed by crowds or asked by police officers to leave. They are being very rude, and they are simply not reflecting God’s love.
Remember Jesus’ ministry? Talking kindly to the woman at the well, forgiving the woman who was about to be stoned to death and criticizing her legalistic accusers, embracing children, and otherwise acting with compassion toward people were His methods That should also be the model for your ministry.
Violent rhetoric is not noble. It’s petty.
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I have to disagree with you here brother. Now, granted their are street preachers who are hateful and assault others with their tone. Their message is one of hellfire and brimstone and that is not the Biblical way to share the Gospel.
However, I street preach on a regular basis as well I know many men who do as well and you can practically hear them holding back their tears as they plead with the lost to be reasonable and listen to the Gospel. Acknowledge their sin and then repent and trust in Christ!
It can be done rightly. When done rightly it is very effective (George Whitfield, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, Paul, Peter, Jesus)
It is unfair to say that all street preachers are making things worse because that isn’t true. If done rightly, it isn’t an assault, it’s fantastic and it does help people. I actually know 3 individuals whom God saved and though each of these 3 had so-called Christians in their lives, none of their “Christian” friends had ever shared the Gospel with them. Then one day they happened to pass by an open air preacher. They listened for a bit and became curious. They stayed to heckle him and by the end they stayed to ask him more questions. He walked them through the Law and then explained the Gospel and at the end he didn’t ask to lead them through a sinner’s prayer… he didn’t coerce a decision. He presented the facts and said “What do you think about all that?”
They looked at him, tears rolling down their cheeks and said, What must I do to be saved?
Five years later they have continued on in the faith.
Now, as I said, the words used in street preaching or any other venue for that matter need to be said in love. Not in hate or anger or in trying to prove how ‘good’ you are and how bad they are. That won’t work nor should it… it is wrong.
But if you care about souls, and love Christ and those are your true motivations… it won’t come across as hateful to most. Some will always hate the Gospel (John 10). They hated Christ… it should come as no surprise that they will hate us. We don’t go out looking to see who we can make hate us, but when it happens… we understand why…
“It is unfair to say that all street preachers are making things worse…”
Not what the author said.
“Some will always hate the Gospel … They hated Christ… no surprise that they will hate us.”
Who, exactly? I think this is a tired, over-used piece of rhetoric. And a misapplication of the word ‘hate’. Nope, nobody “hates” the gospel. In general, over the centuries there has always been wide respect for the Bible, gospel, Christian beliefs and its clergy. Acknowledgement of its value,and appreciation of faith, by other religions and the non-religious.
Nope, nobody “hates” Jesus. Or you. Self-serving hyperbole. People who say this perhaps don’t realize that this is a very evangelical-centric statement — not many people are familiar it. You introduce it into the mainstream, over and over, pounding home the concept. So you end up teaching people to hate. Contrary to messages that you believe are love.
You’re absolutely right that the loudest and clankiest segments of American Evangelical culture abuse and overuse this concept, creating a persecution complex that causes people to turn a deaf ear who might be more amenable otherwise. But in the same way these Christians seem to see hate everywhere, your comment seems to overlook it almost entirely. It goes too far in the opposite direction. While there has been wide-spread respect, even reverence, for Jesus, his message, and his ministers, there has always been equally wide-spread intolerance, and yes, even hatred. The truth of this is most plainly demonstrated by the blood of every martyr, beginning with Jesus himself. Of course, martyrdom is not the only manifestation of hatred and persecution, merely the most demonstrable and consistent throughout history to the present and all over the world — from ISIS beheadings abroad to church shootings here in the US.
Again, Jesus himself acknowledged how he was hated by many and tells his followers to expect the same:
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’* If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-20; *See also, Matthew 10).
“When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate!” (Matthew 10:21-22).
Of course, the context for both of these references (John 15 and Matthew 10) is love. Jesus tells his followers to react to hate — whether it be mockery, rejection, or persecution — with love, not fear. And this is the great failure of those Christians who “doth protest too much,” seeing persecution behind every legislation and “happy holidays.” Even if their complaint were legitimate, even when it is, they fail to prepare for opposition, to “Rejoice and be glad” when treated unfairly because their citizenship, justice, and “reward is in heaven,” not on earth; their salt loses its saltiness, their light loses its luster (Matthew 5).
I never said ALL street preachers were useless. Read the post more carefully, and you’ll see that we are in agreement.
I stand corrected. In haste I overlooked the word ‘some’. Thanks for pointing that out.
Yes. Not only did he say, “some” but, more specifically, “annoying.” Of course I suppose “annoying” is subjective; nevertheless, the difference between preaching motivated by love and preaching motivated by guilt and/or fear is usually pretty clear.
excellent point Christine.
Ok, so I encountered that useless type of street preacher at the super bowl this weekend… I had been with my team over on Sunday Square… didn’t get a chance to open air but we did get to hand out some tracts… but then we drove over to Arlington to just see the whole spectacle for ourselves and their were a few folks handing out tracts which was cool, but there were also a couple of street preachers several blocks apart… one was doing a fine job I thought. He was speaking about wrath and judgment but also of forgiveness and listening to him you got the sense that it was breaking his heart that anyone was perishing and going to hell… I was encouraged by him… then we rounded the corner and got closer to the stadium and there was the jerk using a megaphone (which I don’t have a problem with if the situation merits it) but he was aiming it at people less than 5 feet away from him… uncalled for… and he wasn’t pleading with people to repent he was being antagonistic… he was saying in a sarcastic tone “You don’t care about God, you only care about the score of the Super Bowllllll” it was irritating and I wanted to smack him with his own bullhorn…
Street preachers being useful for anything? Give me a break! These people are literally scum of the Earth, harassing people on their way to school, work, and recreation. If they had any inkling of compassion, they would take up something useful instead (such as volunteer work or, maybe, getting a JOB – since all these hacks can find the time to skip out on societal responsibilities in the middle of the day to yell at people on the street, I’ll go ahead and assume that they’re useless welfare queens). Honestly, the only way to deal with these people effectively is to give them a faceful of pepper spray and send them packing to whatever slum they crawled out of. Useless!