"We are to bring Christ to the world, not the world to Christ"
John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church
"I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday. Having been all my life ( till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it had not been done in a church. In the evening I began expounding our Lords Sermon on the Mount (one pretty remarkable precedent of field-preaching, though I suppose there were churches at that time also)"
C H Spurgeon "No sort of defense is needed for preaching out of doors, but it would need very potent arguments to prove that a man had done his duty who has never preached beyond the walls of his meeting-house. A defense is required for services within buildings than for worship outside of them."
William Booth and the Salvation Army"I may say that a large proportion of the successes of the Salvation Army has been due, in my estimation, humanly, to our open-air operations. ... in the ordinary course of things, we should have, you will easily see, no chance without open-air work."
David Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Caroline Wong wrote:
> I've met many Christians from many different churches
> and denominations (including Methodist/Wesleyan)
> and never came across a Street Preacher.
The father of the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition was John Wesley. He was a
street preacher who first preached outside while standing on his father's
grave because those of the religious establishment didn't want him in their
pulpit. If it were not for street preachers, there would be no Methodists
or Wesleyans. I encourage you to read more about John Wesley and his field
preaching. Wesley first observed George Whitefield open air preaching and
described it as disorderly. Wesley seemed to think of it like some of the
detractors here in this forum, describing it as "almost a sin." After open
air preaching for 33 years, Wesley still described it as a cross to him, but
he knew his commission and could see no other way to preach the gospel to
every creature. The bottomline is that God used John Wesley mightily in
open air preaching and he could not deny the results. Many of us have
similar testimonies.
I grew up in the Methodist tradition too, and I never saw someone preaching
outside until I was well into my twenties. This is sad, because Jesus did
it, the apostles did it, it is in the Bible, and it is found in the
tradition of the Methodists, Salvation Army, Puritans, and even in the
history of evangelists like Billy Graham.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
----------
"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
