Open-Air Preaching: Contending or Contentious?

As you are contending for the faith, of course you want to always make sure you are respectful, congenial, and uncompromising. But people won’t stay and listen to boring preaching, so you have to be a bit “on the edge.” Christians sometimes think that it’s unloving to speak in such a way, but it is necessary if you want to hold your hearers. When I share the gospel with one or two people, there is an obvious gentleness in my tone.

However, if you heard me preach in the open air, it may seem provocative or contentious. This is because if I preached the same way I speak, I would never hold a crowd. It is important in both cases that I am motivated by love, but if I don’t keep the preaching “on the edge,” I will lose my hearers in minutes (if not seconds).

John Wesley put it this way:

“In the streets a man must from beginning to end be intense, and for that very reason he must be condensed and concentrated in his thought and utterance.”

This “intense” preaching may be misunderstood by those who don’t know why it’s there. The problem is that when we read the Gospels, we don’t see the passion involved in its discourses. When Jesus spoke, there were those in the crowd who hated Him and wanted to kill Him. People undoubtedly called out, accusing Him of blasphemy, or challenging Him with questions. The atmosphere likely would have been electric. That’s the atmosphere that holds a crowd’s attention. To become passive in the name of love and gentleness will pull the plug out and the electricity will immediately leave.

“John Wesley put it this way: “In the streets a man must from beginning to end be intense, and for that very reason he must be condensed and concentrated in his thought and utterance.””

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So be ready, because you may be accused of preaching without love. The accusations almost always come from those brethren who have never preached in the open air.

When speaking of open-air preaching, R. A. Torrey said, “Don’t be soft. One of these nice, namby pamby, sentimental sort of fellows in an open-air meeting, the crowd cannot and will not stand. The temptation to throw a brick or a rotten apple at him is perfectly irresistible, and one can hardly blame the crowd.”

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