Since one has to be called both externally (by man) and internally (by God), and licensed, ordained and seminary trained to preach the gospel does this mean a lay person should not be allowed to do street preaching?

I listen to "Way of the Master Radio" everyday on Sirius satellite and they are always pushing people to do this and I began to wonder if according to the strict reformed and Presbyterian model, is a laymen allowed to do this?

If one is not called to preach or teach or be an elder or deacon what can the lowly layperson do for the church?

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Erick Bohndorf
http://qayaqtraveler.blogspot.com/
Jeremiah 23:16,17, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you."

Every laymen should tell everyone within their sphere of life about Jesus as occasions arise.

This need not be in a preaching format and actually street preaching in the US is largely ineffective.

Laymen should be encouraged to tell their existing webs of relationships about Jesus and to present a solid witness to win those closest to them. That is how the early church grew, through the active involvement of the layman in lay witness as they performed acts of mercy and charity and told their immediate family webs about the Saviour.


On the PB you will have some stress that they do not believe in an "every member ministry." I am not stressing this. Every member of the body of Christ has a (little m) ministry, and are to faithfully glorify God in their sphere. However, everyone is not called to preach, though all are called to witness.


Laymen can do a lot for the church. They are not merely called to sit and listen. The spheres may be different, but all of the body of Christ are active in the stations that God has given them.

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Pergamum

Augustine is quoted in Morals of the Catholic Church as saying:

I'm not saying this to defend street preaching so much as I am saying this to defend that the "lowly layperson" can and should evangelize.

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Ryan Barnhart - Pastor of OGBC
Husband to a beautiful wife, Father to two beautiful girls
"But by the grace of God I am what I am." I Corinthians 15:10

"I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms. And in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." - John Paton

No laymen should be "preaching."

All Christians should be "salt and light," and be "always prepared to give an answer for the reason of the hope [they] have." However, this is not the same as "preaching."

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
Board Rules-Signature Requirements-Suggestions?

I will be coming under care this May and as I have been allowed to bring the Word to my own congregation, I do not "preach", but exhort. In the OPC only ordained ministers are allowed the privilege of "preaching" the Word.

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Jeff Wyman
Seminarian
Little Farms Chapel OPC, Coopersville, MI
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI

"May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." 1 Peter 1:2-3 (ESV)

I know this has been covered before... but what exactly is the difference?

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Mark Li
International University Church
New South Wales, Australia

Calling, Office, Giftedness, etc.

Street preaching may be a bit of a misnomer, but in any event, the object of the street preacher are those outside the visible church. The object of the minister of the Word is the congregation.

I don't see any problem with members in good standing of a congregation who have been adequately catechized and understand the essentials of the faith bringing the gospel in this situation. The intent ought to be not to get people to "make a decision" or "invite Jesus into their heart" but rather to bring people into the congregation so that they may be discipled and baptized.

I think the alternative would be to require the minister to perform all evangelistic duties of whatever form outside the congregation. E.g., is there any fundamental difference between street preaching to a group and sharing the gospel with your neighbor over a cup of coffee?

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Tom Albrecht
Member, Covenant URCNA, New Holland, PA.

"I'm not a famous man. I'm just a simple country doctor with horse sense."



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Or maybe just present the gospel and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting, (instead of an altar call) then if the situation arises, give them the help they need by answering any questions and then lead them to a good bible believing church.

Just to be clear, we are not saying that a layman should not strike up a conversation with someone about Jesus Christ and the gospel, correct?

Is this partly because preaching the Word is considered to be a means of grace?

Is that radio program saying that believers should speak to a crowd of people about Jesus on a street or have a one-on-one conversation with someone about Jesus on a street?

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Curt Hayashida
member, Community Bible Church (Non-denominational)
Vallejo, CA

Yes...Both. A good portion of the show is about evangelism and trying to convince people to get up the nerve to go out and evangelize and when you get really bold you should try street preaching. The show is actually pretty good.

You can also listen to it on the internet.

The Way of the Master Radio
It even shows a guy on this page doing some.

It is indeed wrong for a lay person to do street preaching

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Name: Richard
Church: Church of England, UK

I would like to challenge this.

Ordinarily, the minister ministers in an already existing congregation.

But some are called to evangelize or do missionary work and for these, then the minister exists prior to the existence of the congregation.

Thus there is a case of extra-ecclesiastical preaching, not just bringing people into the church that already exists, but being used by God to birth the church to begin with.


Your definition above ignores church planting.

Not all parts of the body of Christ are called to the office that preaches (speaks on behalf of Christ to His Church) and evangelizes (Speak on behalf of Christ to the world); however, there is a universal office of priest as well as prophet and king for all believers.

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--chRis
Psalm 115:1

Christopher Reeder
Husband to Kara, Father to Abigail (7), Caleb (6), Grace (4 1/2), Zoë (2 1/2), Elijah (1) and Baby Girl due 8/6/08

Member: Pilgrim Presbyterian Church (OPC), Raleigh, NC

We are not preachers, however, everyone who is in Christ is an ambassador of Christ and has been given a message of reconciliation. I'll leave that to the preachers to unpack for us.

2 Cor. 5:16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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Bob Vigneault (Bawb Vēēn-yo)
I'm learning more about less and less; soon I won't know anything at all!

The Heartbeat of Heaven (blog) MySpace (Music), MySpace (Personal)
Member of Christ Presbyterian Church, Janesville, WI OPC www.christ-opc.org
Jude 24,25

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Are you telling me that a layperson is not "called" and therefore should not speak to the person sitting beside of him on the airplane about the gospel of Jesus Christ?

No, not at all

I wasn't trying to give a comprehensive definition. I was addressing the ordinary situation, not the extraordinary.

As I understood the OP, the issue had to do with the question of street "evangelism" (for lack of a better term) in an area where there were existing churches. Note my comment about the goal being to bring folks into the congregation for baptism and discipleship. Presumably those doing the work on the street or in their neighborhoods are already members in good standing of the church and under the authority of ordained leadership.

I would certainly agree that in area where the gospel is new and no churches exist, that evangelists called and ordained by the church are in order.

Could you please site scripture to support your position?

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