How to Engage In Street Apologetics

Street preaching is exciting and effective, and more Christians should be doing it. But what happens when you're out on the street and someone asks you a question you can't answer? Today we're going to talk about that. 

1 Peter 3:15 tells Christians to "always [be] ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you...." So, how ready are you to defend your hope in Jesus Christ? Could you do it on the street, with a passerby?

Street preaching understandably freaks Christians out, (a) because people tend to be more terrified of public speaking than of death, and (b) because of the risks of that kind of encounter. What if the skeptic you're talking to knows more about the Bible than you? What if it's a Muslim who really knows her theology? We fear making fools of ourselves, misrepresenting Christ, or even having our own faith challenged. Not fun. Many say they don't like street preaching, because it's "unloving" or "turns people off from the Gospel," but perhaps the real reason so many don't tend to like street preaching boils down to fear. And guess what: the risks are real.

So is there a way to overcome that fear? Is there an approach to defending the Christian message on the street—call it Street Apologetics—that can enable a Christian to feel confident enough to truly answer anyone? 

In this episode you will learn specifically about:

  • The theology behind street preaching.

  • What kind(s) of Christians should be out on the street.

  • How to handle objections and tough questions while street evangelizing. 

  • Whether Presuppositional Apologetics is the best method for street apologetics.

Today's guest is Ryan Denton, co-author of the fantastic book, A Certain Sound: A Primer on Open Air Preaching. Ryan Denton has his BA in Philosophy and English from the University of New Mexico and his MA in Liberal Arts from St. John's College. He founded Christ in the Wild Ministries in 2016 while serving as a Pastor in Navajo Nation, NM. Since then he has been engaged in gospel proclamation in the "wild" on a daily basis. Ryan lives with his wife and son in TX. He graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently a ThM student at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.

Get Ryan’s book: A Certain Sound

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