John Piper a street preacher?

[evangelist6589]

John Piper Was Arrested For Street Preaching? - Living Waters - Way Of The Master Radio On OnePlace.com (podcast)

Can anyone confirm if this is true? If it is true thank God for people like Piper. Street preaching is heavily misunderstood by the church and we need people like Piper to set the example.

 

[JonC]

The only thing I can see was an arrest for protesting planned parenthood. He (along with about 20 from his church) were among about 100 arrested as they sat in front of the doors in St. Paul.

 

[David Kent]

John Piper Was Arrested For Street Preaching? - Living Waters - Way Of The Master Radio On OnePlace.com (podcast)

Can anyone confirm if this is true? If it is true thank God for people like Piper. Street preaching is heavily misunderstood by the church and we need people like Piper to set the example.

I don't know, but a pastor was arrested in Medway, UK recently for practising his sermon on a crowded train. He was pinned to the ground and held for some hours, suspected as being a terrorist.

 

[InTheLight]

Can anyone confirm if this is true?

A Google search does not confirm it.

If it is true thank God for people like Piper. Street preaching is heavily misunderstood by the church and we need people like Piper to set the example.

Well, you'd be disappointed. He's into friendship evangelism. Here's an excerpt from an article on his website, "Desiring God":

Paul isn’t just saying evangelism is our responsibility; he’s telling us to do it “in person.” Unfortunately, a lot of evangelism is an out of body experience, as if there aren’t two persons in a conversation. It’s excarnate, out of the flesh, not incarnate — in the flesh.

I’m reminded of the more passive Christian who looks to get Jesus off his chest at work and into a conversation. “Check!” Or the time in college when I pretended to share the gospel with a friend in Barnes & Noble so others would overhear it! Alternatively, an active evangelist might troll blogs and start conversations to defeat arguments, while losing people in the process. “Aha!” The comment section on a blog is the new street corner.

These approaches are foolish because they treat people like projects to be completed, not persons to be loved.

Paul says “know how you ought to answer each person.” This means that most of your gospel explanations will be different, not canned. It also implies a listening evangelism. How can we know how to respond to each person, if we don’t know each person?

When Francis Schaeffer was asked how he would spend an hour with a non-Christian, he said: “I would listen for fifty-five minutes, and then, in the last five minutes I would have something to say.”

Rehearsing a memorized fact, “Jesus died on the cross for your sins,” isn’t walking in wisdom. Many people don’t know what we mean when we say “Jesus,” “sin,” or “cross.” We have to slow down long enough to explore what they mean, and why they have trouble with these words and concepts. Often they are tied to some kind of pain. We need to explain these important truths (and more), not simply assert them.

We need to see evangelism as a long-term endeavor. Stop checking the list and defeating others. Be incarnate, not excarnate, in your evangelism. Slow down and practice listening and love. Most conversions are not the result of a single, point-in-time conversation, but the culmination of a personal process that includes doubt, reflection, gospel witness, love, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

[JonC]

A Google search does not confirm it.



Well, you'd be disappointed. He's into friendship evangelism. Here's an excerpt from an article on his website, "Desiring God":

Paul isn’t just saying evangelism is our responsibility; he’s telling us to do it “in person.” Unfortunately, a lot of evangelism is an out of body experience, as if there aren’t two persons in a conversation. It’s excarnate, out of the flesh, not incarnate — in the flesh.

I’m reminded of the more passive Christian who looks to get Jesus off his chest at work and into a conversation. “Check!” Or the time in college when I pretended to share the gospel with a friend in Barnes & Noble so others would overhear it! Alternatively, an active evangelist might troll blogs and start conversations to defeat arguments, while losing people in the process. “Aha!” The comment section on a blog is the new street corner.

These approaches are foolish because they treat people like projects to be completed, not persons to be loved.

Paul says “know how you ought to answer each person.” This means that most of your gospel explanations will be different, not canned. It also implies a listening evangelism. How can we know how to respond to each person, if we don’t know each person?

When Francis Schaeffer was asked how he would spend an hour with a non-Christian, he said: “I would listen for fifty-five minutes, and then, in the last five minutes I would have something to say.”

Rehearsing a memorized fact, “Jesus died on the cross for your sins,” isn’t walking in wisdom. Many people don’t know what we mean when we say “Jesus,” “sin,” or “cross.” We have to slow down long enough to explore what they mean, and why they have trouble with these words and concepts. Often they are tied to some kind of pain. We need to explain these important truths (and more), not simply assert them.

We need to see evangelism as a long-term endeavor. Stop checking the list and defeating others. Be incarnate, not excarnate, in your evangelism. Slow down and practice listening and love. Most conversions are not the result of a single, point-in-time conversation, but the culmination of a personal process that includes doubt, reflection, gospel witness, love, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

That's because within the context of the street preaching movement (apart from a larger church ministry) "the way of the master" falls short of evangelism. It is not the way of the Master.