The Public Square & Open Air

Help me think about the "Public Square." I have a lot of this stuff in my head and I want to get it out there and see where I'm wrong, right and what to do about it. 

A public square, or particularly a "town square", is a place, historically an intersection of important crossroads for trading of goods as well as the sharing of ideas. 

I live in a town square city. If you visit my city, Woodstock, IL, that's the place to visit. It's quaint, beautiful, historic, and well organized. If you showed up on a random day you might find a farmers market nearly all the way around the square, or a wedding or band concert in the gazebo, or a group of youth hanging around on a bench, or a fair that brings in people from some distance to visit and shop, or a family having a picnic in the shade, or a Groundhog Day celebration at dawn, or a car show, and on and on it goes. And that's just the center park area. Around the outside are permanent stores, the Opera House, an art gallery, restaurants and more.

After 6+ years here there's one thing I haven't found in our public square: The Gospel.

A lot has changed both with goods & ideas. The public square of goods is now mostly at Wal-Mart (a drive away, but everything you need is there, not just specialty items at the farmers market). The public square of ideas is TV or the Internet where the talking heads (of whatever sort) give their side of the story, or deliver their breaking news, and so on. 

Even local stuff is discussed more and more on Facebook than through actual interaction with friends and neighbors. We've learned about local concerns, missing/runaway kids, meetings, etc often on Facebook first. Our local newspaper tries to create this a bit by having comments under each article, but the anonymity of it creates a culture of sniping rather than thinking or caring or doing something in response. 

There are some great stories of how Christians have used the public square in the past. Biblically, guys like Paul go into the marketplace where he can interact with all sorts of folks. That leads some of the local philosophers to bring him to the Areopagus (Mars Hill) for a more intellectual presentation as someone with a new idea. We tend to think of the Areopagus as the public square, but it isn't. It's more of a private, formal forum for certain intellectuals. The public square was the marketplace, the less formal place, the everyone-passes-through-here place.

Back in seminary I remember reading and hearing stories of missionaries to the American frontier and circuit rider preachers and evangelists. I was so taken I wrote a paper on open-air preaching. I'm sure you've heard grand stories of the public preaching and impact of men like George Whitefield and John Wesley. The public square and open-air was a crucial space for these men and their ministries. It wasn't always a place of acceptance, as tomato stains would testify. Those are some great stories too.

Now some, surely, will be concerned over a re-imagining of using the public square because of how a few have used it. Some of you are not eager to be associated with Kirk Cameron or the mimes who trap themselves in a box only to show that Jesus is the way out. I hear you. But I can't help but to think that someday we will look back at TODAY as a come-and-see, affluent, hidden time in American Christian history. That we will wonder why we didn't take the good news and release it through public heralding sooner. That we will study how this was the time when our public preaching was through advertising and marketing and little more.

I'm not sure the answers, but I think the questions are important. I think there's something we're leaving to the "crusades" and quacks that we aren't supposed to leave to them. I think that our disdain for what goes for "public preaching" nowadays isn't enough to keep us from figuring out how to do it better, how do it right.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Read my follow-up post: "The Kids Downtown."

Comments

[Ryan Wentzel]

I like how you've approached the issue. It'll be interesting to read the responses (hopefully they're helpful!).

[Steve McCoy]

Thx Ryan. If ANYONE responds it will be interesting. :)

[Ryan Wentzel]

My city has a public square that sounds similar to what you've described in Woodstock. Some guys from our church go out to the car shows and do a little open air preaching. Oddly enough it's the self-professed Satan worshipers who pay the most attention to them.

I think most people around here steer clear of anyone "proclaiming" something in public (I know I do) which makes open air preaching difficult. I'm not quite sure how to get past that. My guess would be that we can't blindly mimic what we read about preachers from the past, but at the same time we need to realize that presenting the Gospel in the public square is always going to appear a bit strange to those who hear us no matter what methods we use.

Glad you raised the questions. I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

[Steve McCoy]

I have some ideas concerning my square. I'm not ready to talk about them just yet. I think it's tough, and worth wrestling through. And it doesn't necessarily have to be exactly the way it used to be, as you said.

[tom]

Hi Steve,
This is slightly tangential, but I recently read Lesslie Newbigin's "Truth to Tell". I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but in it he advocates for missionally-minded Christians to put Christianity out there into the "marketplace of ideas" for us to refine our understanding and expose false paradigms that drive our culture.

While he doesn't say this needs to happen in a literal public square, I like his admonition to critique not for the sake of critique, but to test and refine our understanding of the gospel as a (the) viable alternative to the world's understanding of life.

I'm not doing the book justice, but I thought about this "marketplace of ideas" theme in reading your post.

[Steve McCoy]

Interesting, Tom. Thanks. I don't have that book. I wonder if Newbigin ever takes it more in the direction I'm considering.

[Rob Freire]

Recently met a guy who does a lot of street preaching and takes a pretty confrontational approach to it. Talking to him and watching video of his preaching got me thinking about whether there are ways to proclaim the gospel in the public square without coming off as obnoxious or inconsiderate of people who are out trying to enjoy a peaceful afternoon outside. I guess I'm resistant to the idea of high jacking a public space or speaking about weighty, personal issues with folks without getting their permission to do so. Obviously, I'm still thinking through all this. Hoping that the discussion here (and future posts from you, Steve) will help.

[Steve McCoy]

Rob, good thoughts. I'm particularly interested in the old school way of doing it in which public space is used but not hijacked. It will be noticeable & hopefully inviting, but also less intrusive than the way I normally see it done.

[Edwin]

Very good post. I wrestle with it as well. The message will be offensive to people no matter what. I am all for the "Way of the Master" ministry, they have been helpful to me and for the body of Christ as a whole, but I see it as one method among many. If pushed to I would probably do open air but I am very reserved. From what I learned from Tim Keller your witnessing is reflected in your relationships but most importantly on how the gospel has changed you as a person first. Which would mean using the gifts that God has given you to express the hope that we are commanded to tell.

If I lived in your town, depending whether I need a permit I would sell books. One side for Christian books from authors like Tim Keller and John Macarthur and some classics Shakespeare, Cervantes etc. I'm a quiet guy and I like to read. I would like to sell all the books for $5 tops maybe it would encourage some conversations. I live in NYC and its huge. I notice that people connect in street malls and parks. Attention span can be short because ppl have places to go. People like the Jehovah's Witness, or the racist man who sells dvds about how black men are always oppressed have peoples attention just by setting up a table. Exchange of ideas could easily take place.

I guess its one way how I would use the square without being loud, or instrusive.

[Steve McCoy]

Thanks for the input, Edwin. Some good thoughts. I'm not fond of the approach of Way of the Master guys, but I appreciate their boldness.