One unique aspect of open-air preaching is the frequency of interruptions. In a church building, preaching is rarely interrupted by questions or objections. But when you stand in a town centre to preach Christ, sooner or later, someone will make it loud and clear that they disagree with you.
Knowing how to deal with a heckler could make the difference between being derailed from your gospel preaching or a great opportunity to make Christ known. So what do you do if you are preaching and someone throws a question or objection at you?
1. Identify the type of heckler
Before responding, it’s essential to recognise which type of heckler you’re dealing with. Here are four common hecklers I’ve come across in my work as an open-air evangelist:
- The grenade thrower: Drops controversial statements or asks difficult questions and walks away.
- The machine gunner: Rapidly fires multiple questions without waiting for answers.
- The sceptic: Asks questions based on common sceptical objections to the Christian gospel.
- The seeker: Asks genuine questions out of sincere interest.
Identifying the kind of heckler will determine what you do next. Ignore the “grenade thrower” and continue your message. If the “machine gunner” can’t be persuaded to let you answer, you are also best to just carry on too. But I’ve found the two most helpful hecklers are the sceptic and the seeker. Questions posed from opposition or sincere interest are a great starting point for preaching the gospel to a wider audience who may stop to listen to the interaction.
That said, there are some questions that are best dealt with personally. If someone asks a very personal question, such as, “Why did God allow my child to die?”, sometimes its best to thank them for the question, express sincere sympathy, but then encourage them to speak to a team member. Others may ask questions to publicly trap you in responding to controversial topics. If you sense they are doing that, you can always thank them for the question and tell them you will be glad to answer when you have finished your message.
2. Thank them
Some hecklers can be aggressive in their tone. Disarm potentially hostile hecklers by thanking them for their question. If it’s a helpful question (which almost all are), affirm that as you thank them. Introduce yourself and ask for their name. “Thank you for your very helpful question, sir. By the way, my name is ____. What’s your name?” Knowing their name helps to build rapport and keeps the interaction pleasant.
3. Clarify the question or objection
One of our evangelists shared the story of a recent encounter with a heckler. The preacher heard a question about dietary laws. The evangelist explained in detail the threefold division of the law, and how the civil and ceremonial law are fulfilled in Christ. However, once he had finished, the heckler said, “No, not dietary laws, I asked about dinosaurs!”
It’s important we understand a question before we answer it. Jesus often answered questions with questions. We can do the same. A good question to ask any heckler is, “Please could you explain what you mean by that?” Clarifying the question not only helps you to answer it more clearly, but it also gives you a little bit of time to think before you respond.
4. Restate the objection
Once you have understood the question, repeat it loudly and clearly. For example, “My friend John here has asked, ‘Why does religion cause so many wars?’”
This step serves multiple purposes:
- It ensures everyone in the crowd can hear the question. Often, by the time someone has shouted out a question, others have also stopped to see how you will respond. Not every heckler has a loud voice, so restating the question ensures the crowd hears it.
- You can double-check that you have understood the question correctly with the heckler. “Is that correct, John?”
- Restating the question allows you some time to think about the answer.
5. Answer the question
When answering the question, make it clear your answer is based on the teaching of the Bible. Prefix your answer with, “The Bible teaches…” This makes it clear that you are not speaking your own opinion, but the teaching of the word of God.
Also, keep your answer brief. It’s helpful to answer apologetic questions, but ultimately, we want to get to the gospel.
6. Preach Christ
As soon as you have answered the question that was posed, find a way to get to the gospel. Never answer a question without speaking of the Saviour. Most questions naturally lead in some way to the gospel. For example, a question about the evidence for Christianity will easily give you an opportunity to speak about Christ’s death and resurrection and the implication of Christ’s resurrection for each of us (Acts 17:30). A question about why God allows suffering naturally leads to an explanation about the ultimate cause of death and the sufferings of Christ in order to conquer it.
7. Call to repentance and faith
We generally see the biggest crowds listening to open-air preaching when a heckler engages. We need to be mindful of the spiritual needs of both the heckler and the audience. Once we have used the question to get to the gospel, we need to call our hearers to respond to the gospel message in repentance and faith. Don’t just speak to the heckler—look around at others who have stopped to listen, and address them eye-to-eye. Tell them that they personally need to come to Christ, and invite them to do so.
If a sizeable crowd has gathered after a few interactions, this may be the opportune moment to conclude your message. Invite listeners to come forward to receive a Gospel of John. Team members can follow up with those showing an interest.
Remember that often people will remember how we respond to them more than what we say. As you go out to preach, ask the Lord for grace to be gentle and gracious when dealing with hecklers. And ask for wisdom to know how to answer them from the word of God. Hecklers can often be the means of a great open-air outreach.
For a more in depth guide to open-air evangelism, why not pick up a copy of the OAM Handbook on open-air evangelism available for purchase here.