In its long history, the Open-Air Mission has received support from many well-known Christian leaders. Below is a short message given by the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury following a report on the work of OAM at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Mission (now replaced by our Annual Supporters’ Days). Lord Shaftesbury is well known for his reforms in child labour practices, housing and prison conditions. But few are aware that Lord Shaftesbury was a keen supporter of OAM and open-air evangelism. It’s interesting to note that the meeting at which Shaftesbury spoke was presided over by the Lord Mayor of London and took place at the Mansion House (the Lord Mayor’s official residence). The message is a stirring reminder of why we must take the gospel outdoors, to those who would otherwise never hear it!
25th of March, 1884
It seems to me almost superfluous to make speeches on such an occasion as this, for the admirable statements in the Report which we have just heard, and the statements in the papers circulated, might well be considered sufficient to justify the course taken in calling on you for continued and considerably increased support.
I think, however, it is singularly worthy of remark that we meet in the palace of the Chief Magistrate of London, for the purpose of furthering the work of an institution which, a few years ago, was discredited to the widest possible extent.
Let me say, however, that I look upon these Open-Air Services as perfectly normal. They are certainly primitive; the very earliest preaching of the Gospel was in the open air, on the shores of the lake of Galilee by our blessed Lord Himself.
And they are unquestionably ecclesiastical. In the earliest times of the Reformation there was open-air preaching at Paul’s Cross. All the worthiest of the bishops preached there; there too, the bishop of glorious memory, Bishop Latimer, preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and hundreds heard those words of truth which went right home to their hearts, and brought forth good fruit in after days.
the very earliest preaching of the Gospel was in the open air, on the shores of the lake of Galilee by our blessed Lord Himself.
Within a stone’s throw of this very hall in which we are now assembled, on the steps of the Royal Exchange, the worthy Archbishop Tait also preached the Word of God in the open air, and never was he more truly episcopal than on that occasion.
I cannot but comment on the change which has taken place of late years in regard to this work of preaching in the open air.
I am old enough to recollect when open-air preaching was looked upon as the vilest thing imaginable—when it was as offensive to the mind of the magistrate as to the mind of the mob. It was offensive to the magistrate because, for some unaccountable reason, he considered it the precursor of sedition, and at all events as encouraging a revolutionary tendency and a dislike of the established church.
And to the mob, the sight of a street preacher, or a field preacher, gave the once dearly loved opportunity for what was called a “cock-shy”—dead cats, rotten eggs, and everything that came to hand being largely used for this purpose. What a change do we see now!
In the first place, we are met together to contradict all the past—to declare our belief in the value of open-air services, in the necessity for their maintenance and extension. And we are met in the palace seat of justice of the Chief Magistrate of this great city, he himself being in the chair, and giving us both by example and by precept the greatest encouragement to continue this good work, for the success of which we are praising God; and in the carrying on of which your Chairman, by his presence, expresses his opinion that you are entitled to what formerly you never had—you are entitled to every protection.
Hundreds of people are thus enabled to listen to the Word of God who would never hear a syllable of it in any other way. At the wayside, in all sorts of places, the good seed of the Kingdom is dropped.
Then look at the change amongst the people. Now, wherever they may be, your preachers are seldom molested. They are heard in silence and listened to with respect, in the parks, at the many gatherings, racecourses, and other places.
There is no indication of ridicule, no attempt to cause disturbance or to interrupt the preacher. If people do not want to listen, or are not attracted by what is said, they just go on. This is a very great change, and when we come to think of the results of this work, we see how great they are.
Hundreds of people are thus enabled to listen to the Word of God who would never hear a syllable of it in any other way. At the wayside, in all sorts of places, the good seed of the Kingdom is dropped. Doubtless it is oftentimes heard by unheeding ears, but in others it springs up at some future time and leads to deeper thought and further enquiry.
True, the effects of this work do not in many cases visibly come to the surface—they cannot be reduced to a tabular form and written on paper; but, as the Lord Mayor has most justly said, they must be estimated by their negative character; they must be calculated not only by what we see, but by what we may fairly believe would be the present state of society if such efforts had not been made.
Here, then, is a work of infinite magnitude and value—one of which it is not too much to say that it has a life-giving character.
We should indeed be thankful that it is being carried on in town and country, that all over England we have, in fact, a body of missionaries by which means the Word of God is preached to the forsaken and the ignorant.
No matter how distinct the object of the people may be for which they have met together from the object you have in addressing them, you go boldly forward and take good care they shall not be left without the needful word of warning. They have been gathered together indeed for other and very different purposes, but you go to seek them out in these far-off places, and there propound to them, to the blessing of many, the glad tidings of God’s salvation.
all over England we have, in fact, a body of missionaries by which means the Word of God is preached to the forsaken and the ignorant.
Thus you come into contact with varieties and degrees of men that in no other way can be reached. Your whole system is excellent; it is elastic and adapted to all the circumstances and conditions of the people, and happily its effective operation is dependent on nothing but the state of the weather.
In this country of free men, kept in order not by the main force of the police, nor by military power, but by the principle of self-control existing in the hearts of all true free men and all true Christians, it is ground of much thankfulness that we have an institution such as this—moving far and wide in all directions, stirring the consciences of those who hear them, and urging how vastly superior is internal self-restraint to that imposed by force and authority.
This movement, we may be assured, so far from being hostile to organised religious worship, tends rather to fill the churches and chapels. It is doing great service, not only to the established church, but to the various dissenting denominations, by gathering in for them many additional members from localities to which they could not possibly resort themselves.
Remember the times in which we live—how active are the enemies of religion and of order. Society in all its branches seems to be coming to a state that may be called altogether abnormal. Well then, our proceedings must be abnormal too, but not illegitimate.
Remember also that this Mission is no experiment; it is justified not only by its means but by its results—results obtained, as its friends may boast, by earnest and conscientious labour, and at a cost which, measured by the work that has been achieved, is well worthy of grateful consideration.
Let me say one thing more before I conclude.
I remember well that some time after the execution of Thistlewood and the Cato Street conspirators, the then Ordinary of Newgate came before a Committee of the House of Commons, and he gave me a most remarkable account of a conversation with one of the men concerned in that affair.
What do you think he said? One of them, just before his execution, opened his mind:
“I will make a clean breast of it, as we are going where we shall soon know the great secret. Our intentions were, as soon as we had got the upper hand, to destroy every church and chapel to be found on the surface of English soil; because we knew well that, so long as places of worship existed, the people of England would go into them, and so long as they went into them and stuck to their religious habits, we had no hope of carrying out the purpose we had in view.”
I do not anticipate such a fearful result as that the enemies of religion and order should ever become so strong in this land as to destroy all our churches and places of worship. But I affirm that, should they ever succeed in this attempt—which doubtless is still with many a wish, and with others a purpose—we have, thank God, a noble band of true and faithful men who, under the open canopy of heaven, would still proclaim the Gospel of the living God.
And in every nook and corner of our land, thousands, like-minded with yourselves, would continue to preach, in boldness and joy, the unsearchable riches of Christ.