Comments on: Missionary Street Meetings — How Did They Work?

By: bfwebster

bfwebster — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:56:30 +0000

I recall doing at least one street meeting in Costa Rica (this would have been in the fall of 1973). The area that Elder Allen and I were working in — Guadalupe (just east of San Jose) — had a small plaza in the town center, a bit elevated (it seems as though there were half a dozen or so steps up on each side of the plaza). We set up an easel near the top of the stairs on one side, put up a large picture of some kind (possibly of the Savior), and did our best to engage and preach people walking by.

As I recall, we did get a few people to talk with us, but had no great success. On the other hand, I found this less painful than either knocking on doors or ‘street contacting’.

That street meeting may be the reason we got to know a local American — a retired college professor who had moved to Costa Rica — who often spent his days sitting on a park bench across the street from the plaza. Elder Allen and I would stop and talk with him almost daily. He was soft-spoken and friendly, but would delight in asking us awkward questions, though in a good-natured way. He also had an encyclopedic knowledge of college football, including finding out very quickly all the scores from the previous weekend’s games. I’m still not quite sure how he did it. ..bruce..

By: Seth R.

Seth R. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:20:39 +0000

I think I would have preferred street-preaching to accosting people on the sidewalk, like missionaries currently do.

By: TrevorM

TrevorM — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:29:29 +0000

This is an awesome post. thanks Ardis.

I always wanted to do a street meeting, but we weren’t allowed to. There was a big emphasis on street contacting in my mission. It seems to me that they would be largely ineffective because they would invite contention nowadays.

In regards to carnival-like atmosphere: that is what revivalists preachers on Indian reservations do. highly charismatic, very spiritualistic meetings that use food, music and brightly colored tents to draw people. They are quite the sight.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:58:25 +0000

#3 – I agree with Ardis; that is absolutely hilarious.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:57:59 +0000

YAJ, that’s priceless! I think Edje would be entirely sympathetic to your grandfather. And Gerald, the “fascination” is what made us try it in Grenoble. Even were it legal I’m not sure it would be productive (though no less productive than tracting, perhaps), but it was worth doing once. I know we all felt like Samuel the Lamanite preaching from the city wall, or like any other scriptural missionary lifting up our voices in the midst of Babylon. There aren’t too many occasions on a mission where you actually feel like you assumed you’d feel when you imagined what a mission would be like.

By: Yet Another John

Yet Another John — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:57:01 +0000

One entry in my grandfather’s journal reads:

Rained today. Our street meeting canceled. The Lord does hear and answer prayers.

He was in Chicago at the time. 1925.

By: Gerald Smith

Gerald Smith — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:32:07 +0000

Regulations today would make it very difficult to do a street meeting today. I think the closest we could do to doing it today would be to approximate an evangelical tent meeting, where it is on private property, but in a setting that would draw people (a carnival setting?).

While I can see value in street meetings in areas where tracting is difficult, I also see the problems. It isn’t easy for a person to feel the spirit in a melee of passersby.

Better is having a booth at a local fair, where the Church can promote ideas such as emergency preparedness, family history, or families. People could gather to the booth who are interested in more information. Addresses can be gathered, and missionaries, members or family history consultants can be sent to the home, as needed.

Still, I think it would be fascinating to do a street meeting someday.

By: Edje

Edje — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:29:56 +0000

I’ve frequently heard street meetings referenced as sort of old-time religion, good-old days, “true” missionary work. The descriptions sound somewhat like the after-it-had-passed descriptions of proselytizing without purse or scrip.

I am quite relieved that my personal handcart load hasn’t included street meetings as they are very much not my style.