Street preachers: Nuisance or blessing?

By Fr Lazar Arasu

Street preachers are becoming more and more common in Kampala roads and common places.

People often consider them as nuisance and it is a matter of fact that when people are busy going about their routine activities, these self-styled pastors and preachers are calling for repentance, conversion and be born-again.

As much peace-loving people consider them nuisance, there seems to be something admirable in the preaching mission of these men and women. 

Prominent African theologian John Mbiti wrote over 25 years ago, "African's are notoriously religious." The street preachers of today bring alive the words of the theologian.

To preach in middle of a busy street is indeed notorious. As the synonyms of notorious explain, it is dishonorable, disreputable, tarnished and disgraceful.

Though the act of preaching itself is admirable and godly, the way it is done and received is surely undesirable to say the least.

All people living in Kampala and visitors to Kampala cannot miss street preachers who stand in strategic locations such as traffic lights, road junctions and amidst Rolex-Chapati joints and other road-side kiosks where people are going about their day to day activities.

As it is a strange behaviour of people to preach in the busy streets it is equally strange for others to listen to them. Hardly anyone pays attention to them.

They have surely taken the words of the Bible seriously, ‘Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage' but they seems to have missed out the following words in the same verse, ‘with great patience and careful instruction' (2 Tim. 4:2).

Surely the impetuous street preachers "dutifully" preach the word of God irrespective of their reception.

This makes a reasonable believer to conclude that there is a weird correlation between their faith and action that lacks reasonableness and intelligent behaviour.

Common people are often right to consider their "evangelism" reckless and nuisance, even though they are doing a noble activity.

"We have to lift Jesus' name up high and glorify him," were words used by a pastor who was preaching on Star FM radio some time back in March.

The Pastor says the word of God should be spread and God's Glory spread all over. The pastor emphasised, "believers should not be afraid to preach the gospel anywhere and at any time."

He went ahead to tell his listeners that they should start by preaching to their neighbours who have not yet known Jesus Christ.

He even insisted that every opportunity should be taken to preach the word of God, be it while traveling in a taxi or right from the corner of the street.

Furthermore, according to him being nuisance to the public is not be considered as such and if a preacher is thrown out of the taxi for "making noise" he or she should take such a treatment in the spirit of martyrdom.

The radio-preacher quoted the Sermon on the Mount as his motivating scriptural passage: "You will be persecuted because of my word".

He encouraged the street preachers to continue their evangelism despite being called nuisance and mad, because they are lifting up the glory of God.

Just like the Pastor on the Star FM Radio, many preachers who preach on the roadside are not bothered about what people say about them and the way they are treated for their preaching mission.

Besides being insulted routinely and beaten occasionally, they often go hungry and thirsty. They claim to be working for a heavenly reward which is bigger than any earthly reward.

Often people believe that they are sponsored by Pentecostal Churches and other tycoon like established city pastors.

Most of them said that they are not pushed by the churches or asked by their pastors to go and preach on the streets but are doing it as a calling.

Deo Mate is a well-known street preacher strategically positioned at the traffic lights of Jinja Road junction. He has been on the street preaching for the past seven years.

In a friendly conversation with him, he is proud to confess that he is doing what God has called him to do; not just be a pastor but he insists that he should preach on the streets.

He considers himself as a man with a special mission from God, fulfilling a special call God gave him in a prophetic vision.

Deo completed Senior Six in 2002 and was unable to further his education due to economic constraints. He is a former Catholic, now a congregant of Kibuli Miracle Centre.

He confesses that before he started preaching on the streets, he used to have dreams from God telling him to commit his life to Him and he has found that this is the best way he can work for God. So he has been preaching in the street from 2007.

He is thankful to his church for the encouragement and prayers he receives, but he insists that he is not paid or remunerated in any way for his work. But he declined to reveal the economic activity through which he gets his livelihood.

Deo's typical day begins at 8:30am and he is in mission until 1.00pm. He adds that he loves what he is doing and would do it over and over again even if people have called him names or considered him mad and others who say that he has nothing to do.

He also says that he has been beaten by different people but that has not deterred him change his mind on his evangelising mission.

"I am doing this job because it is a calling and I have the zeal for preaching, I love what I am doing and even if people insult me, beat me I cannot run away from God's work I will do it with pride," Deo retorts.

He noted that in July 2013, he was strangled by unknown people and when he reported to Police, he was ignored. And he courageously says, he is not afraid of the law that can arrest him for being idle and disorderly.

He questions ‘how am I idle and disorderly when I am preaching the word of God'.

When asked how he handles the people who insult, Deo said, he prefers to ignore them and he said, "I am rewarded when people get saved." But when asked how he knows they are saved and how he verifies his results, he could not answer, but he insisted that many get saved because of his preaching.

He confidently continued, "I have seen many people getting saved through my preaching, they always come back to me and tell me that they have been touched by my preaching that, really moves me and I give the glory back to God," Deo continued.

He affirmed that he targets Catholics mainly and he also wants Anglicans and Muslims to be born-again. But when he was questioned if he tried to be a good Catholic before he "became born-again" he was baffled by the question and he cynically smiled.

He did not expect to be told "A bad Catholic cannot become a good protestant."

In a related incident, Brain Kasoma who prays at Kireka Prayer Palace has worked as a street preacher for three years now. He says that what inspired him to start street preaching is when he looks at Jesus Christ's journey that was doing the Father's will most.

Kasoma says he is sure he is doing the right thing and has no reason to be embarrassed by it, he is sure he is building the Father's kingdom on earth.

Like Deo, Kasoma's was a calling too. He says his pastor does not know that he preaches on the street and was shocked to find him preaching near the electoral commission offices.

He adds that he received a message from God when he was doing his previous job, a voice told him that, "If you were doing my job I would not be making loses."

He went ahead to say that he does not care about the money and he is not paid for preaching on the street and he quotes the Bible, "We serve a God who owns silver and gold."

Kasoma says that God has done so many things for him and he knows that he is serving a faithful God, he adds that he has a family and God has blessed him with twins and God always takes care of him.

He too has endured insults from people but he is never moved by them he adds that he always turns a deaf ear to all the names people call him.

At this juncture, a passerby remarked in a disgusted tone, "They are sick, very sick," and moved on. Juliet Namugga another passenger and a resident of Mukono says she does not know why there are many street preachers yet they can hold crusades and people can attend them, she noted that they are just there to inconvenience the travelers and many of them have nothing to do.

Meanwhile Joan Akello says there is nothing wrong with the street preachers and said she would prefer having street preachers than having pick-pockets.

Certainly, these men and women have taken the great commission of Jesus, ‘to go and preach' to the heart. But surely their choice of place and sometimes the content of their preaching need to be in a dignified way that the word of God deserves.

We can certainly say that the trend of preaching in the street is influenced by independent churches that are truly "independent" in carrying out their religious activities.

They seem to have taken their freedom an extra mile by almost imposing their ideas and beliefs on people who unsuspecting and credulous or they take people to be.

As it is said, ‘your freedom ends where my nose begins', the street preachers should not be allowed to practice their activities in the way they do. Surely it is infringing into the privacy, public safety, public order and decency.

The way the message of the gospel (as it claims to be) is presented can make the listeners feel disgusted and loathed up on. They are indeed a menace in an organised society that wishes order and respect for each other's' opinion and wellbeing.

Now we can only call on the government and its relevant authorities to put in order this pressing problem that affects our public places. We are not lacking rules and regulations.

There are rules such as ‘idle and disorderly' and ‘Public Order Bill' that are often applied on political activities only and overlook other disorderliness.

To put it in a spiritual way, if all the energy that is spent apparently for God is well directed it is indeed a worthy cause towards building the Kingdom of God, which they claim to build.

The writer is a priest and school administrator