The Need for Public Pastors - Keith Ginn

“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:5)

-How many of us know the words of 2 Tim 4:2 by heart, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” We wouldn’t dream of calling ourselves ministers of the gospel if we were not ready to preach the word! But how many of us, for one reason or another, ignore Paul’s charge to young Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist?” 

Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:23)

“Therefore he reason in the synagogue with the Jews and with the worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.” (Acts 17:17)

“We ought actually to go into the streets and lanes and highways, for there are lurkers in the hedges, tramps on the highways, street-walkers and lane-haunters, whom we shall never reach unless we pursue them into their own domains. Sportsmen must not stop at home and wait for the birds to come and be shot at, neither must fishermen throw their nets inside their boats and hope to take many fish. Traders go to the markets; they follow their customers and go out after business if it will not come to them; and so must we.” -Charles Spurgeon, ‘Open-Air Preaching’

I hear many people claim that we are currently living in a secular age, an age that has moved past the practice of public religion, in which spiritual life has been relegated to the souls of men. Maybe, within the walls of a church building, religion is practiced, but it must stop short of the door. It certainly is not allowed in public; you might offend somebody! Yet, we have simultaneously seen numerous public expressions of religion, with no concern for the feelings of those impacted: Antifa riots; destruction of private property; public shaming, and even excommunication, of those who go against the accepted cultural orthodoxy. Apparently the prohibition against bring faith into the public sphere only applies to Christians, not to the communists! 

In the face of these realities, I think more than ever we need the reminder that Spurgeon gave in his day; a renewed call to the public ministry of the gospel.