A city preacher, who the police banned in 2019 from displaying a banner he had worn for more than 20 years bearing the words ‘The Blood of Jesus’ at Speakers’ Corner, has celebrated 40 years of open-air preaching in Kings Square, Gloucester.
More than 30 Christians involved in open-air ministry marked the anniversary of Roland Parsons’ (pictured) open-air work with a conference on 22 July at the city’s New Inn Hotel, followed by open-air preaching in three Gloucester locations. Three people made a commitment to Jesus and were given a Bible.
A big impact
For 36 out of 40 years, Parsons – commonly known as ‘the City Preacher’ – has preached up to five days each week through summer and winter and handed out around 1million gospel leaflets.
For 36 years he also coordinated the annual Bible preachers’ entry in the Gloucester Carnival procession.
Parsons, 75, is now preaching through each verse of Revelation for the second time. He said: ‘We chat to people. We do our best with the very occasional person who decides to cause trouble. The Lord sent us to preach among millions of ordinary folk.’
Parsons preached at Speakers’ Corner once a month for 30 years.
