Pastor Arrested in Ireland for Preaching Outside is a Glimpse of the Future of the American Church

It was a quiet Sunday in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. Pastor Clive Johnston, a 76-year-old retired Baptist minister, stood on a patch of grass across a dual carriageway from Causeway Hospital, leading a handful of Christians in a simple act of worship.

There were no signs, no protests, no chants—just hymns and a sermon from John 3:16, arguably the most …