Battle Log
Friday, 12 July, 2019
Posted 13 July 2019, 7:28 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink
Thursday and Friday were exciting and busy days of outreach for the Christchurch (NZ) team. I ended up taking 84 photos, only five of which have made it into this report - many good ones are on the cutting room floor.
Thursday saw an afternoon of outreach to the bus stops in Linwood (outside Eastgate Mall), and Papanui (outside Northlands Mall). We switched the times of when we go to each mall to try to minimise encountering the same people all the time - and it worked.
A highlight conversation for me at Eastgate was with two teen girls, there seemed to be genuine shock in understanding the serious nature of sin in light of the holiness of God’s law written on our hearts; and then genuine appreciation of the amazing grace found in the Gospel.
Another conversation, although sad, was with three young teens - one of whom said she had talked to me before (but I don’t remember it). These teens had been through some trials in life, including one who had been raped, and two of whom had attempted suicide. I was gently peppered with difficult questions that related to suffering. I did my best to answer them biblically, and to show my genuine care for them. It was a good conversation. After initially refusing Gospel tracts, as I was leaving they all took one. One of them I saw again on Friday in the city. I hope I will have further opportunities to continue the Gospel conversation with all of them.
My whole time at Northlands was spent in one conversation with a passionate Muslim girl. Andy ended up getting involved as well (pictured). She was so passionate, that she wanted me to watch a YouTube video with her that shows why Islam is right and Christianity is wrong! In the end, I agreed to watch a short one on my phone, while she watched one with James White explaining the Gospel for Muslims. The key issue she didn’t have an answer for was how God can justly forgive. She accepted a “Which One in Right?” tract.
The first of three outreaches on Friday was the Gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital. Encouraging having a team of seven, including a newbie (my mum!). This freed up three of the team to be able to have “walk up” conversations with people and hand out “Life is Precious” tracts. One conversation Andy had went for a long time (pictured).
A team of six were in Cathedral Square and Cashel Mall in the afternoon for the second outreach of the day. Due to the school holidays, there were many people out and about, and many of those people were open to a Gospel conversation.
One of our hecklers (pictured sitting down next to Roger’s flip chart) came and decided to interject himself into some of the conversations we were having. It became very difficult at one stage, with Roger trying to share the Gospel with a group of teens, while the mother was resistant and engaging me, while our heckler was trying to contradict everything Roger said. We did our best!
One of the team ended up getting into a long conversation with the heckler, freeing up the rest of the team to have Gospel conversation after conversation. Praise God!
The last outreach was in the evening with a team of two. The weather was mild, in spite of it being the middle of winter, and plenty of people were still out in Cathedral Square leading to some wonderful conversations (one pictured).
