Battle Log

Friday, 23 August, 2019

Posted 24 August 2019, 7:49 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Thursday and Friday saw five outreaches: Eastgate bus stops (team of two), Northlands bus stops (team of two), Gospel + abortion outreach outside Christchurch Hospital (team of five), Open air preaching in Cathedral Square & flip charting near the Bridge of Remembrance (team of ten), and finally the city evening outreach (team of two).

The highlight conversation at the bus stops was with a Muslim high school student who accepted a tract as she walked past and then became engaged in a discussion.  The fulcrum of the debate was around how God can be both just and merciful.  It was a passionate conversation.  In the end she had to go, but she didn’t want to let the debate drop, and wanted to connect on social media so the conversation could continue.  I ended up giving her my phone, and she emailed herself from it so she could reply at a later time.  She couldn’t shake my hand, as they don’t do that in their culture (I’m slowly learning!) - but we parted on good terms.

I turned around and noticed another high school student (from a Catholic school) and offered him a tract, which he refused.  I said, “I’ve just had a great chat with a Muslim, I’d love to talk to a Catholic now!”  He smiled, and then he said something that really surprised me, he said, “I really appreciate the way you go about what you do.”  He had obviously been taking notice of the conversation I had just been having!  I thanked him, and admitted that it can sometimes be hard to maintain gentleness and respect when you are sharing a message that people don’t want to hear - but that it is vital to do so.  I then offered him a tract again, and said, “are you sure you don’t want one?”  He then said, “no, I already have two, I’ve picked them up around here - I like to talk about them with my RE teacher”.  He then shocked me by asking if he could have my phone too, so he could email himself and get back to me!  I was honoured to allow him to do so.  How incredibly encouraging!

These conversations occurred on Thursday afternoon.  As of now (Saturday morning), I’ve not heard from either of them yet - but I hope I do.

During the Gospel + abortion outreach we had a man in a wheelchair stop to talk with us and express his support.  I quickly took the opportunity to swing the conversation to a Gospel one.  They guy through he was a good person, so I took him through the law (the ten commandments) to allow him to test himself.  I was then able to share the good news of the Gospel: Jesus.  As soon as I’d finished, he said, “look at the time, I’ve got to get going”.  I have no choice but to leave him in God’s hands after our very brief conversation.

The preaching in Cathedral Square was fascinating.  The musician who plays loud music hadn’t arrived yet, and so we had a great opportunity to proclaim the Gospel in the open air without that distraction.  Marty preached the Gospel, then I preached the Gospel, Marty again, and then to our surprise, the Wizard decided he would speak.  After that, Ari, another wizard spoke as well.  And then Andy got up to respond to Ari and proclaim the Gospel (pictured).  By this stage, there were a fair few people hanging around to listen and engage.  Tracts were distributed, and many spin off Gospel conversations occurred as well.  It was a wonderful time of ministry.

Later in the afternoon, construction noise caused us to move from our usual flip charting spot on the corner of Colombo and Cashel, down to the Bridge of Remembrance.  There I had two tiring Gospel conversations with people whose native language was not English.  As I finished the first conversation, I moved straight into the second one because the guy was waiting to talk with me!  He had received a tract from someone else on the team and wanted to discuss.  He was from China, and he did want to practice his English, but was also very interested in the Bible.  After working through the law and the Gospel with him, he said that this was the second time someone had explained it to him, the first time he 50% understood, he said he now 80% understood, and wanted to learn more.  By this stage, Andy had joined the discussion, and he took over to try to get him to fully understand that we are justified by faith in Jesus (and not by works) and that he needed to do that (trust Jesus) today.  Our new friend wants to learn more, and accepted a Bible, and an invite to come to church on Sunday (he lives close by, and received a card with directions - pictured).

I was very tired by the time the evening outreach started, and thankfully Daniel ended up fielding most of the Gospel conversations on this outreach.  I was saying to Daniel that it can seem like there aren't many people around and that it will feel like it may be hard to start a conversation, but if we are patient, often wonderful conversations do occur.  Sure enough, about ten minutes later, someone stopped and started talking with Daniel, and then five minutes later, a second guy stopped and joined in as well!  Daniel spent about thirty minutes with both of them, where he was able to clearly share the Gospel! (pictured)