Battle Log

The Christchurch (NZ) team have been doing online evangelism for two weeks now - due to Coronavirus lock down.  We have all learnt a lot!  And we are ready to take the next step: leading teams in online evangelism.

But first, I’ll talk about the weekend outreaches.

On Saturday, Andy was able to overcome some tech issues, and was able to jump onto Omegle and start sharing the gospel via video chat!  Roger was also able to join a team meeting via Zoom and learn the ropes.  So great to see the team getting up to speed again - albeit in a new environment.

For me, I had my first hard patch of online evangelism.  Lots of rejection, and tough conversations - mainly via text chat.  It’s just the same as on the streets - you have good days, and not so good ones.  But no matter the result: the command to go and spread the good news has been obeyed.  God has been glorified.

On Sunday, I held off the afternoon outreach so it could coincide with the team in Aussie.  We started with joining together in a Jitsi meeting (similar to Zoom).  We prayed together, and then we did something different, we paired up into our own Jitsi meetings.

One of the pairs would share their screen and audio with the other, and then start an Omegle video chat.  The other person would mute their audio and would be able to observe the action.  It is a fantastic way to learn how to share the gospel with strangers.  After the Omegle conversation, a discussion between the pair could occur to evaluate the experience.  Then repeat.

The technology is making it so easy: a) to find people to talk to about the gospel, and b) learn how to share the gospel.  It really is lowering the bar of entry to get involved with sharing the message of hope: Jesus.

Yes, I can’t wait to get back to the local mission field of Christchurch.  But until then, it is so wonderful that people can still be reached!

I was paired up with Martin.  Like Saturday (for me), we started out having a run of conversations where the person on the other end would suddenly bail after a good start.  One example that stands out in my mind was with a pair of ladies living in Moscow, Russia.

But then the conversations started getting better and better, and we were able to share the gospel a number of times in the two hour outreach.

I remember one young Christian teen clearly heard the gospel and was thankful.

But the highlight was a conversation with a young lady who was cutting her hair!  She believed in heaven and hell, and when I asked her which she would be going to, she said: “probably hell, cos I’m gay”.  I didn’t let that distract me, and proceeded to share the law showing why we all deserve hell, and then the amazing hope of the gospel - even for homosexuals.  Yes, I clarified that homosexuality was a sin, but if we accept the gift of forgiveness by faith, God will not leave us as we are by granting us the gift of repentance.  We stayed on good terms throughout the discussion.  I leave her in God’s hands - may she be saved!

We finished the outreach by joining together again, via Jitsi, for debrief and prayer.

So, from now (well, Tuesday), the Christchurch (NZ) team will be restarting team outreaches - but you can join us from anywhere in the world!  No experience required, observation welcome!  And we will work with the Aussie teams as well, when outreaches coincide.  I will be encouraging you to join me, via the usual channels! :)  God bless!
 

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