Battle Log

Friday, 26 February, 2021

Posted 27 February 2021, 9:28 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

As I write this, I’m sitting in Christchurch airport.  It’s been a while since I’ve been in an airport I’m glad to say!  And yet, I am looking forward to an evangelism change of scenery.  I’m honoured to be involved in three weeks of mission across NZ.  The first week will be in Auckland & Whangarei at the top of the North Island of NZ.  Please keep the mission in your prayer - as always, I’ll be writing regular reports.  Believe it or not, there are still international flights leaving Christchurch (pictured).

Anyway, this report covers Thursday and Friday.

The forecast for Thursday wasn’t good, and so I ended up spending the whole day online.  So many gospel conversations!  I talked to a Palistinian, and also a guy in Tunisia - I’ve now talked to people all across North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt.  I thank God for all these gospel opportunities!

On Friday morning I was also online, and then I headed into Cathedral Square.  It was very overcast, and there was some rain in the air.  Sadly, there weren’t many people there.  Other Christians started arriving: Mike, Andy, Marty, Roy, a Christian guy who had listened to Andy preach the week prior.  Only Marty ended up preaching, the rest of us got into one to one conversations with the few that were around.  Yet, in spite of the lack of people, I had some good gospel interactions.

I approached two late teen guys walking past the Cathedral, they were happy to stop and talk about the deepest question of life: what happens after?  They heard the law and the gospel in an easy going conversation and were happy to take tracts as they left.

Next up a guy walked past, and I said “hello” as I offered him a tract.  Suddenly I realised who it was.  It was the guy I had to call the Police about at Eastgate (a long time ago now).  I instantly closed my mouth to avoid provoking him further - he remembered me and instantly the finger pointing and abuse began.  I started walking towards some of the other Christians - safety in numbers - he kept hurling abuse as I walked.  My tactic worked, he decided to keep walking, but not before stopping, pointing, and yelling at me (with horrible language) about not being respectful of other religions (or something like that).  Marty pointed out the irony of his deep disrespect of me.

I went back to my spot and was soon into another conversation.  This time it was with a guy who had an openness to Christianity and yet was confused on what it meant to be a Christian.  So we went through the law and gospel.  His response was a blankness and doubt.  He wanted to talk, so I listened.  Soon he started touching on conspiracy theories, he wasn’t happy at how Christianity had been “corrupted”.  I gently probed, and then slowly his anti-semitism started leaking out! :o I asked him directly if he hated Jews.  He looked at me as though he had been caught in a sin, but he didn’t repent, he doubled down.  The conversation ended soon after, with him rambling.  I felt sad that I wasn’t able to reach him (through his confusion) with the clarity of the truth.

We headed to the hospital to bring the gospel to the issue of abortion.  As I was getting to the hospital, I started feeling nauseous.  I don’t think it was from nerves - I just needed to eat food.  So before joining the outreach, I sat down to eat my sandwiches.  Feeling better I joined the team.  There were seven of us today.  And it was a wonderful outreach!  Fairly peaceful initially, but then I noticed a girl walking back and forth - I could tell she was recording us while she was also talking to someone on her phone.  She left, but soon after a counter protester turned up, and then two others joined her.  The counter protester was the same girl who had created a big scene about a month prior.

Well, thankfully, this time she was much more controlled.  She wanted to talk, and I agreed - as long as the conversation stayed peaceful.  I had a long conversation with the three of them.  It was tiring, as I worked through all their arguments and kept coming back to: “how do we know what is right and wrong?”  Eventually one of her friends asked: “So, how do you know what is right and wrong?”  “Great question!” I exclaimed and moved the conversation to how we know God exists, and why God is the basis for right and wrong.  I never really got to share the gospel, but I was able to touch on it a few times - one of the two key reasons we are there is to bring the hope of forgiveness of sin, and the complete removal of guilt because of Jesus.

They finally tired of talking to me, and so they moved down the line and ended up having a chat with Jess.  After that, they decided to move to another group protesting abortion across the road.  We had a time of peace before they came back again and sat on the wall across from us talking among themselves.

Soon, more of their friends started arriving.  They came over to me to engage in discussion - first with a couple of guys, and then with another couple of guys.  The second set of guys were very open to discuss “how we know what is right and wrong” - the beginnings of a gospel conversation.  Yet another guy approached me and wanted to give me a piece of his mind, but I told him I already have my hands full talking with others, would he mind going down and talking to Andy.  He didn’t want that, he wanted to talk to us all, but the original guy I was talking to wanted to continue the conversation and so the interrupter had no choice but to talk to Andy.

Suddenly, one of the original counter protesters two friends grabbed the signs Marty was holding and ran off!  He found a rubbish bin and started to try to stuff the signs in it.  I was following him, and when he saw me coming, he took off with the signs again.  I smiled, and calmly followed.  He went round a corner, and when I turned it too, I saw him running out of an alleyway.  I retrieved the signs and started heading back.  I saw the original counter protester, and she said she had nothing to do with the taking of the signs, I was pleased to know her conscience was working.  Just then, the two guys I had been talking to came past, I stopped them and offered them tracts: “Life is Precious”, and “Jesus shows us God”.  They were happy to take them.

The outreach wrapped up with prayer - glory to God, we had many opportunities to engage with multiple people about the gospel and abortion!  I was buzzing.  As I left, Andy was still in a conversation with the guy I had passed to him earlier.

Oh Lord, have mercy!