Battle Log

Yeah, a really action packed week of street and online outreach.  Just focusing on the street work, I don’t think I’ll be able to articulate it all to you in the hour I have to write this, but I’ll do my best! :)

So, I was able to make it to all four regular street outreaches this week.  Roger couldn’t make it on Tuesday, so I was on my own at Riccarton.  Andy, Roger, John and I were in the city on Friday.  I was on my own again on Saturday lunchtime in Riccarton, and there was a good team in the city on Sunday afternoon - a total of 6.

So, starting in Riccarton on Tuesday.  It was a dreary day.  Not raining, but it had been, and it was cold and grey.  The outreach started slow, and I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed home and worked online, when a school kid turned up.

It was so funny, because he came to me out of pity!  He was so nice, a Christian who saw me standing on the corner of the street with my flipchart in the cold, and he decided he was going to hop off his bus and come to pray for me!  I let him do that, and then we had a brief chat where, of course, I checked his understanding of the gospel.  His initial answer wasn’t clear, and so I started to ask questions when he suddenly said, “It’s not because of my works, but because Jesus died on the cross for me”.  Good answer!  :)  We continued to chat for a bit before he had to head off and catch the next bus.  He left with a tract and a challenge to join me in sharing the good news of Jesus.

Not long after he left, I had 5 Christchurch Boys High School guys stop to chat.  The conversation was going well, where I was working on getting them engaged on the important topic of what happens after life, when suddenly a lady stopped and interjected herself into the conversation.  The things she was saying were abrupt, and everyone became uncomfortable.  Amazingly, the kids hung around for a bit.  But eventually they left.  I think the lady was happy, because she wanted to talk with me.  Sadly she was drunk.  She called herself a satanist.  She talked about her life, and all the terrible things she had done.  And then, amazingly, she declared how good of a person she was!  She wasn’t in a stable state of mind, and so I had to be very careful in how I said what needed to be said.  But I was faithful in explaining how she is not good, and how she deserves hell.  At this point she started talking about how she had just stolen things from Riccarton Mall!  She even showed me these items.  I told her she needed to take them back.  She refused, and then continued to talk about how unfair life is, and how all her problems were the fault of others.  So sad.  Thankfully the long chat came to an end.  I touched on the gospel, but she really wasn’t read for it.  So I gave her two types of gospel tract.  I was surprised when she accepted them, and tucked them into her bag.  God willing, she will eventually read them, when in a better state of mind.  She left.  But she came back at least 2 more times.  The first time it was to try to give me the things she had stolen - maybe out of conviction?  And the 2nd time, she interrupted another conversation I had started with an elderly lady who didn’t believe in God.

It was dark by the time the outreach finished, but I had other good opportunities, including a quick conversation with a couple of guys waiting for a taxi to take them to the airport.  They left with tracts

Friday’s outreach was very busy.  I was first there, and so I handed out some tracts and was even able to get into a good gospel conversation before the outreach proper even started!  After prayer, I decided to go off on my own for some walk up evangelism.  Starting at the bridge of remembrance, where I had a chat with a guy sitting in the sun, I moved down to Colombo Street, where I had a chat with a christian girl who was between churches and struggling with the issue of homosexuality.  Sadly, she basically said it wasn’t wrong, and after discussing it for a while, she wanted to move on.

I headed towards Cathedral Square.  And ended up bumping into one of my regulars.  Sadly, still pointing to their good deeds as the reason they are going to heaven.  I spent about 20 minutes labouring with him.  He was open and friendly, and wanted to talk, but it felt like what I was saying was falling on deaf ears :(

I made it to the Square and was able to have some more follow up with three streeties.  One of them is fairly new.  She thinks she is going to heaven because she has said sorry and asked for forgiveness.  She thought she was a good person, in spite of the can of booze in her hand.  I explained why I deserve hell, and it shocked her.  I was able to explain why asking for forgiveness can’t remove her punishment.  She engaged for a few minutes, but sadly the other 2 guys distracted her and she quickly switched off again. :(

I completed the loop and made it back to the bridge of remembrance, handing out tracts as I went.  Back at the bridge, I could see the rest of the team were all busy in conversations.  So encouraging!  And I was able to have 2 more solid conversations there as well.  The first was with a deep thinking young man who loosely called himself Bhuddist.  And the 2nd was with two young high school aged guys, who think about what happens after life all the time.

No real down time in that outreach - which was great!  But, annoyingly, I lost one of my gloves! :(  Oh well.

Wow, I’ve still gotta write about Saturday and Sunday’s outreaches, which were really busy, but I’m running out of time!  And I don’t want to bore you (does anyone actually read these?  Are they helpful?  Let me know, because I could just use this hour in more evangelism! ;) Haha ).

So Saturday, I was on my own, nice Sunny day.  Started out a bit slow, but then I got into a great chat with a young couple.  They heard the gospel, and then I started working through the guy's questions. He had grown up in a Christian environment, but had rejected it.  Suddenly, another guy joined the conversation, and ended up killing the chat :(  The couple left and I was left with him.  I vaguely recognised him, I’m pretty sure I’ve talked to him multiple times before (but quite a long time ago).  I was friendly, but he responded oddly.  He then became subtly passive aggressive.  He would ask unanswerable questions, and when I tried to answer, he would basically say I got it wrong and start again.  Frustrating!  He started to twist my words, and accuse me of being insensitive to his culture by the pictures on the flipchart.  I’d had enough, and I politely said it was time for the conversation to end.  I politely asked him to leave me alone and not touch my flipchart.  He wouldn’t leave.  I was really uncomfortable.  He sat across from me, the aim was to stop me from talking to others.  I said I was going to start filming him, and I did - it didn’t phase him.  Finally I said I was going to call the police.  He said, “go ahead”.  So I did.  I tried 105 (non emergency) first, but I couldn’t navigate the menu, so I had to call 111.  Finally, the guy left, just as I started talking to the Police!  The guy I talked to was really good!  He took details, and after a 10 minute call, I was able to get back to work sharing the gospel! :)  I was able to distribute tracts and had a great chat to end the outreach.

I’ve got 5 mins left and I still need to sort pics and post!  Sunday was amazing!  Chat after chat.  The highlight was a chat with a young guy (Catholic background) who was very engaged and stayed in spite of multiple interruptions.  He came to understand the gospel, and then was able to open up about being gay.  I was able to labour with him that their was hope for heaven for him, but that the reality was his life would change - he wouldn’t be able to practice homosexuality.  Even though we sin, we can be forgiven as a gift.  We parted on good terms and a good handshake.  He left with a tract.

I could write more, but I think this is the longest report I’ve ever written.  Today, in church, we read Matthew 9.  The last 2 verses say this:

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 
- Mt 9:37–38

This is so true!  Come and join us out in the harvest!
 

---