Battle Log

Just got back from an awesome outreach in the city, but the whole week of outreach has been awesome - all four usual street outreaches ran this week: Tuesday afternoon in Riccarton with Roger; Friday afternoon in the city with Andy, Roger, and Ben; Saturday lunch time in Riccarton, and just now: Sunday afternoon in the city, with Thomas.

 

Casting my mind back to Tuesday, the highlight chat was with a group of 5 high school kids - Christchurch Boys High.  They already had a gospel tract, I guess from Roger over the street.  I saw them coming back, but Roger was already in a chat, and so they came over to me.  I smelled a set up, but I love these situations.  We got into a conversation, and the ring leader was being silly (no surprise).  I rolled with his jesting, but also answered the subtle questions he was asking.

 

As the conversation continued, his 4 friends started engaging in the conversation, which was great to see.  Eventually the ring leader realised he had lost control of the conversation - his response was to become outrageously silly, but by this stage, his friends were ignoring him, and one was even telling him to be quiet!  They all got to engage with the law and the good news of Jesus, and they all walked away with their own copy of the same gospel tract.  God is good!

 

Friday in the city.  It was great to have Ben with us.  Ben heard the gospel from a street evangelist up North, and when he moved to Christchurch last year, he encountered Andy on the street.  Well, Ben is now regularly attending our church and is even part of my home group.  He is getting baptised next week, but not only that, he is willing to come and join us on the street to share the gospel!  God is good!

 

Ben was paired with Andy, and Roger was running his flip chart, and so I went for a wander down Cashel Mall.  I had quite a few good gospel chats, but none with any real engagement from their part, and so they ended up being shorter chats.  That’s fine!  The law is still the law, and the gospel is still the gospel, they are powerful even without engagement - just maybe ploughing and sowing for a harvest later in time, by someone else.  All glory to God alone.

 

Anyway, Ben and Andy had had a string of conversations with tourists who were resistant - also not bad, still ploughing and sowing.  But, Ben joined up with me for the rest of the outreach.  We headed off down Cashel Mall, and the chat we got into was also with someone resistant!  Oh well.  It was a great chat, because his worldview was post modern: “The only thing I know is that I don't know anything”.  As soon as I said it, I pointed out his contradiction with “Do you know that?”, but in his suppression, he wasn’t willing to see it.  We sparred apologetically for a while, but then he started talking about all the things he knew, so I checked in again, “Do you really know it?”  I was able to touch on the law, and the gospel, but he wasn’t open to it.  Finally, for a third time he started talking about what he knew.  So I checked in again, “So, you know it, do you?”.  It hit home, I could tell by the way he cut his eyes at me.  It was at that point that I shook his hand, and wished him a good day.  There is no point in trying to reason with someone being unreasonable.  I think Ben was surprised that the conversation ended - I think he was enjoying it!  Yes, these discussions can be fun and interesting, but I don’t want to spend 2 hours arguing with someone who is resistant (at this time), when I could have conversations with others that are open (at this time).  God is in control.  And there is a time to move on.

 

Saturday in Riccarton, I had a number of good conversations.  I was beginning to wonder if it would be a slow outreach, when the first fish came on the line.

 

I ended up chatting with an American couple.  It turns out he was a PK, and she had recently been reading the Bible: the whole NT, and halfway through the OT (I think she said).  So there was interest there.  Yet, neither understood the gospel.  The engagement was very brittle, and as I was working to strengthen the engagement, it was broken when a group of guys interrupted.  They really wanted to talk to me.  So as the American couple moved on, I had no choice but to engage them instead.

 

But that wasn’t bad.  It was a great chat.  It turns out I had talked to one of them at the Canterbury A&P Show outreach at the end of last year.  I realised that they were Orthodox, and went to the local Orthodox church.  They had come to continue the apologetical fight.  They claimed to go to heaven because of Jesus, and not works, but then denied that with their explanations and interpretations of scripture.  I didn’t allow them to rest in their false hope.  I also ended up spending some time exposing Mark 10 (the rich young ruler).  They left holding on to their rejection of Jesus, but it was a good conversation, I hope to see them again.

 

I had other good chats too, including a long one with a young lad for Geraldine, and a short one with two young ladies - who wanted to argue about homosexuality.

 

It was great to have Thomas with me on Sunday afternoon!  He is from France and speaks French fluently.  Last Sunday, and on Friday, I spoke to people from France, and the lady from last Sunday didn’t have good English - so it’s great to have someone who can speak French.  Jordan cracked a joke before we left: “But you’ll end up encountering a German”.  Well, no French speakers today, but our last chat was with someone from GERMANY! Haha.

 

But the whole outreach was great.  The very first person I offered a tract to accepted it, and I was able to get into a good gospel conversation, an encouragement for Thomas (and an answer to prayer that Thomas would be encouraged).  And it went well from there.  Our next chat was with a young streetie.  She was open, but I had to really labour for her to see the gospel.  She had a click moment when I used the ‘sin again’ check.  And then she said something profound - I wish I could have recorded it: basically she said something like: “If Jesus does that for us, even takes our future sin, then I wouldn’t want to sin any more” - exactly!

 

By this stage, Thomas was warmed up (had shaken off the rust) and ready to get into his own chats.  Which he did (pictured).

 

We had other good opportunities as well, we even encountered some World Mission Society Church of God cultists - I had warned him they were rampant as we were walking in.

 

Anyway, I’ll leave it there.  I’m over time for this report.  But God is good in giving us so much opportunity.  May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering!

PS, I forgot to mention, in the first photo, there are 2 gospel chats happening.  But there are 2 school kids coming into the frame from the right.  Well, a few moments after I took that shot, I got into a good gospel chat with them.  God is so good!

---