Battle Log

A bit of a disrupted week for me, I had to take some time off.  But that’s all sorted now, praise God!  Back to normal schedule, now.

 

So I did less outreach this week, but I was still able to do the 2 city outreaches: Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.  Both cold days.  Sunny on Sunday, but wet on Friday.  Yet still very fruitful outreaches, glory to God.

 

Every picture in this week's report has a gospel conversation in it, even if it’s hard to spot!  Feel free to play a game of ‘where’s Andy’.

 

So, on Friday, it was overcast, cold and wet.  Not many people were out, and those that were didn’t want to be out for long.  Yet, the 2 hour outreach was productive.

 

Roger set up his flipchart near the Bridge of Remembrance.  Andy and I decided to head down to Ara.  It’s a great spot, and it didn’t disappoint on this day.

 

Andy was quickly into a chat with 4 Sikh’s from India.  It was interesting watching the dynamic of the group.  2 of them were very engaged - but 1 did most of the talking.  A 3rd was interested, and even engaged, but was easily distracted by the 4th, who didn’t want to be involved, and stepped back and away to make his disinterest clear, in spite of Andy trying to include him.  They had to get going (to catch a bus), so Andy quickly shared the gospel, as I distributed follow up tracts to all of them.

 

As they moved on, I noticed there weren’t many people around for the moment, except a guy who was sitting on a seat in the distance.  So I decided to go and talk to him.  He was open to chat, and so I sat next to him to do so.  He was Korean, and went to church, but he wasn’t sure if God was real, and so starting from there I was able to explain how we know God is real, the law and the gospel.  He seemed to appreciate the chat.  It reinforced things his pastor had been teaching him.  I guess it helps to hear it from someone else?

 

Heading back to the street, there were lots of students hanging around now.  Andy was busy, and I got into a chat with a young lady (pictured sitting in the number artwork).  Others joined and left the conversation throughout, but she was my main focus till she left (great chat), and then I was able to follow up with the others.

 

Andy and I eventually made it back to where Roger was.  I spent the last few minutes of the outreach handing out tracts.  As I left, Roger and Andy were both still in chats.

 

Sunday afternoon was sunny, but I was so glad I brought my jacket, because it was cold!  Esp. in the shade, and by the end of the outreach, the shade had almost enveloped everything.

 

Thomas & Mike were with me.  After prayer, we set up the flipchart (in the sun), and I hadn’t even finished getting ready, when we were instantly into a conversation with a guy (Belgian) and his partner (English) and their little daughter.  They lived in India (Goa) and were on holiday in New Zealand.  They were interested in the front page of the flipchart and we discussed it for a bit, before getting into a conversation about unrelated things (naturally building a rapport - it just happened that way).  He speaks French! (as does Thomas).  So it was great to have that connection.

 

Anyway, they wanted to know what the flip chart was about.  And so I was up front, we are Christians wanting to share about Jesus.  He was keen to chat.  They had an Eastern religious influence in their lives.  And so, going from there, we were able to share the law, the gospel, and move into checks.  He was very smart, and I could tell he grasped the gospel because he instantly said, “if that’s true, we can do what we want”.  I was able to address that with the fireman analogy, and then I went back to the ‘crossing the road’ analogy so he could see the contrast of the tension of how we are saved by a gift, and yet the gift will (willingly) cost us everything out of our love for the gift giver.

 

It was an amazing chat, and a great way to start the outreach.  I knew I had to give Thomas some space, and so I left him with the flip chart while I did ‘walk up’.  Thomas was soon into a chat (a difficult one), and so was I (also difficult), young guys coming to ‘have a go’, yet they were nice about it.  No problem with me, I was still able to reason with them, share the law and the gospel, even if they were subtly hostile.  The gospel is the power for salvation.

 

The outreach went quick, because we were busy.  2 other chats that stand out in my thinking were short but powerful opportunities.  A young Catholic kid who couldn’t stay long (he said, “will you be here next Sunday?”).  I was able to give him a brief law and gospel summary and a follow up tract.  And then with a young Asian lady.  She thought about what happens after life, but didn’t have any answers.  I was able to explain how we know God is real, the law, and then quickly the gospel before she also had to move on.  She took a tract.

 

We finished in prayer.  Great week!  All glory to God.  It’s about him, it’s for him.  I rest in his grace.  Please keep the team in prayer.  We appreciate your support.

 

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