Battle Log

Raining hard all Sunday.  I decided to do online outreach instead!  But all 3 of the other outreaches for the week went ahead.

 

Some comments on the photos.  The irony of Andy and Craig evangelising a JW, while in the background, the JW’s are ‘evangelising’.  Also, in the background of that photo, you can see Roger and Lani talking to someone via the flip chart, and then in the picture of Roger and Lani, you can see Andy and Craig in the background.  I enjoyed the symmetry of that!

 

On Tuesday afternoon, in Riccarton, I decided not to bring my flip chart.  Instead, I intended to do outreach at the bus stops, while Roger used his flip chart on his usual corner.

 

As I turned up, there was a young man sitting in the seats.  I was able to get a conversation going.  It was a great chat.  He smiled multiple times as he grasped the concepts I was explaining.  I managed to get through many of my check questions before he moved on.  He came across as someone without purpose, not knowing what to do with his life.  May the gospel give him ultimate purpose.  He is in God’s hands.

 

It felt a bit awkward doing bus stop outreach again - you have to be direct, and you get many rejections.  But it’s such a fruitful opportunity, being a confluence of people.  I had some surprising opportunities - people you wouldn’t think would be interested in a chat, were.  Soil was ploughed, and seed scattered.

 

As I did my circuit, I would check in with Roger.  He seemed to be busy, in fact, he had a couple from China on the line, and they were very animated as Roger took them through the flip chart (pictured).

 

Later, I talked to a young Christian lad, also with Chinese descent.  He gave me 5 minutes, which was nice of him!  It turns out he wasn’t clear in his understanding of the gospel - subtly trusting his works.  I was able to point this out within those 5 minutes.

 

I noticed there was a guy floating behind me as I was talking to the lad.  So, as the lad moved on, I decided to delicately engage him (I could tell he was interested, but something was causing him to hang back).  I wasn’t direct, instead, starting with light conversation.  To my surprise he said I’d talked to him before, a month or so ago, in the city.  I don’t remember him.  He wasn’t interested in the gospel then, and he wasn’t interested now.  And yet, I sensed there was an interest there, something was under his skin?  Anyway, his wife turned up and they moved on.  He refused a tract.  I was encouraged.  Our feeble efforts for God’s glory are effective in God’s strength.  We cast the seed to the wind, and it finds purchase.  We plant, and have no idea how it grows - but it does.  Don’t give up!

 

We had a little evangelism revival on Friday in the city.  2 members of our church joined the usual team.  I wonder if the wonderful preaching from last Sunday was an encouragement?  So a team of 5: Roger, Andy, Lani, Craig and myself.

 

Nice weather, and lots of people about.  I was initially paired with Craig.  We were quickly into a conversation with a young couple (of whom both were in different places: he was closed, she was half open).  It was an apologetics heavy conversation, friendly, with many questions both ways - good engagement.  She accepted a tract at the end.

 

By this stage, Lani had arrived, and Andy was free from his chat.  So Craig went with Andy, while Lani paired with me.

 

Lani later went and joined Roger on his flip chart.

 

Everyone seemed busy.  My highlight chat was with a Fijian lady.  A very religious background, claiming the Bible as the ultimate authority.  And yet, she didn’t have a grasp of the gospel.  It was a fairly long chat, where I laboured with her on this point.

 

Interestingly, she had talked to some World Mission Society of God cult evangelists the previous day in Riccarton, and she was going to go along to their meeting on Saturday.  God providentially placed me on her path on Friday to warn her.

 

A highlight from the conversation was when I asked her, after much gospel labour, “so, if you died today and God asked, ‘why should I let you into heaven’, what would you say?”.  She thought and started her response with “Because I have done…”  I instantly stopped her, “now, think on what you’ve just said, do we go to heaven because of what we have done?”.  Her response was, “ohhhh”.  It was a powerful moment in the conversation.

 

She really appreciated the chat.  She recognised that it was no coincidence that we talked.

 

Saturday was slow.  I spent an hour, handing out a few tracts, and not getting any conversations.  Yet, right at the end of the hour, I was able to get into a conversation with two young teen guys.  They heard the gospel before they moved on.  I was encouraged.  The effort is always worth it.  Even if no one stops, God is still glorified in our obedience in going.  It’s about him, and it’s for him.  Don’t give up in this hard, but joyful labour of sharing the gospel of Jesus!

 

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