Battle Log
Sunday 9 June 2019
Posted 9 June 2019, 6:35 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
A fascinating weekend.
It was a cold and dreary Saturday morning. I wasn’t expecting many people to be about - and I was right. But the team of two set up in Cathedral Square any way. We cast out our nets and prayed for fish.
We had to be patient, but to my joy, the fish came! The outreach was even slightly extended in time, as I finished up the final conversation at the end.
The other team member is fairly new to regular outreach (although we have known him for a while). He has now bought his own tracts and is stepping out to share them with people. It is so wonderful and encouraging to see him so politely reaching out to people as he can. Be encouraged reader - you can do this too. :)
The funniest thing happened as I was doing some letterbox dropping afterwards. It was cold with a nasty wind, so I was rugged up with sneakers, jeans, a jacket, scarf, gloves and a beanie (all dark in colour). But the sun was out also, so I had sunnies on too. I walked into a drive to drop tracts into a few boxes, and I noticed a car backing away from me. I moved on, but I heard the car stop, rev it’s engine, and come down to the end of the drive. I turned back, and the man in the car was staring at me. I thought that was odd - I wondered if he wanted a Gospel tract, so I held one up. He just stared at me. So I walked over to him. He wound down his window and asked what it was. As I was explaining, he took one. Then he said, “oh, I thought you were a burglar”. :D Inwardly I was laughing! I’ve taken a mental note to be careful how I dress through this winter of outreach! ;)
Sunday morning saw our regular church meeting where we had some special encouragement. We had two seperate sets of Christian’s turn up who had heard about what we had been up to on the streets.
One man I’ve never seen before came to give us encouragement and advice in how to outreach to a particular cultural/religious group. He gave us some resources in relation to that. He couldn’t stay, I assume he had to get to his own local church gathering. But I was so encouraged that people are noticing what we are doing - as small and insignificant as we are. I, afresh, feel a responsibility to continue to represent Christ well.
Another couple joined us for our meeting, and it turns out they have been heavily involved with Gospel + abortion outreach in Christchurch for many years. They had heard about us through a friend. Word is getting out. Our efforts are reaching people. All glory to God. We pray that God will continue to use us to see souls & lives saved in the fight against abortion in our city.
After church, a team of four headed to Cashel Mall. And it was a busy time of outreach, with many people about in the crisp, but sunny weather.
I set up my flip chart, looked up, and a guy came up wanting to know what it was about. It turns out he was a Christian handing out million dollar tracts! He seemed so encouraged to see other Christians out sharing the Gospel. We had a good talk, and exchanged contact details. He stayed with the team for the rest of the outreach.
To end the outreach, we headed to Speaker’s corner in Cathedral Square. Andy & I decided to open air preach as a tag team. I covered the bad news, and Andy did the good news.
And the Lord blessed us with a hecker. A really good heckler. As we interacted, a few people started to gather to listen. It was incredibly encouraging for a novice like me.
As Andy preached the good news, a guy mockingly (yet light heartedly) circled him on his scooter (pictured), while his mates videoed it on their phones. No problem with us, as they are hearing the vital message of the Gospel!
After Andy had finished, Greg was so encouraged, he decided to get up and preach as well, and had some wonderful opportunities to interact with people (pictured).
So, a very very encouraging weekend of outreach. If we are patient, and faithful - God will use us for His glory. Do something!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (7 June 2019)
Christchurch (NZ) Team
Weekly outreaches:
Tue 3:30pm - 5:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Fri 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (Bridge of Remembrance)
Sat 11am - 1pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St).
Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.