Battle Log
Friday 31 December 2021
Posted 31 December 2021, 11:02 PM by Doug Espie. Permalink
The last half of 2021 certainly has been memorable here in Toowoomba. We’ve engaged in a number of big events and we’ve had some good discussions with people on the street.
Two members of our team met an atheist during one outreach. This man was very quite set in his ways and quite hostile to the existence of God or the Gospel. We did our best to respectfully listen and gently challenge some of his underlying assumptions but he was adamant about the truth of his position. It’s always difficult to know whether such an attitude is just a “public front” or whether someone is genuinely set in their ways and further conversation is futile.
This time around we spent a fair bit of time talking with him and eventually chose to wrap up the conversation. We hope to meet him again someday and have a deeper discussion about the things that really matter in life.
Another conversation we had was with an older gentleman who goes to a local liberal/progressive church. By liberal/progressive I mean a church that denies some significant aspects of the Christian faith in favour of more “modern” understandings that directly and self-consciously deny the Bible’s truthfulness on particular issues.
We spoke with him at length and the man was open to discussing some of the important differences between Biblical/Apostolic Christianity and modern liberal/progressive groups. It was a blessing to speak with him and to have someone so open to hearing alternative opinions. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to speak to his heart long after our conversation. We also pray
that this bloke will find a Church that is grounded in God’s Word and that will lovingly embrace this man in his spiritual journey.
The final conversation (that I have space to share) was with a young guy who was really struggling with life. One of our team members found him sitting by himself and spent a significant amount of time chatting with him. The young guy really appreciated the talk and afterwards said he would like to learn about the Bible more. He exchanged numbers with us and we wished him well. Since that time we’ve tried to get in contact with him but to no avail.
This may seem disheartening at first, but those of us who have been involved in this ministry long enough know that our work is to care for every person we meet. If we were able to provide a listening ear that helped “take the edge off” the difficult situation the young man was facing..even just for a few minutes..it is worth it. We hope and pray that things work out for this young guy and that one day we will hear the story of how Jesus transformed his life for the better.
On another note, this semester was also our busiest time of the year with the Carnival of Flowers, Gospel of Luke Distribution and Christmas Lights Outreach.
The Carnival of Flowers was absolutely huge. It was possibly the biggest Carnival of Flowers we’ve ever experienced and there were people literally everywhere. After lockdowns and the challenges of 2021, every man and his dog decided to come to the Carnival of Flowers this year. I’ve attached some photos to this report and needless to say, we were able to give out a lot of Gospel tracts!
Our second major outreach was the Toowoomba Christmas Wonderlands show in Queens Park. This beautiful event attracts people from all over the region and we were able to hand out 1600 Christmas Gospel tracts over two nights. We’re extremely thankful for the chance to share the good news of Jesus at this very topical time of year!
The final big event we engaged in was the Gospel of Luke distribution efforts across Australia. The Australian Christian Lobby fund-raised and then supplied half a million copies of Luke’s Gospel to be shared across the nation at the end of 2021. Our team spread our efforts between conventional street evangelism and distributing Luke’s Gospel to homes across a number of suburbs in North Toowoomba. We had a number of outside helpers as well which made a significant difference.
All in all, it has been a big year. God has been good, His news of hope and freedom has gone forth and we pray for a mighty work of God in our community in 2022!
View previous Toowoomba (QLD) report (8 July 2021)
Toowoomba Team (QLD)
Meets the 3rd Saturday of each month at 10am at the corner of Ruthven and Little Street (Art Gallery Park).
The team also meets on the 1st Tuesday night of each month for prayer at various locations.
Contact Doug Espie for more information.