Battle Log
Sunday 10 September 2023
Posted 10 September 2023, 4:27 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
Another wonderful week of gospel outreach. I’ve just got back from Sunday afternoon’s street outreach in the city. So I’ll start from there and work back in time.
So, today’s outreach was busy. And we had a small evangelism revival with a team of 5 out! Andy, Mike, Susan, Binu and myself. So I praise God for that to start with.
So yeah, many chats are tough. Most people ignore you. Or if they engage, they are resistant in various ways. But when you are prayerful, patient, polite and persistent (hey, Jason, look I got 4 P’s!) then you will get into amazing gospel chats. (Jason is one of my pastors - hey, pastor starts with P too! Haha).
And so, my last chat of the week was one of those. Binu had handed a tract to a Muslim lady, and her daughter (they were wearing head coverings and she later confirmed that she was a Muslim). When they came past me, I said, “Hey, that comes with a question if you have a moment”. To my surprise she came over and was keen to chat (Susan was with me). And so, I started by finding out where she was at. She thought there was a heaven, but no hell. And so, going from there, I was able to gently work them through how we know there must be hell, the bad news of the law, and then into the good news. I was expecting her to buck when I explained about Jesus - but she didn’t, she was very interested. At this point, Susan pulled out a gospel of John with the fireball pictures on the cover. We used that to go over the gospel again. We offered it to her to keep, and she said she would read it. It was an amazing chat! We exchanged names, and found out about where they came from. I could tell she had many questions, but now wasn’t a time to start addressing them. But I invited them to my church (I gave them a contact card with my details), and I explained that she would be welcome to listen and ask as many questions as she liked. As they left, I turned to Susan, and we prayed for them. I felt so honoured to be able to share the wonderful news of Jesus with them. God is so good!
I had two other great chats. Both of them were with groups of teenage girls. Sadly I was reminded that it was spring (it was a lovely warm day), because these girls were really not dressed appropriately. As I spoke to them, I had to keep my head up and my eyes fixed on their faces.
One of the girls was an atheist, “because my Dad died”. It turns out he died in the Canterbury earthquakes, in a building that collapsed next door to the building I was in! I was able to identify with her in that I’ve lost my Dad too. And so going from there, the conversation was able to progress. She was suspicious of me, and asked if I was paid to do what I do - which I am. And so I was able to honestly address that. Slowly she started to open up, I guess she could understand that my motives were right or something? She came to understand that just because there is evil and suffering, that it still makes sense that God is real. And then I was able to explain why we can have hope for eternal life. She also accepted a gospel of John, as did one of her friends. As they left, I prayed for them also.
The other chat was with 2 girls holding hands. So I wondered, and yet that issue never came up. It was a fairly textbook gospel chat. They came to understand the gospel after a couple of checks. At one point there was some gentle resistance, but it went away as I continued to work through check questions.
On Saturday, although the weather was good, I decided not to go to Riccarton for my usual street outreach, as I wanted to catch up on the TikTok direct messages. I had a great chat with someone who would grasp the gospel, but kept slipping back to ‘works’ as I went through the checks, because “It’s too good to be true”. I had to slow down to labour with them. I ended up by getting them to read Romans 3, 4 & 5. I’m looking forward to continuing that conversation.
On Friday, we were in the city as usual. Roger, Andy, and myself. I had a great chat with 2 guys, one of whom was French. But the main speaker was a Kiwi. He was resistant, and so I spent a fair amount of time talking about ‘who is God’. I could see that he was following along with the reasoning. And I didn’t give him an inch - it would only reinforce his suppression of what he knows about the God that he knows exists. It was interesting watching his French friend, who I could tell was seeing clearly what I was saying. They both heard the law and the gospel, and checks. It was great seeing the Kiwi grasp the gospel when he said, “but then someone could then just go out and sleep with prostitutes”. And so I was able to follow up with the fireman analogy and why the gospel actually has the opposite effect. I pleaded with them to repent. They are in God’s hands.
I also had a great chat with a young man who had atheist parents, and yet went to a local Christian school - actually, the same school where my local church meets. I can’t remember the details of that chat (it was fairly standard), but at one point I remember him exclaiming (positively) as the meaning started to sink in. Great chat.
On Tuesday, Julia (my daughter) and Roger were with me in Riccarton. Before Julia and I had even finished setting up the flip chart, we were into a great chat with 3 people. And it was really busy for the next 1.5 hours. But it was cold, and so the last half hour was slow.
Julia had a great opportunity to share the gospel with a couple of girls (pictured).
Ah, I love my job! I would gladly do this for free. The gospel blows me away, firstly that I’m saved from hell, and 2ndly the privilege I have to see the power of the gospel in action with those I talk to.
Oh, I just remembered another great chat I had with 2 guys today. They both made professions of faith. One of them in particular, looked at me and thanked me, as he grasped the simplicity of the amazing message I was sharing.
All glory to God alone. Oh, how I want Jesus to return today, and yet how I am so glad for God’s patience and the privilege in being able to proclaim his mercy! Long may it continue.
Join me! Join me! It’s so good!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (3 September 2023)
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.