Battle Log
Sunday 4 February 2024
Posted 4 February 2024, 1:45 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
Glory to God for another week of his patience, in holding back his wrath and justice so we could plead with people about his mercy. Here is the weekly recap of the gospel street outreaches for the Christchurch team. We were in the City on Friday (Roger, Andy and I) and Sunday (myself), and in Riccarton on Tuesday (Roger and I).
My most prominent memory from Tuesday’s outreach was a chat with a couple of guys who went to a Fijian Methodist Church. Sadly, they didn’t understand the gospel, instead pointing to ‘reading the Bible’, ‘going to church’, and ‘prayer’ as the reasons they would go to heaven. It was a pleasure to be able to labour with them about the gospel. I had to labour, because it was confusing for them to realise it’s not their works that save them, but the gift of Jesus.
On Friday, I had 3 main conversations, all three with people originally from different parts of the world, and not Christchurch. One was from the Philippines, another for Slovakia, and the last from England.
The guy from the Phillipines didn’t want a tract, but he was willing to engage in conversation, as long as I walked with him (no problem). It was a short chat, because we went our separate ways at the lights, but it was enough time for me to touch on the law and the gospel. He thanked me for what I was doing, and how I was doing it. He still didn’t want a tract.
The guy from Slovakia had been in NZ for 11 months, his English was okay, but he wasn’t used to using the words you normally use in a deep and meaningful chat. He ended up pulling out his phone to translate words, and I ended up doing the same. But it became too difficult, he was entrenched in an eastern worldview, and wasn’t willing to be reasoned with. Yet, we parted on good terms, and he did take a tract.
The chat with the guy from England was fantastic. He eventually moved to the issue of evil and suffering. I warned him the answer is easy, but it can take time to process. As I was explaining, I was able to reference something from my recent personal / family devotional bible reading:
“What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Psalm 30:9
So, part of the reason there is evil and suffering, is because it’s part of God’s plan to demonstrate his justice and his mercy, for his glory. Will dust praise him? No. But we can praise God. We will praise him for his justice and his mercy upon us. (Will the dust praise a person who just won the 100 metre dash in the Olympics? No, but people will.)
He seemed to be profoundly struck by this, and other tensions in the gospel. A simple message, and yet will give us a lifetime to ponder and praise God over. He was willing to accept a copy of the gospel of John.
On Saturday there was a lot of rain, so I decided to continue working online instead.
On Sunday, I set up my flip chart, I pretty much instantly had a conversation started. The girl was partially engaged, and so I worked to change that. What made it hard was her friend standing at a distance and staring. Eventually she said, “sorry, I zoned out, I’m not interested”. She gave back the tract and moved on with her friend.
My next conversation was with a couple on a cruise from Sydney. It was a good one, I was able to share the gospel, but eventually their stomachs became more important. They left with a tract. While this chat was occurring, I had two girls come and stand in a queue behind them. They eventually sat down to wait. But my chat was going too long for them. They moved on before I could get to them.
My last chat was a bit of a set up. But I don’t think they got what they were expecting. He had to admit that what I was saying made sense. But by the end of the chat, he said, “you haven’t convinced me”. It would be great if he got in touch, I’d love to keep reasoning with him.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer for our feeble gospel efforts. Be encouraged to step out and share about Christ with someone this week!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (28 January 2024)
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.