Battle Log
Sunday 30 June 2024
Posted 30 June 2024, 2:48 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
This week we ran 2 special outreaches for an NZ public holiday on Friday: Matariki. We had great weather (unlike for the beginning of the week, when there was a lot of rain), although it was cold, so we needed our puffer jackets on!
It was great to have big teams, and many members of our own church, Redemption Church, involved.
In the morning we were in Riccarton. Rudi, Vinil, Jonathan, Jerome, Elijah, were with Andy and I. It was a bit of a slow start, I guess many people were taking advantage of an opportunity for a sleep in? So, we had to work a bit to make some opportunities to share the gospel. We had a flip chart up, which a pair would run, the rest of us did walk up.
When I was paired with Rudi, the pickings were slim. But we wandered up to the bus stops distributing tracts. I got into a short chat with a lady who was willing to chat while we walked. Within a minute she was at her destination, and so I had to wrap up with a tract. God can use that!
Later, I was paired up with Jonathan. I overheard 4 girls say something about ‘church’, and so I grabbed at that to see if I could get a conversation started. It was a bit awkward, but it worked. They were willing to engage. But, a homeless guy overheard, and decided he wanted to ruin the conversation. I couldn’t ignore him, so I had to abandon the girls to engage the homeless guy. But, this wasn’t bad for 2 reasons: 1) Jonathan was with me, and 2) this was an opportunity for Jonathan to get involved: sharing the law and the gospel for himself! It worked out well.
After that, we were able to get into a conversation with a couple. They were tourists from Germany. They were resistant to hearing the gospel, holding to a mix of philosophies, including concern for climate change, and maybe some eastern religious leaning? And yet, they stayed around to hear a law and gospel, and she accepted a tract. It’s a seed.
Back at the flip chart, Jonathan and I had a number of opportunities. A young man, with a Christian background yet was subtly trusting works for salvation, stayed to go through the whole flip chart.
To finish off the outreach, we had a large group of kids on scooters come past and engage. They were all in different places, and I couldn’t hold all of their attention, by the end of the chat I had 3 (+ stragglers) still with me. Yet, those 3 were engaged. And 1 even took a copy of the gospel of John. It wasn’t a long chat, but gospel seeds were scattered on ploughed soil.
In the afternoon we were in the city, at the Bridge of Remembrance. Big team: Mike, Guilaume, Jordan, Emma, Chloe, Josiah, Roger, Jerome, Elijah, Andy and myself. 2 flipcharts.
Lots of people about. There was some military march happening. The outreach was busy, I was really tired afterwards. But it was great seeing pods of gospel conversations happening all over the place. The picture tries to capture it.
I ended up in a chat with 2 young men who had Christian backgrounds and yet were rejecting Christ. They became very engaged. When Jordan turned up, I pulled him into the conversation. Between the 2 of us, we talked with these 2 guys for well over an hour. It was maybe an hour and a half. I had to disengage from this chat to pair up with other newbies. But I left them in Jordan’s capable hands.
I ended up pairing up with Josiah. We had a number of good opportunities with people, but they were sadly resistant in different ways. I ended up using a Minecraft analogy with one of them (building / builder) - and Josiah, being a Minecraft fan, enjoyed that. It was great, because this guy could tell I was the main talker, and so he decided to pull Josiah into the conversation!
By the end of the outreach, I was back with Jordan in the original conversation. He was talking to Justin, and so I continued with Issac. After addressing all of Issac’s important questions, he was left with nothing but the truth: he is rejecting Christ because he loves his sin - he was honest about that. His Mum is a member of a good local church - I even know the pastor. This kid knew the gospel, and so I called him to repentance. I pleaded with him that the pleasure of sin would be bitter and lead him to hell fire. It’s not worth it. I’m helpless to change him. But God can. Early in the chat, I suggested that he has parents or grandparents that are praying for him. I now know he also has a pastor praying for him. Our meeting on the street was no coincidence. Sometimes hearing it from someone else can help. I’m praying for Issac too now. God save him!
On Sunday afternoon, Binu joined me in the city, and we handed out tracts for an hour. I had a couple of good chats.
One in particular was a highlight. A young couple stopped to engage (it amazes me that so many blast past me, and yet some are keen to stop and chat). They were open. He thought there was ‘something’, she didn’t like thinking about the afterlife. And so starting from there I was able to reason with them about the reality of the bad news, and then the hope of the good news. Such a good chat. They walked off with the gospel seed planted. I have no idea what the result will be. They are in God’s hands.
Thank you for continuing to pray for this ministry. Be encouraged as you make and take gospel opportunities in your day to day life. All glory to God alone.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (23 June 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.