Battle Log
Sunday 8 September 2024
Posted 11 September 2024, 6:22 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
I’m out of routine, so this report is late. It’s currently Wednesday, and we are in windy Wellington. We are: Roger, Andy and I. And we are serving alongside the church: Calvary Wellington for outreach this week.
But, this report is about last week. God willing, I’ll write about this week's activities in this coming Sunday’s report.
Last week we had 3 street outreaches. Roger was with me in Riccarton on Tuesday. Andy & John were with me in the city on Friday. And then Friday evening, the 3 of us flew to Wellington. Saturday morning we ran a couple of evangelism training sessions in the morning, mainly with members of Calvary Wellington. And then on Saturday afternoon, some of them joined us for a street outreach in Lower Hutt to put what we had been learning into practice.
So, going back to Tuesday. I’m going to have to look at my photos to see if I can remember any of the details! Ah, that’s right, it was dry and cloudy when we started the outreach, but by the end of the outreach, it was pouring with rain. I remember having 2 long chats. The first was with a young student, he had a very long beard! He is studying brewing at Lincoln University, he is involved with the Christian Fellowship group there, and yet he is agnostic. I spent my time in conversation reasoning with him on why he is actually suppressing what he knows about God, the law, and the gospel. He wasn’t convinced. I leave him in God’s hands. The law brings knowledge of sin, and the gospel is the power of God for salvation. I can’t remember the other conversation now.
On Friday, with Andy, in the city, the outreach started with a conversation with 2 overseas English students. One was a Muslim, I forget which country. The other was Japanese, and pretty much an Atheist. Andy started the conversation and I was with him. The Muslim became engaged, and the Atheist became disinterested. I ended up moving out of the conversation to engage others (I later re-engaged the Japanese student who had backed out of the conversation with Andy – it didn’t help, he made it clear he didn’t want to talk, and so I respected that). Andy ended up having a wonderful chat with the Muslim. Later, at the end of the outreach, Andy had a conversation with a couple that left him, in his own words, “buzzing”. It was with a young man who had a Catholic / Orthodox influence in his life, and his Mother (who joined later in the chat) who understood salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus' sacrifice alone. He came to grasp the gospel, and was challenged to forsake his works, she was stoked that the conversation occurred!
The training on Saturday seemed to go well. I was encouraged by the turn out, considering that I had run the training the previous year. This year I structured it differently, and tried to go deeper on some of the points.
The outreach in the afternoon went really well, in spite of the wind! There were many opportunities to plough and sow. I’m sifting through those memories now: I’ll report the glimpses that I remember.
An older man went past. When he realised I was religious, he made it clear he wasn’t interested and moved on. Then he turned, and mentioned that his father had been religious: exclusive brethren. This had caused much division in his family, so he wanted nothing to do with religion in his life. He was friendly, and I did my best to hold him, but he moved on. But then, about 5 minutes later, he was walking past again, and we sparked into light conversation again. This time he stayed, and he opened up to going deeper in the conversation. He still believed in God, heaven and hell. Yet, he thought you had to be good to get to heaven. I was able to take him through the law, and challenge him on that. I seemed to be making progress, before he had to move on. I can’t remember if he took a tract or not, but I was grateful for the opportunity.
Another memory is of talking to a young man with a Catholic background. A standard law & gospel chat ensued. But soon after, 3 of his friends came along. I was able to engage all of them. 1 didn’t believe in God, but the building / builder analogy clicked for him. He opened up to the gospel conversation, even though his 2 friends disengaged (1 became a bit silly). It was a great chat.
I spoke to some people at the bus stops. The final chat was with an elderly man who was very Catholic. Sadly, he didn’t engage in my attempts to share the gospel. I ended up listening and dropping seeds as best I could. He seemed a bit lonely and appreciated the opportunity to chat.
Okay, I think that covers it. Please keep us in prayer as we continue to labour with Calvary Wellington in many locations across the Wellington region this week. Glory to God alone!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (1 September 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.