Battle Log
Sunday 1 December 2024
Posted 1 December 2024, 3:34 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
When I wrote my last report (a month ago), we were a few days into a week of outreach with Phil and his church in Whangārei. So, this report will cover the rest of that outreach, plus everything we’ve been doing since then. This includes the big Canterbury A&P Show outreach, plus the regular street and online outreach we have been doing.
I’ve just finished going through the photos I’ve taken for the last month. I’m going to let them do most of the talking for this report. They bring back very good memories for me.
Going back to the outreach in Whangārei. It was a wonderful week of outreach! The highlight for me would be a conversation I had with an older gentleman. I encountered him twice - on different days. I first talked to him on Saturday, across the road from the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCoG, a cult) Zion (meeting place). He had become a member of this cult, and so in his conversation he was vehemently defending their doctrines. I decided not to take a direct stand against this, but instead took the tactic of side stepping his emotional attacks and politely asking questions and responding in such a way that the important issues would be touched on: the law and the gospel. After a robust conversation, we parted ways on good terms.
Well, a few days later, I saw him again, in a different part of town. I approached him with a friendly greeting, and was able to sit down to start another conversation. Glory to God, he had obviously considered some of the things I said, and he was in a much better position to reason with. He opened up about wanting to become a JW. But when he had asked to be baptised, they resisted. And so, when the WMSCoG came to his door and offered to baptise him on the spot he was elated! And so, I was able to spend a lot more time with him labouring on the law and the true Gospel of Jesus’ mercy (and not working for salvation). I remember it still being a difficult conversation, but the gospel is simple, and it is the power of God for salvation.
Not only did we do outreach in the town centre, but we also spent a day up at Kamo and the last day of the outreach included a bit of a road trip: we spent some time in outreach at Kerikeri & Paihia before heading back to Whangārei to catch our flight home. So many wonderful conversations from that week are passing through my mind, but I don’t have the time to write about them. Thanks so much to Phil and Emma for hosting us (Roger, Andy and myself), and for Maungakaramea Reformed Church and Clark Road Chapel for allowing us to serve alongside you for the week. It was so encouraging having so many members coming out to be involved with us.
The next big outreach, starting only a week after we got back from Whangārei was the Canterbury A&P Show. A 3 day event for the farming community with many stalls and entertainment. The weather was mixed - on the last day we had to suffer some interrupting rain. But generally, the outreach was a massive success. We ended up having just the right amount of labourers for each part of the outreach - so God answered that prayer! He also answered a prayer in regards to some loud music from the first day - it didn’t end up being an issue for the following days - glory to God!
The 2nd day of the outreach was the busiest. I ended up going till 2 pm without a break. We have 5 flip charts running, and there were times where they were all busy, and we even had people queuing to come and try it out!
My four prayers were: God would be glorified, favour with authorities, Christians would be encouraged, and the lost would hear the gospel. I feel like those prayers were well and truly answered! I esp. enjoyed having many conversations with Christians. One of them even joined Andy and I on the streets a week later (pictured). God is so good.
We are still active in Christchurch city and in the Riccarton area. Cashel Mall is now ramping up for Christmas, and so I’ve cracked out the Christmas gospel tracts. I’m handing them out with a cherry “Merry Christmas!” and any who stop I ask: “what do you think Christmas’ greatest gift is?” and then get into a gospel conversation from there.
On the Tuesday just gone, Roger and I tried a new spot for outreach in Riccarton. We moved up a block to be closer to the bus exchange. It worked well. We had a very busy outreach, that even went a bit longer than usual.
Please keep the Christchurch Operation 513 outreach team in prayer. For the upcoming month it will be mainly regular outreach, with the only planned special outreach being a gospel tract give-away on Boxing Day - the streets are flooded with bargain hunters - pray that they get a bargain they didn’t expect! Thanks so much.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (3 November 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.