Battle Log

Sunday 2 February 2025

Posted by Posted 2 February 2025, 1:58 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

It’s been an encouraging month.  I actually have a few details to talk about for this report (rather than general memories and pointing to the pictures).

 

So, I took 2 weeks leave, which was refreshing.  I watched a lot of cricket (because it’s free to air on TV in NZ at the moment) - which I find very relaxing.  I even went to a local game to sit on the bank and chill.

 

But, we are back to work again.  It was wonderful to have Carole from the UK join us for a couple of outreaches in Riccarton this month - I hope you got home safely!

 

I want to start with the biggest encouragement.  It occurred 2 days ago, during our Friday afternoon in the city.  Roger was with me.  Due to the loudness of the Buskers Festival event happening at the Bridge of Remembrance, we moved down to the other end, corner of Cashel and Colombo.

 

I ended up in a long conversation right at the end of the outreach.  So I was blessed with an extra 30 minutes of gospel ministry.  A young guy went past whom I stopped with the polite but deep question: “can I ask you, what do you think happens after life?”  He was keen to engage.  We were in the hot sun, and so we moved back into the shade - he was leaning against a shop window for the whole chat.

 

He was resistant, yet open.  He was trying to play the Atheist card, and so a lot of the conversation was spent reasoning with him on that.  But he also hated the idea of punishment (understandable because we love our sin).  Instead he thinks people should be given therapy (amazingly, there is mercy available instead!).  I didn’t let these issues distract from the meat and potatoes: the law and the gospel.

 

Near the end of this conversation I heard someone say, “Glen, is that you?”.  I turned and looked at a couple of guys.  One of them said, “It’s me, Byron, do you remember me?”.  Initially I didn’t, but then slowly my memory came back.  It must have been about 2 years ago.  Byron had been in Cathedral Square listening to the preaching (of other ministers, not us) and had made a profession of faith.  Later (or was it the next week?), he was at the Bridge of Remembrance and I was able to have a gospel conversation.  I was able to use our standard check questions to make sure he was really understanding the gospel.  Things were clicking for him.  He even came to my local churches gathering the following Sunday.  I remember my Pastor and I were encouraging him to join a new believers small group.  But sadly he moved to Ashburton (I think it was) and we lost touch.

 

Anyway, he said to me, “We were talking about you this morning.  I want to let you know, I just got baptised, I’m going to Grace” (I assume he means Grace Vineyard, a local church).  I was overjoyed!  He introduced me to his friend, and he wanted to talk more, but he could see I was in the middle of a gospel conversation with someone else and decided to leave me to that.  But he said he would catch up with me again and wanted to know what my street schedule was.

 

Glory to God!  One person ploughs, another sows, another waters, but God brings the increase!  We can rest in our labour and leave God to His.  I hope to see Byron again soon and learn more about his journey.

 

Going back to the young man that I was talking to, he had watched this whole exchange.  I think it impacted him too.  He ended up by saying, “actually, I’ve really appreciated this conversation”.  And then he said something that surprised me, “I’m thinking of joining a youth group”  I was very surprised by this change of heart!  Even in the face of resistance, we just don’t know what’s going inside of a person.

 

Another very encouraging conversation this month was with a young lady at the Riccarton bus stops.  She watched me approach a guy and listened to our brief exchange, so she knew what I was about.  When I approached her, she was polite but hostile.  I wasn’t put off, and she was happy to talk, so I sat down next to her (you often spend time sitting on the pavement when you do street outreach).

 

She tried to shock me, by saying she was a Satanist.  I didn’t flinch, I just asked her, what kind of satanist she was, a philosophical one, or a spiritual one.  From there we had a decent chat.  She was still hostile, and I had to do a lot of listening.  But slowly I was able, with God’s help, to help her think through some of the things she was saying.  By the end of the chat, she was calm (glory to God), and yet challenged.  It turns out she is also ‘gay’, and using Psychedelics (a very deceptive sin).  I rejoiced over this chat, because she also came to understand the serious nature of her sin and the amazing mercy of Jesus.

 

Of course, there were many other wonderful chats over the month.  Just one more that I want to mention.  I think it occurred on the same day as the previous chat I mentioned.  I was talking to 2 bright University students (they were girls).  One was studying communications, and the other biology.  Their world views were of their own creation (idolatry), but they were a mix of atheism with eastern influence (reincarnation, etc).  The conversation centered on how we know God exists.  They came at me hard, but I stuck to my guns.  At multiple times I would say, “fault the logic”, and they would go silent as they could see I had already addressed their arguments (all glory to God).  I was able to touch on the law and the gospel, but they weren’t open to it at all.  Eventually one of the girls said to the other, “hey, we have an appointment at five thirty, right?”.  The other girl looked at her strangely and said, “No”.  She didn’t get the hint, she wanted out of this chat.  I understood and so I gave her the out, I think my job was done for the time being, they had plenty to consider.

 

Anyway, I’ll leave it at that.  We are still very busy with online outreach: responding to an endless stream of conversations via Instagram and TikTok Messenger (and other social media platforms), training people for online evangelism, and having online video chats of our own.  This is all via needGod.net, led by Ryan.  I leave one TikTok comment (as a picture) I captured during the month, for your encouragement.

 

Next month we have 2 special outreaches coming up: a week of outreach in Dunedin in conjunction with OAC and Cornerstone International Bible Church, and then a week or so in the Philippines.  PLEASE pray: 1) that we would be a blessing to the church, 2) for favour with authorities, 3) that the lost would understand the gospel, and finally 4) that God would be glorified.  Please also pray for the interactions between Christians in organising and conducting these outreaches, that there would be understanding and love in spite of disagreement on secondary issues and methods.

 

View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (14 January 2025)


Christchurch

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.