Battle Log
Tuesday 4 November 2025
Posted 4 November 2025, 2:47 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink.jpg)
I enjoyed going through the photos for this month's report. There weren't as many as I haven’t been on the streets as much as usual, and all the photos I had were from the Riccarton outreach. All 4 photos (that I’ve included) were taken on the same spot. Roger, with his flip chart. What I like about it is that, as you flick through the photos, it makes you realise how many people you can reach just by going to the same spot for a couple of hours each week. Sure, 1 week might be a bit slower than the next week, but, if you are diligent, then over time you can reach a lot of people.
And it’s not like we are doing anything particularly special. Just offering tracts with a smile and an offer to do the ‘good person test’. Or asking “Can I ask you a question? What do you think happens after life?” Sure, many don’t want to stop, but, many do, enough to keep our small team busy week after week. And when they do stop, we just get to show them how we know God is real, working against their suppression; and telling them of the serious nature of sin, attempting to reawaken the conscience. And then telling of the wonder of the mercy of God found in the sacrifice of Jesus to pay for our sin. Our job is simply to explain the message (what a joy!) Only God can convict and convert. The gospel (not our effort or ability) is the power of God for salvation.
So, since I haven’t been on the streets as much this month, I’ve been doing more work online: having 1 to 1 conversations with strangers via video chat, and text chat. Also, I’ve been doing a lot of evangelism training with Christians all over the world (via video calls).
I’ve also included 2 screenshots from a text chat I was having with someone. It was super encouraging to me what they wrote, I hope it will encourage you too. God is truly working on the hearts of people through the feeble efforts of his saints.
Also, I took a week off (today is my first day back; and it’s also the reason why this report is a few days late). I discovered a new evangelism tip: each time you go to the barber, go to a different one. Because, on my week off, I went for my regular groom at the barber, and I went on a day of the week I don’t normally go, and so there were 2 different barbers there. Barbers like to talk, I think it’s in their job description, so the young man cutting my hair starts asking me questions. It was so easy to naturally swing the conversation to spiritual things, and he was very open. I was able to share the law and the gospel in a very natural way. And the other young barber was listening in too! Again, I can’t convert anyone, all we can do is plough soil, and sow seeds as we can.
This coming month (November) we will be running a special outreach to the Canterbury A&P Show. We have hired a site, as usual, and we’ll be setting up a gazebo and flip charts to share the gospel to many over the 3 days: Thu 13th, Fri 14th, and Sat 15th - from 9:30 am till 4:30 pm each day. Please pray for this endeavour, that the weather would be good, for favour with the authorities, for labourers to run the site, for good relationships among the labourers, that many people would come to understand the gospel, and most importantly, that God would be glorified through our feeble efforts – that He would show His strength through our weakness.
Thank you for continuing to pray for the gospel ministry of Operation 513 based in Christchurch, NZ!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (5 October 2025)
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 12:30pm - 2:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St) - only 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays of the month.
Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.