Battle Log
Sunday 7 June 2026
Posted 7 June 2026, 3:33 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
For the month of May, I decided to write short notes of my most memorable chats on the streets so that I would remember to write about them in this report. I’ve ended up with about 25 notes! I’m not going to be able to write about all of them in this short report. So, what I’m going to do is drop the whole list into this report, so you can get a feel for what I got up to on the streets for the month, and I’ll expand on some of them. Here goes:
Saturday, 6th of June, in Riccarton, Corin was with me; she is new to street outreach, and she has a passion for it! She gives out gospel tracts with pure delight in her eyes. Such an encouragement. Since Corin is new, I had my flipchart with me. We started with prayer, and then we set up the chart. She mentioned, “We don’t have tracts yet”, so I turned to my bag to get some when I noticed that Corin was talking to someone. I turned back, and a guy was standing right in front of the flip chart. He had obviously just turned the corner and was instantly attracted by the flip chart.
I took control of the chat and used the flip chart, involving Corin, to take this young man through the gospel presentation. It was like I was talking to a blank canvas, in the sense that they didn’t have any pre-conceived ideas that I had to correct. When he heard the gospel for the first time, I got a visual reaction, which showed that it had clicked in his thinking – what a joy! But we didn’t stop there, we moved into check questions, and very quickly it became clear that his thinking had moved to adding Jesus to good works for salvation: “Jesus does most of it, but we still have to be good to get to heaven”. So, I went back to the gospel, and used the speeding ticket analogy: “If a friend pays your whole speeding ticket for you, how much left do you have to pay?” “Right, none, same with Jesus, if he pays for all your sins, how much left do you have to pay in hell?” I think the gospel re-clicked in his thinking at that point.
During the chat, there was a moment where a couple of tears escaped from an eye – tears? I don’t know, but I know this young man was impacted, at the very least. He took 2 kinds of tract, but didn’t take the Gospel of John I offered. That chat filled me with such joy!
Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: chat with 2 Afghan girls
Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: chat with Jimmy, a teen kid walking past
Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: 4 people outside the yogurt shop: this chat was special, because 1 guy engaged in the chat and I was able to labour with him about grace (it’s amazing how long it can take for this concept to really sink in).
Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: 2 CBHS (Christchurch Boys High School) guys at the bus stop - amazing chat. These guys had Christian backgrounds, and we had a special 15 minutes together working through the tension of faith & works.
Sunday, 31st May, in the City: 2 kids - never thought about it before
Saturday, 30th May, in Riccarton: chat with 3 kids with a connection to Kaiapoi Baptist
Friday, 29th May, in the City: a young man with a Catholic background, but with a very Eastern worldview. Hard chat, but he took a copy of John
Friday, 29th May, in the City: a chat with 3 girls from Parklands
Thursday, 28th May, in Riccarton: 17yo, Riccarton High student, had heard the gospel through YouTube, struggling with anger and anxiety, and lacking assurance. A long chat after which I invited him to church.
Friday, 22nd May, in the City: 2 Mormon missionaries, long chat
Thursday, 21st May, in Riccarton: Asian couple - great chat. Took a copy of John
Thursday, 21st May, in Riccarton: Regular Muslim we see - great follow-up chat, challenged him on how God can be just and merciful at the same time? (Christianity has a logical answer.)
Saturday, 16th May, in Riccarton: 5 orthodox kids - 2 guys talking, a girl challenged, 2 guys that said nothing. This was a great chat, where we talked about PSA and Christus Victor (atonement theories).
Friday, 15th May, in the City: Indian Orthopedic surgeon from Brunei. Good deeds for heaven. This chat was special; he took a tract, and I noticed him sitting down and reading it carefully after our brief chat.
Friday, 15th May, in the City: group of kids, some of whom I had talked to in Riccarton before - they showed respect
Friday, 15th May, in the City: 2 young men from Motuaka - great chat.
Friday, 15th May, in the City: Older Englishman: very resistant.
Sunday, 10th May in the City: Mother's Day. slow and cold, a few tracts and a half chat before heading home
Saturday, 9th May in Riccarton: slowish. Chat with people trying to avoid the truth under the banner of peace. Another chat with a guy and his girlfriend. He didn't like the building builder analogy.
Friday, 8th May, in the City: Long deep chat with a guy - took John.
Friday, 8th May, in the City: Chat with 2 guys cnr Colombo and Cashel
Thursday, 7th May in Riccarton: A long chat with an intellectual.
Thursday, 7th May in Riccarton: A kid who knew my name! He talked to me 2 years ago in the city. He didn't want to go through it again! Haha. He said he gave the tract I gave him to his brother, who likes to collect Chick tracts!? I gave him another to give to his brother for the collection.
Thursday, 7th May, in Riccarton: Guy from Papua New Guinea - became an SDA, but didn't understand the gospel, not really 'religious'. Heard the gospel, pointed to the Bible.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (3 May 2026)
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.