Battle Log
Sunday 12 July 2026
Posted 12 July 2026, 6:32 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
It’s the end of a busy week, and I’m looking forward to a rest. But it’s been an amazing week, filled with interesting gospel conversations.
This week I was on the streets on Saturday in Riccarton, and on Sunday (today) in the city. It was so wonderful having Angelique and her daughter, Eliza, from my church join me for the Sunday outreach!
And what a busy outreach it was. I had only just finished setting up my flipchart – I hadn’t even had a chance to pray, and suddenly four guys had approached the flipchart, curious about what it was about. I was straight into my first gospel conversation.
Early on, one of the guys mentioned he believed in his Māori gods (on Friday, we had a national holiday called Matariki), and so, taking note of that, I was careful to explain how all people know about the true God (through logic) - the tactic being to help them realise this is not a ‘white man’s’ religion that I’m talking about. The tactic seemed to work well.
The guys followed along with the presentation, very engaged and processing well. It’s impossible to avoid the logic of it. But, for now, it was too much. One of them in particular started to voice his rejection of the gospel, and it didn’t take long for the others to follow suit. But I was able to continue engaging and explaining why people reject plain truth: our sin nature.
Eventually, it became too much for the guy, and he backed off and disengaged. His friends left with him. But it had been a wonderful chat, because gospel seed had been sown. No chat is in vain!
But what was interesting was that, by this stage, Angelique and Eliza were watching as part of the ‘crowd’, and a crowd draws a crowd, so a man of Chinese descent had stopped to listen to the conversation too. When the four guys moved on, he stayed to talk.
He said his English wasn’t good, but it was certainly good enough for me to now be able to share the gospel with him. He stayed for about ten minutes of conversation before he, too, decided to disengage. He wasn’t willing to take a gospel tract, but he had heard the gospel!
I finally had a chance to talk with Angelique. And it was at this moment I realised how cold it was in the shady spot I was in. We decided to cross Colmbo street to get into the sun on the other side.
Instantly, I was into my next conversation. A young couple stopped, attracted by the flipchart. He was very interested, but she stood back at a distance, not willing to get involved.
I was able to work this guy through the flip chart, into the check questions. He failed my first check (sin again). But that led to a click moment. I could tell because he asked the classic question: “But someone could think they can now do whatever they want?” So I segued into the fireman check, which helped him to balance the tension in the gospel.
I continued with the checks. He got the ‘2 things’ check wrong as well, but again, it just served to deepen his understanding.
It was a textbook chat. I pointed him to John in the Bible and left him with a tract by which he could get in touch if he wanted.
Before I had a chance to take another breath, another group of 3 had stopped to talk. I was feeling exhausted! But I’m not complaining. I engaged them as best as I could. And then I had a short moment to take that breath! I checked the time; one and a quarter hours had blown past.
It was at this point that Angelique and Eliza had to go. But as soon as they had, I was straight into another chat! The 2 young ladies had never considered the questions I was asking, and I got a mixture of reactions, from discomfort to laughter. One of them left with a tract; the other refused.
It was now 3 pm. I was tired, and so I quickly shut down my flipchart before someone else would come up to talk. (That’s a very odd thing to write for someone who loves talking to people about Jesus, but I guess we all have physical, mental and spiritual limits.)
I guess the key is a bigger team. The harvest is ripe, and the labourers are few. Again, I was so encouraged by Angelique and Eliza joining me. I think they came as a direct result of one of the elders of my church leading an evangelism training session with me for our church. I’m very very grateful for that. I love my local church!
Can I encourage you to join me in this spiritual harvest at a local street corner near you? I know it can be daunting, but a wonderful mission like this starts with a single outreach and an outstretched arm offering a gospel tract. God is with us.
Saturday’s outreach was also amazing. It was slow initially (I had a chance to snap a couple of shots for this report), but then it got busy. 2 chats in particular stand out in my thinking.
The first was a wonderful chat with a young man from mainland China. He said he was an atheist, but I could tell he had been deeply impacted by the gospel that I shared with him. He was interested in my church, which I invited him to. He left with tracts and a copy of John.
And then I had a wonderful follow-up chat. It was with a young German exchange student whom I had talked to a couple of months prior at the same spot. He had been impacted enough by our first chat that he had been in touch via a social media private messenger so we could continue the conversation.
So it was great to be able to follow up in person. He is heading back to Germany in a week - so it’s the last time I’ll see him (probably). I was able to invest wisdom regarding how to walk as a Christian in a hostile world. Top of my list was that he find a good local church once he gets home. We ended the chat with a hug. God, please protect him, save him, and grow him for your glory!
I had some wonderful chats online this week too.
I managed to share the gospel with a streamer again (I’ve got no idea how many were listening to his stream, but it just shows how easy it is to spread the gospel far and wide today!)
And I had a wonderful 30-minute conversation with a Muslim man from Libya. He had very little English, but by using modern translation tools, we were able to communicate. It was clear that his worldview was very sheltered - he had never been in touch with the gospel. I was able to ask gentle, challenging questions throughout the conversation, and it was wonderful seeing his broken reasoning engaging with true logic - I could read it on his face. I was able to share the gospel, but I can tell he has some processing to do – or God can use it to convert him in an instant. But I marvel at the ability we have for communication. God uses all things for good.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (5 July 2026)
Christchurch (NZ) Team
Weekly outreaches:
Tue 3:00pm - 5:00pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St; Led by Roger)
Thu 3:00pm - 5:00pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Fri 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (Bridge of Remembrance)
Sat 11:30am - 1:30pm - 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.