Battle Log
Sunday 19 July 2026
Posted 19 July 2026, 6:33 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
I had some difficult chats and some wonderful chats this week.
The 3 difficulties that stand out are:
Firstly, on Thursday, I engaged a young guy at the Riccarton bus stops. He was willing to talk, and said he believed there was no God. It’s actually quite unusual for me to get that response. I moved into my usual explanation of how we know God is real, and I was surprised at his resistance. I just kept reasoning until the reason surfaced: “Well, if God is real, I’m going to hell because I’m gay”. That explained it. He suddenly walked off before I could say anything. There is so much tension here because homosexuality is a sin, and yet God died for sinners. Justice and mercy. Sometimes you need to emphasize one side of the tension, and at other times, the other side of the tension. I decided to say something like: “Gay people can go to heaven” as he left, because it’s true. Jesus died for sinners. But I was rattled by the sudden burst of emotion; it was a reminder that this is not a game, that we are in a spiritual battle.
Next, on Saturday, I was in Riccarton again with Dom from my church and his daughter Suzelle. I had quite a few wonderful gospel conversations, but then a difficult one. Dom and Suzelle were on the other side of the street. I saw a young couple near me, and so I approached them. He was happy to talk, although a bit reserved. She was deadpan. So I followed the usual structure for my conversations, and again, this young man didn’t believe in God. This time, my reasoning seemed to be having an effect. When he objected, my responses seemed to make sense. Suddenly, I got a slight facial reaction from her. I was surprised by this and turned to include her in the conversation. Her response was sudden and sharp: “I’m a witch”. I think she said it to shock me, but I didn’t flinch for a second. She thought my arguments were ridiculous. I just continued to reason with her, but I quickly realised that was the wrong thing to do. This wasn’t a place of reason but of emotion. The more reasons I brought, the angrier she got, and her sudden and sharp anger had ignited my own emotions. I knew I had to end the chat for now, and I politely did so. She stared at me, firing daggers with her eyes, before turning and walking off. He went with her. Again, I was rattled. It took me a number of minutes to get back to ‘normal’. It really felt like I’d been in a spiritual battle.
Later, I was involved with an online outreach we call Team Training, a group of us gather and pair up to listen to each others online gospel chats for mutual encouragement and feedback. In my second chat, I was instantly thrust into a spiritual battle. It was with 2 girls: late teens or early 20s. This is going to sound strange, but in my experience, that demographic can be the nastiest from a spiritual battle perspective. From memory, a rude remark was aimed at me before I had a chance to say anything. And from then on, the bullets were coming at me thick and fast! It was an intense battle that went on for about 15 minutes. And I was on the back foot because their attacks were fast, intelligent, brutal, and deeply spiritual. There was an intense hatred for God and truth pouring from them. Almost like they had demonically sourced inside information. Amazingly, I was able to touch on the law and the gospel with them in that time, but they certainly weren’t in a place to receive it. Finally, they skipped me. I was glad that ordeal was over! Apart from the grace of God, that’s me! May God’s mercy and grace catch up with them eventually! May he show his strength through my weakness.
So, the reality is, we are in a spiritual battle. This week was a reminder of that! And this morning’s sermon (John 15:26-16:4) in my local church was a deep encouragement regarding this. I’m so grateful for the teaching of God’s word and the local church family we have for support and encouragement as we face this battle together.
But that was only 3 conversations from a long week of gospel ministry. Most of my chats from the week were ‘normal’ and wonderful. Sharing the truth of Jesus on the streets and online.
On Friday, in the city, with Roger, I had many wonderful opportunities:
I had a long chat with a Russian chef with an Orthodox background. What I was saying to him was so foreign to his thinking that at one point he said that I must have a different Bible from his. He was deeply challenged. And I encouraged him to actually download and read the Bible for himself to check if what I was saying was true.
I was able to share the gospel with a young man who knew a lot about the gospel due to his Dad, but the 100% check question really caused his eyes to open. He was very grateful!
And I had another young man walk up to me and ask what I was handing out - it’s not often that the fish jump into the boat!
One final highlight was an online chat I had on Thursday. It was a 20-minute chat with a guy from Wittenberg in Germany! Arguably the birthplace of the protestant reformation. I can now say I’ve shared the gospel in Wittenberg, and to me, that’s a great honour!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (12 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.