Battle Log
Friday 11 November 2016
Posted 12 November 2016, 10:40 AM by Andrew Walkington. Permalink
For many months, we have tried to establish a Melbourne based ministry with only limited success. In the past 3-4 months, teams of 2 to 4 people have gone out Friday nights to share the gospel and by God’s grace we have had many wonderful conversations.
This week was different. Just 2 hours before our 7pm start time, people began to indicate that they would be out with us on the streets and by 6pm, we had 11 people committed to join us on the streets for the evening. This was a massive answer to many months and even years of prayer.
We gathered together at the GPO building to pray and get organised and then with tracts in hand, we paired up and walked out into the mall to share about our Saviour. Within just a couple of minutes I could see that almost every pair was engaged in conversation. Up and down Burke St Mall there were people sharing the gospel.
We talked to Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Buddhists, Agnostics, lapsed Catholics and a couple of atheists. Many of the people in the mall are tourists and so we often share with people who are from relatively closed countries where mission work is difficult. Several people from the team obtained phone numbers to follow up people they chatted to.
One notable conversation from the night was with 2 girls from Bendigo who had a strong Catholic background. They had little understanding of the gospel but were very open to talk and asked some brilliant questions. Towards the end of the conversation it was clear that the message had got through to them, but rather than submit to the gospel, one started trying to find excuses to not believe. She seemed to be grasping for a way to wriggle out of repentance.
A couple of our team had to leave early but when most of us gathered back at around 9:30pm to debrief, everyone had great stories of people they talked to. Even though some of us were tired from our labour there was a genuine excitement about what had happened during the evening. We are immensely excited for where God is taking this ministry from here.
View previous Melbourne (VIC) report (12 August 2016)
Melbourne Team (VIC)
Meets every Saturday, with alternating weekly outreach times, either 5:30pm - 8:30pm or 3pm - 6pm. Meet near Starbucks Galleria (385 Bourke St, Melbourne). Join the Melbourne Facebook group here to get the outreach time for this week.
Also we have a practical training outreach each month. Next one will be: Sunday 15th March 2020 4pm-6pm at 385 Bourke St, Melbourne.