Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Christchurch (NZ) Team
• Page 8

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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.

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It’s report time again.  Good weather during the week, but a very rainy weekend.  So, only 2 street outreaches this week.  Roger was with me in Riccarton on Tuesday; Andy, John and Roger joined me on Friday in the city.

There is no problem with going out in the rain.  I’ve done it many times, and the harvest field is so ripe that opportunities always present themselves, even if standing under a shop front!

But at the same time, God is blessing us with an almost overwhelming amount of gospel opportunities online.  We have face to face conversations with people, sharing the gospel with them and pointing them to the Bible and a local church.  From that, TikTok and YouTube videos are generated.  And that in turn generates people to come to us, via Instagram Messenger, with questions, and that always turns into a gospel conversation, leading to people being pointed to the Bible and a local church.

This morning, before church, I spent a couple of hours sharing the gospel via Instagram Messenger.  As per the picture, there were 1040 unread messages, not including new message requests.  Each unread message represents a person waiting for a response from us in a gospel conversation.  This brought the reality of the ripeness of the harvest field to mind.  And it’s not only online; on the street, there is limitless opportunity to share the gospel!

Yes, of course we should be sharing the gospel with those within our natural spheres of influence: friends, family, work mates, etc.  But, in the sense of the # of people you can reach, the opportunity is always going to be limited (it’s a long term game).  But when we intentionally go out to find gospel opportunities (a numbers game), the opportunity is limitless.  We need both, no doubt.  Of course we want to reach our friends, family, and work mates, etc with the gospel.  But if we don’t also be intentional in reaching out beyond that, the church will miss opportunity to glorify God.

The foundation is Christ and his word: the Bible.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, through prayer, we can overcome our fears in spiritual warfare to bring the gospel to the lost.  All to the glory of God alone.  This applies to the church, families and individually.  Teach the Bible, pray, and share the gospel.  All in reliance of the triune God of the universe, who shows his strength through our weakness!

Anyway, enough rambling.  I’m struggling to remember the details of Tuesday’s street outreach (I’m writing this on Sunday).  I think it may have been a bit of a slower outreach.  But I had a familiar face turn up.  A young man who I think has been to a few Tell Me Conferences turned up to investigate the street outreach.  He ended up joining me for about half an hour.  In that time, I had a young soldier and his girlfriend (wife?) stop to find out what we were doing.  They were willing to give the good person test a try, although there was much hesitance on their part.  Many people try not to think about the difficult realities we were discussing.  He tried to buck away from it.  But I was able to get him to stick around to at least hear the gospel, if not understand it.  They didn’t stay long.

I’m racking my brain, I’m sure I must have had other conversations, but I just can’t remember.  I remember glancing over the street and seeing Roger busy.  What a blessing!

On Friday, I paired up with John and we did some ‘walk up’ down Cashel Mall.  We both had conversation opportunities, but they were awkward in their own way.  We decided to cross Colombo St and head towards High St.  I don’t often go that way.  I ended up getting a conversation going with a young man from the USA, in NZ to play rugby.  He had a Christian background, but he pointed to ‘being good’ as the reason he was going to heaven, and so a law / gospel conversation ensued.  He became mildly emotional as he wrestled with the realities of the difficult truths we were discussing.  He started asking hard questions in defence.  One of them was: “what about those that have never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus, where do they go?”  Now, I’ve got a stock answer for this, but I sometimes forget that the question is less intellectual, and more emotional (and a deflection).  I tried to address the emotion as best as I could, but the intellectual answer is still valid and helpful, even though difficult.  Here is the stock answer by the way:

Everyone, even those in the amazon jungle with no contact with outside society, know God is real in the same way: the universe proves the universe maker (Romans 1:18-20; Psalm 19:1-4).  And, everyone knows they have done wrong: by conscience (Romans 2:14-16).  Therefore everyone justly deserves hell.  God is not doing wrong (in fact he is doing what is right) when he sends people to hell.  But, by his grace he saves some.

So, someone who doesn't know about Jesus will go to hell.  But, God is so merciful, he has asked us to go and tell everyone the good news!

The tensions in the Bible can sometimes be difficult to hold rightly.  Christians struggle with this stuff.  I struggle with this stuff.  But the truths of the tensions in the Bible are there for a reason.  They are right, good!  But John and I had to sit down and spend some time discussing, and digesting these truths.  The gospel, in one way, is so simple that a child can understand it, but in another, so deep, that a scholar will never exhaust it.  Even today, as I was listening to the truth’s of the gospel being explained in church, I was in tears.  Why does God choose me?  Oh, the wonders of his grace!!

Later, John and I had an opportunity to share this grace with two young Indian guys.

I’ve been doing more training work online.

On Friday I was able to spend an hour with a young man from Malta.  He has come to understand God’s grace and is now passionately sharing it with his friends.  But he wants to get sharper!  To my amazement, this young man has a stutter.  I was so encouraged that he would be willing to train with me to share the gospel, in spite of his impediment.  May this encourage you to face your constraints and fears and be prepared to share the gospel!

I was also able to spend about 45 minutes with a Pastor in Mississippi, who is writing a paper on sharing the gospel across cultural boundaries, online.  I was able to explain what we have learned about the benefits and shortfalls of online evangelism, and the tools and rules we have put in place to manage this.

On Saturday, I had a 2nd session with a lady in the USA.  I’m so encouraged to hear all she is doing, encouraging her church in evangelism, and leading training and outreach (flea markets, door to door, etc).  In this session I was able to communicate the power of questions, both to 1) keep someone engaged (don’t monologue), and 2) check that they are understanding the gospel.  I think she has much to process (I know it took me time!)  God willing, she will be ready for a 3rd session soon!

I’ve been having some wonderful face to face gospel conversations online too.  But I’m out of time to discuss them.

Come, join us in the harvest field.  It’s so exciting!  Come share in the joy of telling people about Jesus.  All glory to God alone.
 

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It was a public holiday on Friday, the weather was good, and the fish were swarming the central city.  Maybe a lot of fish that wouldn’t normally swim in this hole too.  I started out with prayer and then handing out a few tracts before going for a wander.

I made it to the square, it was good to see the OAC team busy there.  I noticed a couple of skaters and decided to approach them, to my surprise I recognised one of them!  I had talked to him before in a group setting.  He calls himself Sarah.  I said gidday, and we fell into a good long chat - about 1 hour.  We never talked about sexuality - except that I once mentioned sexual immorality.  He is sharp mentally, and so at the beginning of the chat we mainly discussed worldview with a focus on how we know God is real.  I was then able to explain the law and then the gospel, and then we moved into a phase of conversation where he was asking a lot of good questions.  He was clearly rejecting the gospel at this stage, and yet there was an openness of sorts.  He accepted a gospel of John and a gospel tract.  I suspect he will still read the book of John through his own worldview, and yet, God can change his mind.  I pray that he does, and that I will get to see him again.

I made it back to Cashel Mall, looking at all the fish swimming past.  All I had to do was reach out - it was so easy to get a conversation started.  I talked to two young men.  They were being a bit cheeky when one responded that we would enter a feast after life.  The other said ‘Valhalla’.  I knew they were both joking around with me, but I just rolled with it.  I was able to share the law and the gospel.  At one point, one of them flared up ever so slightly, so I knew the message was getting through in spite of the joking.  But he contained himself well.  We parted on good terms.

I then turned and reached out to one of the many other people going past.  It happened to be a tourist from Scotland.  He was intrigued by my question of ‘what happens after life’, and he settled in for a long chat.  He seemed to respond to what I was saying in a way, and yet there was a hesitancy.  It turns out that when he gets back to Scotland he is going to university to study astrophysics, and he grew up Bahá'í.  We ended up talking for about 45 minutes, and the law and gospel was shared.  I thought he might accept a gospel of John too, but as he was travelling light he wouldn't have accepted one (it turns out I had run out anyway).  But he did accept a tract.

So, that was about 2 hours of conversation, within about 2 and a quarter hours.  I was going to pay for that with a pretty bad headache the next day.  But it was worth it.  I was so sad other believers were not able to join me.  I may make this public holiday an official outreach for next year.

Before heading to the street, I had a great chat online with a couple of young ladies (live streamed here).  It went for 45 minutes.  They were in different places, and so I ended up focusing on the one who believed in God.  I had to really labour through all the check questions.  Not because she was stupid, but because the idea of heaven being a gift is not natural to our thinking.  But it was encouraging that by the end of the chat, she really seemed to be correctly articulating the gospel.  And the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  I was encouraged to learn that one of my fellow church members had listened to this chat and been encouraged by it (he told me at church today).

I had a number of other great chats online through the week, including with a swearing Muslim from Saudi Arabia, two young men who followed the ‘script’ of the gospel and made a profession of faith.  A great 30 minute chat with a young man from the UK who seemed genuinely stoked when he came to understand the gospel and exclaimed “I have to tell my parents about this”.  Among other chats.

On Saturday, I had a one hour training session online with a lady from the USA.  But it didn’t end up being a training session.  She really likes to talk, and so she spent about 50 minutes telling me all about how she is encouraging her church in evangelism, and the outreaches she leads.  I was so encouraged, I just let her talk!  It certainly wasn’t wasted time, and we got to know each other, and I was encouraged to learn how she has been processing the way Ryan shares the gospel.  We discussed the differences to the way she usually does it, and why.  We are all teed up for another training session next week, even though she is older, and aware what she is getting into, she is very keen to try online evangelism!

I then headed to the streets, Riccarton.  I had a fantastic chat with a guy called Danny.  It was fairly text booked, and he seemed impressed by the gospel.  He happily received a gospel of John (I had restocked my supply).

As pictured, the homeless lady is back.  Her bed was there, but she was away for the time I was there.  I left another tract, and hope to get into a conversation with her in the near future.

Sunday I had Susan with me in the city.  She was very keen to do walk up chats, and so that’s what we did!  We had many opportunities.  Including with an Italian guy on Cashel Mall, a group of teens at the intersection of Hereford and Colombo, Susan talked to Simon (a regular) in the Square, and then we had a chat with a young couple of tourists from Germany.  They were very friendly, and sadly very resistant to the idea of God being real - esp. her.  Susan did share the law and the gospel.

Well, that’s a wrap for another week!  Thank you to all those that support what we are doing on the street and online.  It is very much appreciated.  All glory to God alone.
 

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Winter continues!  But we had a break in the wet weather for outreach on Tuesday (Riccarton with Roger) and Friday (City with Roger, Martin, and Andy).  The weekend was very wet again, so I just worked online.

But, the two outreaches were phenomenal.  Busy, no lack of opportunity!  I came away from Tuesday’s outreach in joy!  Part of me is happy there are so few Christians out joining me, that just leaves more opportunity for me!  But, of course that’s not right.  There is more than enough opportunity to share the gospel with the lost - come join us!  You are missing out in this joy.

So, the highlight conversation from Tuesday was the last one.  Two young lads went past.  I didn’t think they would be interested, but they surprised me by stopping.  There was an openness (respectful engagement), but at the same time a resistance (not willing to submit to the God they know is real).

I used the flip chart, but only sparingly, the conversation was basically me explaining the law and the gospel, and them hitting me with all the questions they had.  I can’t be sure how long the chat went for, but I’d say 45 minutes?  As they left, I noticed it was dusk, and it was cold.  Outreach time was over!

I learnt something interesting from the conversation.  At the start, I could tell these guys weren’t dumb, and so I said, “I’m not going to argue from what I don’t know, instead, I’m only going to rely on what I do know - no god of the gaps.”  They were happy with that.  But by the end of the conversation, as one of them was fighting to keep the wraps on their suppression of God tied down, drifted into what we don’t know: “But, in the future, we could learn something that proves there is no god”.  I instantly went back and said, “hold on, I told you at the start that I won’t argue from what I don’t know, but only from what I do know.  You are now appealing to what you don’t know”.  It was an accidental set up, but it was powerful, it hit home, and he struggled to keep his composure (but to his credit, he did).

I pleaded with them both to repent.  And they both took tracts, “everything I’ve said can be summarised into this little 8 page cartoon”.  That’s how simple the message of the gospel is.

Earlier I had some interaction with 3 youth’s.  The young lady was very sharp intellectually, but I don’t think she realised it.  Her rebellion against God was sophisticated, and yet simple minded.  I instinctively knew that it wasn’t wise to engage her further, as it would just lead to intense heat and no fruit.  I let them go, after a simple gospel explanation, and with tracts each.

Earlier in the day, while online, I connected with a lady from the USA.  I had a 19 minute conversation with her, in which she came to tears.  She professed faith in God early in the chat, but it was clear that she didn’t really understand the gospel.  You have to be gentle in these situations, because if you are too direct “you aren’t really a Christian”, then they just get offended and walk away.  So, I laboured with her to try to get her to see what I saw for herself.  Eventually she did flare up in protest, but I didn’t back down, and I made it clear I wasn’t backing down out of care for her.  As we continued to talk, I was surprised to see tears start coming down her face.  She opened up, and revealed her struggle: she is in a church that teaches baptism in the Spirit and tongues for salvation.  She doesn’t ‘feel’ the Spirit, and so she concludes she is not saved as a result.  I was able to bring the balm of the true gospel.  She continued to weep.  It was a special chat.  She thanked me for what I was doing.  When I suggested she look for a church that teaches the gospel and the Bible, she was eager to take down the details of how to find one.  I was very encouraged.

Later in the week, I had a 1 hour online chat, with a young man and his friend.  It was funny, because his response to my question, “what do you think happens after life”, was to say, “You’re on, I want to talk about this… hold on, let me move my mouse so I don’t accidentally skip you”.  He was all questions and resistance initially, but I found an opportunity to swing to the law and suddenly I had control of the conversation.  I shared the gospel, and then moved straight to my first check question.  He instantly got it wrong, and when I pointed that out he understood, “Oh, man, this takes time to correct your thinking”.  Actually, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.  I continued working through the checks.  He kept getting them wrong, but this just caused him to process and correct his thinking.  By the end of the chat he was not only articulating the gospel perfectly, but he professed that he was “110% sure that he was going to heaven when he died, because Jesus died on the cross for my sin”.  Both he and his friend were grateful for the chat, and were willing to start reading the Bible for themselves and find a local church.

Friday’s outreach in the city was amazing.

I had Martin (from Hamilton way) with me.  We arrived at the outreach location, and I instantly spied someone who I thought would be good to chat too.  She was!  And we ended up talking for exactly 1 hour!  She claimed to be open, but very much hated the idea that God was allowed to make rules and tell her how to live.

I went for a wander, and encountered 3 young people at the corner of Colombo and Hereford.  I’d apparently talked to 1 of them before (but I don’t remember it), he said, “Faith that Jesus died on the cross for your sin”!  Well, he had an understanding, but it was clear he wasn’t doing that - he didn’t want to chat.  But 1 of his friends did.  I was able to give a short gospel presentation, at the end of which, he asked, “can I give you a hug?”  No problem!  What a blessing.  He really seemed to appreciate the chat, and he left with a gospel of John.  And all 3 of them left with tracts.

I got another hug later on, from a streetie, also whom I don’t remember - but he knew my name!  He even remembered the gospel too.  We talked for a while, I’ll work on remembering his name, and hope to see him again.

Well, I’m out of time to write further.  Thank you for praying for this ministry, and please, come join me out in the harvest!  It’s such a joy to labour in it.
 

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A full week of street outreach this week.  Roger was with me on Tuesday in Riccarton.  Roger, Andy and myself on Friday in the City.  I was in Riccarton on Saturday.  And then Mike joined me in the City on Sunday afternoon.

The forecast for Tuesday was for rain in the evening.  Roger was keen to get out, and so we did!  But sadly, the rain came early.  I didn’t bother with my flipchart, hoping to steal chats with people in sheltered spots.

But the outreach was worth it!  I managed to get into a short chat with three young high school students.  One of them took the lead in the talking, but another one of them seemed to be soaking in the gospel.  But, thinking of the talker, he started out very agnostic, and so I was surprised to learn he was actually a church goer.  It’s a reminder that we need to keep the gospel, front and centre in our churches and our family devotion times.

We had a couple of Police officers come on the scene.  But thankfully it wasn’t because of Roger or I.  A homeless lady has been camping in Riccarton (I think I’ve mentioned her in previous reports), and she has taken up residence where we do outreach.  It turns out people have been laying complaints, and so the Police want her to move on.  But she won’t.  Even in the rain, she is sleeping on the sidewalk (pictured).  It’s so sad.  There are no simple solutions to issues like this.  You can’t help people that don’t want it.  I’ll pick this thread up again later in the report.

The rain became heavy, and so Roger and I decided to finish up the outreach early.

Friday’s outreach was amazing.  All 3 of us had stellar gospel conversations.  Roger had a young couple go to tears on him (in a good way).  And Andy had a lady go to tears as well - although she was a Christian, tearing up about how good God is!  He is indeed!

I went for a wander, and ended up encountering a young man outside the KFC on Colombo Street.  He seemed primed for the chat.  He was down from Auckland visiting family, and he had time on his hands.  He’d gone to a Catholic school, and believed in heaven and hell. But not surprisingly he was trusting in his works for salvation.  He heard the law, and then the gospel, and then we worked through the suite of check questions I normally use.  He kept getting them wrong, but each time it was just a learning opportunity for him.  He really seemed to come to grasp the gospel through it, and he seemed genuinely stoked by it.  He lived in Southern Auckland, and so I pointed him to South City Reformed Baptist Church and gave him a gospel of John.  What a joy to be able to deliver the good news of Jesus!

There were other great chats, including one Andy & I teamed up with a couple of kids walking past.  And at the end of the outreach I had a wonderful five minute chat with a young man who also seemed primed and ready.  The chat finished just as his friend came from a shop and was ready to move on.

It really felt like people were praying for us on Friday, so if you were, thank you!  And please keep us in your prayers!  This ministry will be ineffective without the power of Spirit, through the prayers of the Saints!

Saturday was bright and sunny.  The homeless lady was still there (yes, I know her name).  And so I set up my flip chart on the other side of the street.  I had some good chats, including with a soldier and his friend, and tracts were distributed.  But I kept thinking of the homeless lady, she was sitting in the sun, and seemed to be having a conversation with herself, but then she lay down on her bedding and went to sleep, eventually flicking the top blanket over her head (pictured).  But before she did that, I went over to her side of the street to hand out tracts, and I was able to say hello.  She was friendly in response.  That’s good, ice broken.  Next time I see her, I’ll try engaging more, and see if she is open to conversation.  Since she was asleep when I left, I left a gospel tract for her, beside her soft toy.

Sunday was sunny, but bitterly cold.  It was like the wind was running over ice!  I focused on tracts and conversations at the corner of Colombo and Cashel.  The JW’s took the sunny side, so I took the other!

When Mike turned up, he had something new with him!  He has been designing a new flipchart stand - well, God has been designing.  His design didn’t work, but amazingly, the very thing that was breaking his design, ended up being the very thing that made a stable stand (when used in a different way)!  God is sovereign!

Mike set up the stand, and had the honour of getting into the first chat with it (pictured).  While that was happening, other people started stopping to look at what was happening (pictured), and so I was able to get into a good conversation with them.  I’ve been using the flip chart for years, and it’s such a powerful tool.

Well, that’s a wrap for another week.  This morning, I processed a few Instagram direct messages.  At the time, we had over 450 unread messages, and nearly 70 new message requests.  Each one is a gospel conversation.  We now have 8 people working to share the gospel with all these people.  The online gospel opportunity (needGod.net) that God has blessed us with is amazing, and we get to point every one of them to a local church.  And it’s very apparent where in the world more local churches are needed.  We need more pastors / missionaries to be raised up to plant churches in these locations.  The job is not complete!  Till the nets are full, go serve your King!
 

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Another week of God’s patience, that could run out at any moment.

And I just witnessed this online evangelism stat pop up, we have just hit 10,000 hours in gospel chats as a team:

Team Milestone: Had 10,000 hours in chats as a team across 43,997 chats in 2 years 3 months!
191 Countries reached (76%).  58 Countries to go!

All glory to God alone.

Well, in regards to the street work.  This week I was at all the normal outreaches, except Riccarton on Saturday - due to rain.

On Tuesday afternoon, I was in Riccarton with Roger.  I had significant chats with people from overseas.  They came to hear the gospel!  One of the guys was from Chile (if I heard him right) and another from France.  They were both open to a conversation, but they were both resisting the gospel due to idolatry (they want to make God rather than acknowledge that God made them).  Yet, they both clearly heard the law and the gospel.

Roger was busy on the other side of the street.  As the outreach came to a close at 5:30 pm, I noticed that whoever was talking to Roger was being pretty intense.  In his face.  I packed up my flip chart a little early and headed over to see what was going on.  Sure enough, an Atheist was in attack mode - Roger was holding his own.  Ya know, most of the people I talk to are not Atheists - it’s logically silly to hold that position.  I want to push this guy back a bit, and couldn’t help joining the fray (verbally).  I could tell the guy and his friend were not open to reason, and I could give a fair guess why: again Idolatry - ‘I want to be god and make the rules’.  So I shut the conversation down, with an offer to continue the chat online.  They both received tracts with how to get in touch.

One of my daughters has started a job at McDonald’s in Riccarton mall just round the corner from where we outreach.  I had to wait for her to finish her shift, and so I shouted Roger some McDonald’s so we could catch up while I waited.

As we were talking, suddenly a fight broke out behind Roger.  Right in the food court, in Riccarton Mall, about 15 teen guys started having a very serious fist fight.  It was horrible.  Chairs were thrown, children were crying, people were standing round stunned, or trying to calm things down.  I was one of the stunned ones, Roger was in there trying to stop it.  I felt very unsafe.  The fight went for at least 10 minutes.  And it moved up and down the mall.  Security didn’t seem to be able to do anything to stop it.  I took some video footage as evidence, and then I called the police (yet again).

I felt angry.  I wanted to do something about it.  I could see some of the problems, and political policy started formulating in my mind.  Yet, as essential as sound political policy is, it’s nothing without getting to the root of the issue.  The root of the issue is sin.  And the only solution is the gospel.  This motivates me, even more, to focus on reaching people with the good news of Jesus.  It’s God’s will that his mercy be demonstrated, and we need to be praying that his will be done, and get out to proclaim the gospel!  God, have mercy on my city, nation, and the nations of the world!
Finally the fight stopped (or moved out of the mall, I don’t know), and things started to return to normal.  To my horror, a couple of the kids came back.  They were looking for a phone that was lost.  They should be in prison after what I saw them do.  One of them was a chair thrower.  One of them approached me to ask if I’d seen the phone.  I gave him a tract and asked if he believed God was real.  “Yeah, I believe in God.”  I was angry, and so I said, “So, do you believe in hell?”  There will be consequences for our actions.  My daughter finished work and I didn’t want her near these guys after what I had witnessed.  I queried the security guard as to why they were let back in.  He seemed to think they weren’t at fault!?  Out on the street.  As I was walking towards my car, with my daughter, I spotted another group of them.  I didn’t feel safe.  It took me a few days to process this.  The gospel is the ultimate solution!  I want these kids to know God's mercy.  Yet, God will also be glorified in demonstrating his justice.

Friday (Roger, John, Andy and myself) and Sunday (Susan and myself) the team was in the city.

On Friday I was saddened to talk to a lady with a Christian background.  I try to be really gentle in checking gospel understanding, but she gave me the anti-gospel (works) as the reason she gets to heaven.  When I gently tried to point this out, she doubled down.  Resistant and not open to talk about it.  I ended up having to shut down the conversation.  I also received ‘tracts’ from 2 different people.  One was against a cashless society.  The other was against vaccine mandates.  I was able to get into a conversation with the anti-vaxxer, but she didn’t want to talk about the deeper issue of what happens after life.  The thing I learnt most through the Covid period is how to love those I strongly disagree with - and I told her this.

Sunday was cold, but Susan and I had some good opportunities to engage people with the gospel, through conversation and tracts.  We weren’t far from the JW’s with their stands.  And I caught them glancing at me multiple times.  I think they were able to hear the gospel conversations I was having.  I hope to see them again, and God willing, have meaningful gospel conversation directly with them too.  May God open their eyes.  Have mercy on our land!
 

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Only one street outreach this week: Friday afternoon in the city.  I decided to let Riccarton lay fallow for another week.  Roger should be back next week and looking forward to joining him on Tuesday, God willing.  The weather wasn’t the best today, and so I decided it would be more fruitful to work online - we are really busy on Instagram.  I spent a whole hour this morning just processing new message requests!  Every single request (generated by the online content we produce mainly on YouTube and TikTok) is a gospel opportunity, which is amazing, but please pray that we would have wisdom, as always, in ministering to these people.  That they would be saved and knitted into a local church!

Anyway, this should be a short report, as I only have one street outreach to write about!  I was with Andy on Friday.  We go back a long way now, and have been working together in evangelism to God’s glory alone.  We are so different, but we compliment each other.  I am so blessed by his friendship!

We prayed together before getting into it.  As we were praying, I noticed two people who I thought would be open to a chat, but I know how important prayer is, so I let them pass.  God is sovereign.  Once we had finished praying, I looked up, and I noticed an interesting young man walking past, he looked like a busker - a juggler.  I instantly took the opportunity to engage him, he responded and came over and the 3 of us fell into an easy chat about his interest: juggling.  Andy can juggle too as it turns out!  So they took turns to demonstrate their tricks.  I asked about his day job, and then he asked what we were up to.  That was my opportunity to swing it.  I took the direct approach (it’s always best to be upfront and not beat around the bush), “we are Christians out to share about Jesus”.  He had suspected as much, he figured we were either Christians or JWs.  He said he was a Christian himself, and even mentioned the local church he was at.  I kept it light, because I didn’t want to come across as the ‘Christian Inspector’, so I was just honest in saying, “Hey, I talk to a lot of people who say they are Christian but who are subtly missing the main point, please allow me to check, why do you think you’ll go to heaven when you die?”.  He thought about it for a second and his natural response was to go to his good works - not the right response.  But just because they don’t give the right response initially isn’t an instant red cross!  I gently tried to probe, after about 30 seconds, he went to the right answer: Jesus.  We were then able to discuss it, between the 3 of us for the next 15 minutes or so.  After teasing out the details, he agreed that he was subtly trusting his works for salvation.  He seemed to have a couple of penny drop moments as Andy and I worked through some check questions with him.  He seemed to really appreciate the chat.  We parted ways with handshakes and pointed him to Romans 3, 4, and 5 (to go to the source of what we were talking about, not as a reason he is saved! ;) ).  He walked off, in the sovereign hands of God.  Our job is to share the gospel - it’s the power of God for salvation.  But it’s God’s job to actually save - he is the power!

What’s interesting is, if I had broken out of our prayer time, and engaged the first 2 people, then I wouldn’t have engaged this guy.  Who knows… God does.  Don’t worry about what you can’t control.  Just do what is in your control: step out and share the gospel!  Leave the rest to him!

But, the other thing that is interesting is this: we are so prone to forget the gospel!  We need to preach it, not only to others, but to ourselves: all day, and everyday.  Why do we forget it?  It’s so natural to think about performance: most things in life are oriented around it.  It’s so easy to slip back to “I” rather than “He” when it comes to salvation.  But, we don’t only slip into this individually, but also as families and churches.  We can become so focused on ministry that we lose focus on the main point.  So this is not a rebuke, but an encouragement.  Preach the gospel to yourself everyday.  Don’t lose sight of the wonder and grace of the forgiveness of our sin found in Jesus.  Don’t forget to preach this from your pulpit regularly.  Jesus is the foundation and the anchor!  Amazing grace!

To emphasise this point, I ended up having a similar conversation with a second person later in the outreach.  Going to a good local church, but just missing the basics.

Andy and I had other good conversations through the outreach.  I got to minister Christ to a young couple, and an older lady from Japan.  Andy is pictured in what was a long conversation.

Earlier in the day, while I was online, I was able to share the gospel with someone who claimed to be streaming our conversation to about 4,000 people (if I heard him right).  If that was true, who knows, maybe some of them will come to Christ as a result.  It’s the simple message of the gospel that God can use to save someone.  Be faithful in small things, and who knows what opportunity will come.

Thank you for your support, in prayer, for this street and online ministry.  We really appreciate it!  Glory to God alone.
 

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Another week of God’s patience has passed.  Another week of gospel outreach is complete.  This week I decided to let Riccarton lay fallow.  I would have been on my own on Tuesday and Saturday, and so I decided to work online instead, for various reasons.  But Andy was with me for Friday afternoons outreach in the city, and Susan and Binu were with me for the Sunday afternoon outreach in the city.

I had two very poignant online conversations on Friday.  You can actually watch them on YouTube here.

The first was a fifteen minute chat with a guy from Canada.  Early in his life he had been very scared of death - but no longer, he had reconciled it.  I thought he was going to say he had reconciled it by pretending that God isn't real.  But to my surprise he said he became a Christian!  But sadly he was pointing to his works as the reason he was saved.  It turns out he was Orthodox.  It was a very profitable conversation in the sense that he seemed to be engaged in the gospel clarification I was bringing.  I think he was challenged, as part way through the check questions, he skipped the conversation.  Oh well, I was very grateful for the opportunity to plough and sow into his life.

The second was a 30 minute chat with a guy from Saudi Arabia.  I don’t often talk to people from there, and I again have the wonder afresh of the fact that the Holy Spirit can beam me into someone’s life for a moment to minister the gospel and then beam me away again.  Online evangelism is a neglected harvest field of the church.  It’s a gold mine of opportunity!  What’s even more amazing is that I can stay in contact - via Instagram messenger.  Not surprisingly he was a Muslim.  Now, I talk to a lot of Muslims, and I’m familiar with the ways they usually resist the gospel.  So, it was to my surprise that he didn’t resist in those ways.  At one point he even seemed to concede to what I was saying.  I was very encouraged.

The afternoon street outreach with Andy was wonderful.  No flipcharts.  We just paired up, prayed, and moved down the street to engage with people walk up style.  We took turns leading the conversation.  There were many opportunities.  I’d guess that we had about 15 conversations in total.  We ended up in Cathedral Square, and then headed back to the Bridge of Remembrance.  Some of the chats went well in the sense that people engaged naturally.  Some of the chats were awkward.  Some of the chats involved resistance.  In most of the chats, both the law and gospel were ministered.

Andy ended up getting a chat started with a lady from France (she had been in NZ since January, and was heading back in a few weeks).  I decided to leave him to that, and went off to have my own conversations.  I got into a very interesting chat with a couple of construction workers that came from Chile.  It was an interesting chat because the one who denied God seemed to be convicted (& resistant) and the one who believed in God became thoughtful.

The outreach ended with two great short conversations.  One with an atheist who quickly backslid to agnosticism and heard the law and the gospel.  He stayed resistant but seemed to appreciate the chat.  The other was with two young ladies: one with a Mormon background, the other who “loved Christians”.  They both heard the law and the gospel, and left with tracts.

Sunday was a sunny but cold day.  I saw TK (one of my regulars) and his dog, called boy, and so I went to say hello before getting into the outreach.  The JWs were set up in my usual spot, and their sign said, “when will suffering end?”  And so I decided to go and ask them why they thought God allows evil and suffering.  I didn’t spend much time with them, but it was an opportunity to get to know them.

I started handing out tracts and was quickly into a conversation with 3 young lads.  They were keen to engage, in fact, one of them pulled out their phones to record.  It didn’t seem like a set up, but I didn’t have any problem with it.  I have nothing to hide.  One of them took point and did most of the talking.  It was clear he was keen for an apologetics battle - I was happy for that, but I didn’t let it distract from getting to the law and the gospel.  My check questions revealed that 2 of them just weren't engaged (not surprising because I wasn’t focusing on them).  But the main talker came to understand the gospel, even if he is rejecting it at this moment.  They all left with tracts.

I then had a lot of encouragement.  A guy that I’ve been talking to, on and off over the last 5 years, came past.  He was in a cult that accepted all the books of the Bible except Paul’s letters.  He was very much a legalist and proud of it.  Our discussion times in the past were often a bit heated.  To my surprise, he said that he has had a change since we last talked (about 6 months ago).  He is now out of the cult and going to a local church!  We ended up sitting down and having a long catch up.  He is still not articulating the gospel clearly, but there is a change in him, and he is open to discuss and learn.  He is serving in the church, and he’s doing a bible study course that is helping him sort through all this stuff (I’ve done a quick Google search, and no red flags jump out).  We have exchanged phone numbers, and I hope to see him again.  I’m just rejoicing that God is sovereign and God can save and change us for his glory.
 

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It was a privilege and an honour to be enabled to be on the streets of Christchurch this week to proclaim the gospel.  Thank you for your prayer support.

I ended up not heading to the streets today (Sunday).  I forgot my jacket, and it was cold!  I decided to work online instead.  But all the other usual outreaches went ahead: Tuesday afternoon in Riccarton with Roger.  Friday afternoon in the city with Andy, Greg and John, and then Saturday lunch time period on my own.

I’m going to have to start taking notes for Tuesday, because I can’t remember any of the specific details now!  (Oh, I found a picture I took - Roger had a long chat with that person).

Friday’s outreach was interesting.  Andy had a divine appointment to talk with John’s son to start with!  And so, John and I decided to pair up for ‘walk up’, while Greg would go with Andy.

As John and I went down Cashel Mall, we encountered a group of teens - about 12.  I had plenty of energy, so I decided to engage them.  They took the bait, but I had to work hard to keep their attention.  I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep it up, and so my law and gospel message was brief.  I was also able to answer a few questions.  They left with many of them receiving follow up tracts.

Next we were able to have a brief conversation with a young man who was obviously very resistant but trying to be polite.  I’d love to know what the deeper issue is, but he didn’t stick around for long.  I was then able to briefly share with an African man, who had a Christian background, but was trusting in his works (prayer and church).

After that, I experienced a lot of false start chats with people who didn’t really want to talk.  By this stage, we were back at the Bridge of Remembrance and John and I split up.

I finally got a decent chat going, with a man sitting on a bench.  He was happy to talk.  Sadly, his friend had just committed suicide - so sad.  I started out by doing a lot of listening.  But, as the chat progressed, I learned he was an atheist who never did anything wrong.  He had never been angry with anyone.  And yet, amazingly, just after I raised the issue of anger with him, he started using bad language and talking about politicians in very unsavoury ways.  He was justifying all his sin and therefore declaring himself good.  He was very blind to any kind of reason.  I made sure to summarise the law and the gospel, using myself as an example, because he was so closed.  And then we parted ways on good terms.

Saturday’s outreach was very interesting.  Partly encouraging, and partly sad.

I turned up to the outreach, thinking on how useless prayer and evangelism can seem, and yet how powerful we know they are.  I was thinking about how foolish I looked, standing on the corner of the street, trying to engage people to share Christ.

I hadn’t talked to anyone yet, when one of my ‘regulars’ came past (I actually hadn’t seen him for a long time).  I asked him how he was.  And then he teared up.  We sat down, and he was willing to open up about a crisis he was having in his life.  I felt honoured that he was willing to talk with a foolish street preacher like me!  I did a lot of listening, and I instinctively knew I couldn’t push the conversation to the law or the gospel.  (I’ve shared it with him before anyway.)  I’m glad I didn’t push, because I ended up learning things about him that I don’t think I would have learned otherwise.  To my surprise, he used to be part of a local church, and he used to do street evangelism!  But now, he barely believes that God is real!  He was able to talk about some of his fears of death (not the process, but the loneliness of it).  In the end, I gave him my contact details on a church card and told him, if his crisis eventuated, and he was going to die, I would come and sit with him so he didn’t have to be alone.  Later in the day, he messaged me to thank me for the talk.  I’ll be praying for him, and hope to see him again.  That he would gain true understanding of the gospel, and that God would have mercy and save him.

Later, I ended up talking to 2 young lads.  A gentleman joined the conversation - and I initially thought it was the Father, but they weren’t related.  The lads moved on, and I was able to focus on the man.  It turns out he had a familiarity with the Bible, and yet he was thinking his works would save him.  Nothing registered when I clarified the gospel.  And then, sadly, I found out he had been involved with the cult: World Mission Society Church of God.  At this point, a 3rd person joined the conversation.  I initially asked if they could wait till I had finished the chat with the man.  They listened for a while, but they couldn’t hold back.  They wanted to ‘preach’.  He wasn’t abrupt, but he liked to talk.  My honest evaluation was that he was mentally unsound.  He thought God was talking to him, but what he was saying contradicted scripture.  Sadly, the 2 guys seemed to get on well together.  I ended up having a 4th person join the conversation!  Actually, he just wanted to talk to me, I had talked to him a few weeks prior - and by God’s grace, I was able to remember details from that previous conversation.  Sadly, this 4th guy hadn’t remembered the gospel, and so I briefly shared it again, before he moved on.

By this stage, the outreach was over.  When you are deep in conversations, time goes fast!

Well, that covers the week on the streets.  The online work is as busy as ever.  God bless you as you seek to make Christ known to those around you.  All glory to God alone.
 

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A regular, yet wonderful week of street outreach this week.  Roger was with me in Riccarton on Tuesday; Andy, Roger & Elena were with me in the City on Friday; I was in Riccarton on Saturday, and Tanush and Susan were with me in the City on Sunday afternoon.

I’m going to go in reverse order - hopefully that will get my memory going!

No flipcharts on Sunday.  The focus was on walk-up, which seems to be Tanush’s preference.  She emboldened me!  We started with a chat with a young filipino - he said he only thinks about the after life sometimes, late at night.  He wasn’t really engaged in the conversation.  So it was good when his parents joined the conversation.  His dad was more open.  Turns out they come from Oamaru, which is where I grew up!  Sadly I didn’t get to talk to the parents for long - they had to go, but both the Father and the son accepted tracts.

Tanush led the next chat, it was with 2 chats, 1 of them was very resistant.  She passed the convo to me, but it didn’t last long.  We parted on good terms, and the non-resistant 1 took a tract.

Tanush tried again, and this time I left her to it and got into my own chats.  Tanush ended up in a long chat with a guy.  And I was able to have a follow up chat from last week - they had 3 others with them this time, and 1 of them seemed impacted by the law and the gospel.  He accepted a copy of the gospel of John.

Susan was with us by now, and we decided to head to the sunshine nearer the bridge of remembrance (it was a nice late autumn day).  I saw Tanush and Susan have 2 more conversations, and I was able to have 2 more too.  My last one was great.  It was with 5 young lads.  They were joking around a bit, but I could tell I was getting through to them, because they were asking really good questions.

Saturday’s outreach was great.  In 2 hours I had 2 conversations (plus change) for about 45 minutes each.

The first was with a man with an accent.  It turns out he had German descent.  He is a medical doctor working at the Hospital and for the medical school.  Most of the conversation was focused on how we know God exists.  I challenged his assumption that we can’t be sure - because that is clearly what he needed.  He was obviously very familiar with Christian concepts, but he’s been hoodwinked away from it.  I didn’t forget to make sure I shared the law and the gospel.  As the law brings the knowledge of sin, and the gospel is the power of God for salvation - apologetics can’t save.  He was very engaged, because part way through the conversation, he got a phone call.  This often kills chats, but not this one.  He took the call, and then we got straight back to our conversation!

The second was with a young man with Russian descent.  He has only just arrived in the Country.  He is going to study communications at UC (University of Canterbury).  Previously he had been at a Catholic High School in Brisbane.  But it seems like he grew up in Russia.  He believed in the Nordic gods (philosophically, not literally).  For him, religions were like a candy shop, he takes what pleases him.  Sadly, that is idolatry.  Part way through the chat, he started reacting negatively (emotionally) when I had been engaging him purely on a logical level.  I could tell what I was saying was making sense to him, and he didn’t like it (he doesn’t get to make god, instead, God made him).  I decided to disengage at that point, I shook his hand thinking he would move on.  But to my surprise, he wanted to keep chatting, and stayed for a lot longer.  I was able to finish sharing the law, share the gospel and move into check questions.  We ended up shaking hands quite a few times at the end of that chat - I’m not sure why!  God willing he will have many more opportunities to engage with the gospel at UC.

Friday was great!  Martin from up north joined me for some outreaches during the Christmas period, and his friend, Elena, was in Christchurch - so she joined us for outreach.  It was great to have her with us.

There was a climate change protest happening.  I always love that, it attracts passionate young people to engage with the gospel!  Elena and I ended up having a great chat with a very thoughtful young man called Luc (french descent; he wasn’t actually involved with the protest).  Andy had a long chat with a young high school age girl who had been involved with the climate change protest.  Roger was busy as well.

I found it interesting that when the protest actually went past, how few people seemed to be in it, compared to previous times.

And that leaves me with Tuesday’s outreach.  Now, I’m sure I had some interesting chats - but I just can’t remember them.  But, I do remember Roger having a conversation with 12 (I counted them) high school students at one point.  They were all at different places.  Some of them even came across the street to talk with me.  One girl seemed genuinely stoked to have heard the gospel: she told it to me unprompted!  But there was resistance in the others.  Some of them were Muslim: one of them said he had talked to me before in the city - in hindsight, I remember the chat.

Anyway, they are the highlights of the week.  All glory to God alone.  Thank you for continuing to pray for us!
 

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Due to rain on Friday and Saturday, I decided to do my 2nd favourite thing: share the gospel online!  But, on Tuesday afternoon I was in Riccarton, and on Sunday afternoon I was in the city with Susan.  So, this report will only cover those 2 outreaches.

I’ll start with Sunday’s outreach.  It was a cold winter wind, but the sun was hot.  I was layered up and so for the first part of the outreach, I was too hot!  I was also feeling tired, and so I decided I was just going to focus on tract distribution - if a chat got started, great!  But I wasn’t going to push myself.  The start of the outreach was slow.  Tracts were going out, but no chats.

Then I saw Mary.  I hadn’t seen her for a long time.  I had long chats with her partner, Michael, many times on the streets.  Sadly, he was very resistant to the gospel, and yet, he seemed to enjoy engaging with me in regards to the gospel.  The first thing I asked Mary was, “how is Michael?”.  She said, “Oh, he passed away 2 years ago - liver failure, he was refusing treatment, because he didn’t want them to put holes in him, he was trying alternative treatments”.  I felt devastated.  That is the 4th person I’ve ministered the gospel to on the streets who has since passed away (that I know of).  And thinking of all 4 of them, from what I could tell, they were rejecting the gospel.  So sad, when God’s mercy is free.  It really makes me reflect on how important it is to continue sharing the gospel, as we can.  Life is so short, everyone is going to die, and they need the gospel.  And yet, God is in control, and it’s not my responsibility to save anyone.  I rest content, that either way, God will be glorified, either through his mercy or through his justice.  God, we pray for mercy!

Anyway, eventually, after a few false starts, I was able to get into a gospel chat with 2 young ladies.  As this chat was happening, Susan arrived and listened in.  Immediately after this chat, I was able to get a chat rolling with 6 young lads.  3 of them instantly disengaged, but 3 of them stayed.  The first was atheist.  But his 2 friends were agnostic.  It was such a good chat, because the building / builder analogy clicked for all 3 of them, and then I challenged the atheist to the good person test - he was keen!  When I asked if he had lied, he said, “no”.  And his friend instantly looked at him, “yes, you have, it’s a lie to say you’ve never lied!”.  By this stage, the other 3 guys were back.  This time I asked if he had ever disobeyed his parents: “Nope”.  And then one of those 3 said, “yes you have!”.  Haha, my point was being made clear to all!  Sadly, this is where the chat broke up, the 3 guys pulled the atheist away, but the other 2 guys were keen to stay.  I was able to share the good news of Jesus with them.  One of them in particular seemed very interested.

Finally Susan and I were able to have a time of prayer, when immediately I was approached by a Christian man I haven’t seen in a few years, I was able to have a catch up with him, and then another Christian guy came to catch up - I broke that chat off, because I want to talk to unbelievers on the street!

To finish, I want to point out the picture in this report.  Note what was written on the back of his top: “Dream Big.  Live Larger.”, but, underneath it says in small writing: “Pursuit of Happiness”.  There is nothing wrong with being happy!  But, this is the god of the age: self.  It is so meaningless.  I wish more people would read Ecclesiasties.  God, again, I pray for mercy, have mercy upon Christchurch, New Zealand, and beyond.

Now Reflecting on Tuesday’s outreach in Riccarton.  I turned up and set up my flip chart when soon after a homeless person turned up with their shopping cart and parked it directly behind me (pictured).  It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them.  I said hello, but they didn’t want to talk.  Anyway, they stayed there behind me for the whole outreach.  God willing they listened into the gospel chats I was having!

During the outreach, someone in a car was stopped, waiting for traffic, right next to where I have my flip chat.  He wound down his window and started talking to me like I knew him.  He told me he was moving to Melbourne.  As I reflect on that now, I think I know who it is. His name escapes me at the moment, but it was a unique name.  I’m pretty sure I had a few long gospel chats with him over time.  From memory, at one time he was very open, but then later he became resistant as he counted the cost - if I’m remembering right.  Oh well, it was nice of him to say goodbye.  May he forget me, but I pray he doesn’t forget that his sin is serious and that Jesus came to save sinners!  I wished him all the best as he drove off, there wasn’t time to say anything more than that.

I simply can’t remember any of the details of the other chats I had for that outreach, except I remember that it was cold!  Glad I had my jacket - I even had to put my beanie on.  And at the very end of the outreach, as it was getting dark, a lady came to talk to me.  She is a Christian and trying to help a local homeless person.  She was asking me for advice on what services are available to help.  We discussed the gospel being the greatest need!

Anyway,  I’ll leave my report at that.  Again, I thank you for supporting this ministry through prayer!

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