Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Christchurch (NZ) Team
• Page 3

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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 11am - 1pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St).

Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.

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With Roger still away, I decided to leave Riccarton fallow again this week, using that time to focus on online outreach.  But both City outreaches went ahead.  I was with John and Andy on Friday afternoon, and Joseph and Elijah joined me on Sunday afternoon (today).

 

So today’s outreach was very special.  With the rain, I didn’t think it would go as well as last week.  But to my surprise it was the opposite.  I set up the flip chart and was still trying to get organised and pray, when instantly people took interest and a conversation was away.  Amazingly, we had 3 separate conversations before we had a chance to pray!  The chats literally rolled one into the next.  It eased off a touch after that, but the outreach was still very busy right to the end.

 

So, thank you for praying for this feeble outreach, we are getting so much opportunity, glory to God!

 

I’ll come back and talk about the chats later.  But first I want to talk about Friday’s outreach.

 

We started at the Bridge of Remembrance with prayer.  We didn’t have any flip charts, and so we were freestyling.  We decided to go down High Street towards Ara (tertiary education institute), since we had such a good time there a couple of weeks back.

 

I never made it.  Andy and John did.  Andy said he had some good opportunities down there.  But I approached a guy on High Street, and it turned out to be a guy I had talked to a few Sunday’s back.  He was keen to continue that chat, and we ended up speeding over an hour in conversation!  I won’t go into details.  But it was clear that, even though he was able to articulate the gospel, that he wasn’t converted yet.  He didn’t yet have any appreciation for the serious nature of sin.  And so a good portion of my time with him was in relation to this.

 

He ended up receiving 2 more varieties of tract (over the one he had received on the Sunday), a gospel of John, and a church contact card with my contact details on it.

 

John and Andy came back, just as our chat was wrapping up.  I introduced him to them, and it turns out Andy had shared the gospel with him recently too, because he remembered Andy.

 

This young man ended up walking with us back to Cashel Mall, and then Andy bought him a hot chocolate and we were able to continue the chat with him in a cafe.

 

He said he would come to church on Sunday, but I’m not surprised when he didn’t contact me, and he didn’t turn up.  Like I said, I think he has some processing to do.  He is in God’s hands.  Pray that the Holy Spirit would eliminate the law and bring conviction of sin in his life, and that he would truly see the treasure of Christ.

 

So, back to today’s outreach.  The very first chat was special, because 1 of them came to see a critical misunderstanding she had about the gospel.  When I say 1 of them, it was a group of at least 5 people.  And I think 1 of them wasn’t even with the other 4, he just became interested in what we were discussing.

 

So these people were all in different places.  The couple were not interested, and even walked away as I was about to switch to the gospel - I was able to get them to come back to hear it.  But it was 2 young ladies that were engaged, 1 more than the other, but the one that was less engaged ended up gaining the critical information.  What was that?  I’m struggling to remember exactly what I said now, but her response was to say something like: “Oh, I’ve always heard about Jesus, but I’ve had this nagging doubt that I’m not good enough” - yet, she said it in such a way that seemed to be seeing that she was missing what Jesus was all about - that we don’t have to be good enough to get to heaven.

 

By this stage, the couple had walked off again.  I wanted to follow up on this revelation she was having - but I wasn’t able to.  The seed had been planted.  And I have to leave her in God’s hands.  I rejoice, because God has the power to follow that up, so pray for her.

 

I’m not going to have time to talk about all the opportunities from today, but another special chat was with a young man who had been influenced by Buddhism growing up.  I had to labour with him to see that salvation was a gift.  He did come to grasp it, and then he started to nail the check questions (except 1: 2 things).  At the end of the chat he articulated that he understood that he can be 100% sure he is going to heaven, yet at the moment he is 0% sure (because he is not yet willing to repent).  Yet, he very much appreciated the conversation, and happily received a copy of the gospel of John and a couple of tracts.

 

Joe And Elijah had opportunities to get involved in conversations too.  You guys did so well!  Keep it up.

 

Joe had an opportunity with 3 young guys (pictured).

 

And Elijah joined me at the end for the last chat with a German guy (chat occurred just after I took the picture of him).

 

I didn't get a chance to take pics from Friday.

 

My mind is still processing all the chats from today.  But I’m out of time and energy to write about them.  I’ll leave it at that.

 

Again, thank you for your prayers, and support.  It amazes me that anyone stops to talk to me at all, so your prayers for this ministry are certainly effective!  The fruits of our feeble efforts, for God’s glory alone, will be known in eternity.  Till then, let's keep our heads down, and rest in the joy of the labour.

 

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A fantastic week of street outreach in Christchurch.  Roger is away, and so I let Riccarton lay fallow this week.  So 2 city outreaches this week on Friday and Sunday afternoons.  The rest of my week was filled with online work.

 

I had a special opportunity online yesterday.  I was live streaming with Ryan, and so I had my ‘live’ sign up behind me.  I connected with a lady who didn’t have her camera on, but she could see me and my sign, so she knew I was live streaming (this will become significant later).  So anyway, her initial response to my question of, “what happens after life”, was really good, and so I moved straight into checking questions.  I detected a wobble when she raised the issue of repentance but wasn’t able to clearly define what it meant.  So I backed up to the law and then moved to clarify the gospel.  It turns out she was defining ‘repent’ as ‘ask for forgiveness’.  And it was clear she meant that as a work, because she talked about needing to ask for forgiveness every night.  I was able to labour with her to come to gospel clarity.  Initially she was confused, but she could see how it made sense.  I continued with other check questions.  She got the 2nd to last one wrong, but that only led to more clarity, but then she got the last one right!  It was such a good chat, when all of a sudden the connection dropped.  I prayed for her and we moved on.  God knows what the fruit will be.

 

But, and this is really encouraging, half an hour later, Ryan posts a YouTube comment.  It was from the lady!  She was engaged enough to be able to search for and find our live stream, and she wanted to thank us for the chat!  God is good.  May the gospel clarity lead to her salvation, for God’s glory alone.

 

The takeaway here is to be precise.  People are so subtly missing the good news!  We need to esp. be careful in explaining repentance.  It’s not a work we do, instead it’s a change of mind about sin and Jesus that WILL lead to a change of action.  Asking for forgiveness is good, but it’s not what saves us.

 

You can actually watch this for yourself on YouTube, just find the 2 hour live stream for Saturday, 11th May 2024 on needGod.net

 

So, on Friday, I was with Andy, John, and Mark at the Bridge of Remembrance.  Since Roger was away, I decided to take my flip chart and use his usual spot.  After prayer we got into a very busy outreach.

 

I was pretty much straight into a chat, and I noticed the other guys were all busy too.

 

My first one was with a guy who had ethics I strongly agreed with: abortion is murder.  He called himself Protestant.  But something wasn’t right.  He liked to talk, and so I had to be patient, but the more he did, it was clear that he was resolving things in his thinking politically, rather than biblically.  Eventually I was able to touch on the law and the gospel, which he agreed with.  But then I started popping check questions.  The ‘out of 100% how sure are you’ one did the trick.  His response and my counter question caused him to stop and really think.  After that, he started talking less, and I was able to talk more.  I was able to point him back to his Bible, that he hasn’t been reading, and I even invited him along to church, which he isn’t currently involved with.

 

Next I had 3 German tourists.  Actually, now that I think of it, the first chat was with a German guy too.

 

2 of the 3 were not interested, but 1 of them was intrigued enough with the flip chart to stop and engage, and so his friends did as well.  2 out of the 3 were resistant, but 1 was listening.  Interestingly, it was a different 1, and so his friend inadvertently enabled him to hear the gospel!

 

Next, I had a chat with a young guy who was also interested in the flip chart.  He started out by saying that good and bad is subjective, but then in his very next breath he talked about good and bad objectively.  I pointed this out to him, and instead of doubling down, he smiled in acknowledgement of this fact.  He opened up at this point, to hear about the objective basis: God, and then to hear the law of God.  But then he started to close up.  He heard the gospel, but he resisted it.

 

I’m struggling to remember any of the other chats, but I know there were more, because I was busy for the whole 2 hours of the outreach.

 

On Sunday, Thomas was with me.  We decided to bring the flip chart, and I’m glad we did.  We had an exceptionally fruitful outreach.  Nice winter weather, plus it was mothers day, so lots of people were out and about for that.  We literally had people queuing to do the flip chart multiple times during the outreach.

 

Some of the chats were short but sweet, with follow up tracts to take away.  Some were resistant.  But many were very open.  1 In particular, the first one, was very providential.  A young lady with a Christian background was struggling with issues of conscience that had caused much division in her family: tattoos, but esp. Vaccines.  This was all related to ‘the mark of the beast’.  And sadly, this was all a distraction to the gospel for her.  By God’s grace, I was able to give her answers that were very helpful to her - she really appreciated it.  And not only that, she gained some gospel clarity.  I pointed her to the Bible and a good local church.  Words don’t describe it, but it was a special chat.

 

Another outstanding chat was my last.  A young couple were queuing to do the flip chart (Thomas was having a great chat with a young man who was now rejecting the new testament - I don’t have time to talk about that, but I’m in email contact to follow up).  So, I approached the young couple.  She was a professing Christian, and wanted me to ‘convert’ her boyfriend.  She was pointing to her goodness for her salvation, and so I initially focused on him, but I was speaking to them both when I shared the law and the gospel.  Great chat.  They are from Timaru, and so I was able to point them to Covenant Grace Baptist Church.

 

Thomas and I were rejoicing after a busy, but wonderful outreach.  All glory to God!

 

Well, I’m out of time.  Be encouraged to be salt and light where you are.  Be open about the fact that you are a Christian, and then take opportunities to actually articulate the gospel.  How can they trust without hearing, and how can they hear without you speaking!  It’s not about your ability, God shows his strength through our weakness, so all the glory is His.  Be encouraged.

 

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What a great week of outreach.  I made it to all four regular outreaches.  I feel like I’ve got a lot to write about, but only an hour to do it in; so I’ll write till I run out of time and leave the rest to discuss in eternity.

 

I guess I’ll go in reverse time order.  So, starting with today’s outreach (Sunday), I was in the city between church gatherings.  I was out alone, but I quite like that sometimes.

 

As I was walking in from where I parked, I encountered a lady I’ve distantly known for a long time.  I used to be involved with a kids outreach known as Te Mapua Child and Youth Trust.  Believe it or not, my ugly (younger) mug is still on their homepage (at time of writing)!  Well, this lady’s son was one of the kids in the weekly program I was involved with.  Sadly, 2 years ago, he passed away at the age of 19.  And so, I was able to spend about 15 minutes with this lady.  It was another opportunity for her to process her grief.  Through the conversation I was able to touch on the hope of eternal life.  But she has heard it plenty of times from me, and so I didn’t push it.  It was great to be able to catch up with her.

 

I thought the outreach was going to be more pastoral, when my next chat was with a church goer who wanted to talk.  I instinctively knew trying to push a ‘scripted’ chat wasn’t going to be fruitful, and so I let him talk.  He did leave with the tract that I had given him at the start of the conversation.

 

After that, I had some great opportunities - not full chats, but misunderstandings about God were corrected.  One girl believed in heaven, but not hell and came to understand why both made sense.  Another guy came to see how he was sure God was real.  A guy from Mexico thought he was going to heaven because he had done nothing wrong - a few questions about the law seemed to have a deep impact on him, and so I was able to drop the seed of the gospel.

 

I was feeling tired of staying in one spot and trying to get chats started, and so I decided to go for a walk to see who I could find to talk to.  I finally made it to Cathedral Square, and found a young lady sitting on her own, enjoying the sun and listening to something on her headphones.  She accepted a tract and was willing to chat briefly.  But she had stuff to do in life, and didn’t want to consider the afterlife.  I gently challenged her that she may not get tomorrow, and how she knew God was real.

 

Moving back to Cashel, I encountered a young man, also relaxing in the sun.  He refused a tract, but let me ask my question: “what do you think happens afterlife?”  He smiled, thought, and turned down my offer to discuss it.  No problem.  I pray that even that approach will cause him to think, and that he will be willing to discuss it with another Christian before it’s too late.

 

I went down High Street, and then turned down Cashel Mall when I noticed two cultists walking in front of me.  They were boldly approaching strangers for conversations.  I partly admired them, and wished the true church would be so bold.  But I was grieved that they have such zeal without knowledge.  Anyway, I sped up to get closer to them, and then managed to overtake down a different path and then get in front of them on their path.  They took the bait, and one of them approached me.  We had a great chat.  I let him start his presentation (it was interesting that he clarified that he is ‘Christian’ but now JW or Mormon) and from there I was able to engage him with the true gospel.  I was encouraged to see him show signs of doubt.  I pray that the gospel will be the power that breaks through on his thinking.  That God would have mercy on him (and his friend).

 

The outreach didn’t end there, I ended up encountering a man who turned out to be a Christian.  We even had mutual friends.  Yet, we had a robust conversation about various important Christian concepts.  The time wasn’t wasted (it never is).

 

On Saturday, I finally made it back to the Riccarton lunch time outreach.  Again, on my own.  I set up my flip chart.  It started out as a slow outreach, I had 1 conversation with a man who just wasn’t willing to engage.  I knew if I pushed, it would become a fight, and he would get angry.  So I decided not to push, and let it de-escalate to a natural finishing point.

 

I was able to catch up with a church friend and her brother who has recently come to Christ!  Praise God.  He has an evangelistic edge about him, so it was great to be able to discuss that.

 

Immediately after they moved on, I got into a wonderful chat with a Chinese Bhudist lady.  She was very intelligent, and open.  She was very interested in the gospel.  She accepted, not only a tract, but she was keen to read the gospel of John (which I gave her), and she took a church contact card.

 

After that I had a busy outreach, I distinctly remember 2 solid chats with 2 sets of young people.  God is good!

 

On Friday afternoon, I was with Andy in the city.  Roger is overseas for a couple of weeks, and so we decided to pair up for ‘walk up’.  We wandered down Cashel, and then decided to head down High Street towards Ara (tertiary education campus).  We ended up having 4 great gospel conversation opportunities on High Street alone, and then when we got to Ara, the fish were swarming!

 

Of those 4 chats, the stand out was one with 3 students.  One didn’t want to stay and walked off.  One was very engaged and talked with Andy.  The other was in the middle, but decided to stay.  We listened to Andy for a bit, but then I decided to engage her separately.  I’m glad I did, because she was in such a different place from the guy Andy was talking to.  I was able to drop the gospel seed to her, while Andy did the same with him.

 

At Ara, we spent the rest of the outreach engaging various people on the footpath outside the main entrance.  I ended up engaging a big group of students (maybe 10 of them).  They were all in different places, and asking different questions, but it was fun.  Many of them took follow up tracts, even though there was much subtle resistance.

 

On Tuesday, I was in Riccarton with Roger in the afternoon.  And I’m struggling to remember anything from that outreach now.  I guess I’ll leave it at that then.

 

Well, a whole lot of labour, for God’s glory.  Even if everyone rejects the gospel, we have still succeeded, because the goal is primarily God’s glory, and our obedience is enough.  Leaving the results with him.  I love God so much.  Thank you for your prayer and support.

 

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Another week of fishing has passed!

 

On Tuesday Roger and I were at our usual spot.  Roger’s lure was his flipchart and tracts.  Mine was ‘walk up’ and tracts.

 

It started so well, 2 young lads went passed just after Roger’s flip chart was set up - because I was there, I was able to engage them and use the flip chart to share the gospel with them.  One of them knew what it was about, he said he’d done the flip chart 4 times before!  Twice at A&P Shows, and twice on Cashel Mall.  But his friend was uninitiated and wasn’t sure about God.  The building builder analogy really clicked for him, and he opened up to the rest of the conversation.  Great chat.

 

I headed down to the bus stops and managed to get into a chat with 2 young ladies.  They were subtly resistant, and yet, were engaged enough to stay and be challenged.  They ended up having to go, but one of them made it clear why they were currently in rejection: live for today, because tomorrow we die.  Let’s party.  Before they left I was able to point out why I have the opposite position but for the same reason.  They took tracts.

 

I made it back to where Roger was, and he was in a chat with a Muslim guy Andy & I have talked to a lot in the past.  It was good to see him again.  I left Roger to continue his conversation while I engaged a couple of kids on his flip chart.

 

Later I joined Rogers chat (maybe I shouldn’t have - sorry if I butted in Roger!)  Our Muslim friend, sadly, is as resistant as ever.  I decided to take him on, and it got quite intense.  Yet, we finished up with hugs and handshakes.  When I talk to Muslims, I focus on how ‘being good’, and ‘asking for forgiveness’ can’t logically remove punishment, and so Jesus makes sense.

 

Speaking of Muslims.  I’m going to jump forward in time to Saturday and the training stream online.  I was paired up with Nick.  When it was my turn, I was paired up with a couple of rich Muslims from Saudi Arabia.  It was an amazing 12 minute chat.  I followed the ‘script’ fairly closely, and it was great to see the effect of the law sober them up.  They became engaged, one of them gently resisting, but I was able to make progress.  They were able to see how ‘being good’ and ‘asking for forgiveness’ can’t remove sin, and so I was able to explain about God’s mercy: Jesus.  When I said Jesus’ name, I was expecting the usual indoctrination to come up.  I expected them to ‘manafest’.  But they didn’t, they just nodded their heads - “it makes sense”.  And so I just kept rolling, and moved into the check questions.  I was able to explain about ‘faith alone’, before one of them suddenly ended the chat.  But I rejoiced that I had been able to deliver the gospel seed into the heart of such a closed country / culture to the truth of Jesus!  God can show his strength by using that seed for his glory!  In his hands, It can be the spark that changes that country and culture for Jesus!  Don’t give up, don’t get distracted.  God is good!

 

Friday’s outreach was busy.  Andy and Roger were with me.

 

My first chat was with a young farmer from Southland who seemed to be building his own little empire, but I was able to share the gospel with him, and the futility of gathering stuff in this life.

 

I then had a great chat with 2 young people before Going for a wander.  I was about to engage a young post-grad Phd student who kept mentioning that we are ‘stardust’.  He didn’t stay long, but I left a stone in his shoe.  I then engaged a young barber, he was on a break from work, and was staring as though pondering something very deep.  I knew I would only have a short time with him, but I was able to touch on the law and the gospel with him.  He gladly received a tract.

 

I had a half engagement on High Street, but the lady had to go back to work.  Next up I was able to have a great gospel chat with 3 young guys just before Cathedral Square.  It was wonderful watching one of them, you could almost see the gears turning in his mind.  Who knows!  They could repent today, God knows.  We need to faithfully plough and sow, and leave the results to God, he will bring an increase to his glory.

 

Arriving into Cathedral Square, there was a young tourist there, I approached him, and we got into a good chat.  He was from Italy.  I think I spent about 20 minutes with him.  He had a Catholic background, but had rejected it.  His god was himself, and his justification was ‘subjectivity’.  I had to patiently labour, and I was able to share the law and the gospel, but I was able to challenge him on his idolatry.

 

Back at the bridge of remembrance, Andy was just finishing up a very friendly looking chat.  But then he joined Roger on his, and that turned into a very intense chat.  Roger and I left Andy to it, while we went to get a coffee / hot choc.  Andy joined us later, and we had a good debrief time.

 

I didn’t make it out on Saturday!  I could have gone, the weather was great.  But I decided to focus on catching up on TikTok DMs instead.  I’ve had some encouragement in this department.  1 kid just wasn’t getting it, but then he started to understand!  I know this because I had a note from 20 days ago saying “not getting it”.  A reminder to be patient in our labour.  Some are resistant, and you have to let them go, but some are open, but you just have to work with them gently.  Another young lady was struggling with some stuff, and wasn’t able to tease out the tension between faith and works.  Yet she stayed with me.  The penny really dropped as I went through the fireman analogy with her. It was so good to see her joy as she said, “I get it!” - that chat’s not quite finished yet, I’ll hopefully finish up explaining about Christian living next week.

 

On Sunday, after listening to a wonderful sermon, I headed out to Cashel Mall again.  I had an amazing chat with two young men, who went to local churches but were not clear on the essentials of the gospel.  I was able to labour with them on this.  A powerful check is to ask, “before this chat, did you think you had to be good to get to heaven”.  They both thought for a bit, and admitted that they did.  So I followed up with, “so, where would you have gone if you died?”.  Hell.  They got it.  I pleaded with them to trust Christ alone, urgently.  And then pointed them to their Bibles.  As I was alone, and tired, I decided to head home early to do more TikTok DMs and write this report.

 

Thanks so much for your prayer.  Please be encouraged to take and make opportunities to share about Jesus in your own life.  Jesus is amazing!!!

 

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Glory to God, it was a great week on the streets!  3 of the 4 usual outreaches ran (I’m working back up to 4 out of 4).

 

On Tuesday afternoon, Roger was with me in Riccarton.  I had a slow week last week, and so I decided to ditch my flip chart and do ‘walk up’ this week instead.  I’m so glad I did.  Roger set up his flip chart, and after praying with him, I went for a wander down Riccarton Road, collecting rejections.

 

But once you collect enough rejections, you’ll strike someone willing and interested to talk.  I had a brief conversation with a young lady from Brazil. Before approaching a young man who I thought ‘he won’t be interested’, but to my surprise he was very interested.  It turned into one of those chats where they are fully engaged.  He was so engaged that he willingly let his bus pass (I was at a bus stop), knowing he could catch a later one, so we could continue to chat.

 

He was from East Timor, studying environmental science (I think it was) at the university.  His religious background was Catholic, and stemming from that, he considered his good deeds the reason he would get to heaven.  He resisted the law; considering himself good, he didn’t want to admit that he had done anything wrong.  And so I spend some time labouring with him on this.  Once he seemed to come to a point of understanding, I was able to switch to the gospel and labour through the check questions on that side.

 

Some of the details of the chat are fading in my memory now, but I remember him eagerly accepting a copy of the gospel of John.  And I remember rejoicing after he hopped on his bus.  God knows what the result will be, I leave him, prayerfully, in God’s hands.

 

It was a long chat, and I remember feeling drained, so Roger wrapped that outreach a little early.  We headed to a coffee shop for some debrief.

 

On Friday afternoon, Andy & Greg were with me in the city.  There were lots of people about.  It took me a while to work out that it was because of the school holidays.  I was paired up with Andy for a good portion of this outreach.

 

My first chat was quite awkward.  The girl was subtly resistant (didn’t really want to talk, but didn’t leave either).  And the guy with her said nothing, even when she tried to include him.  I wanted to bail from the chat due to the awkwardness - but I’m glad I didn’t.  In spite of the resistance, she heard the law, and then finally the gospel.  And then she opened up a little about her religious background, a mix of Catholic and Mormon influence.  I could tell she was comparing what I was saying to that.  And so I did my best to draw the distinctions (we are not saved by our works).

 

Later I talked to 2 young men who were out promoting a new local barber shop.  It was an interesting chat, but they were both in different places and it became difficult to keep them both engaged at the same time.  One of them was particularly resistant (yet still friendly).  Eventually I decided to end this chat.  They were supposed to be promoting the barber shop, and they both continued in their resistance.  Yet they accepted tracts.

 

Next up I had a great chat with two young teens who went to a Christian high school.  Sadly, they too were resistant in their own way.  Yet, they responded well to the logic of what I was explaining, even if they weren’t showing interest.

 

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture for Friday’s outreach.  But, to make up for it, I’ll include 2 for Sunday’s outreach in the city.  This was an AMAZING outreach.  A team of 5: Joe and Elijah from my church, plus Mike, Susan and myself.

 

The outreach started with just Joe, Elijah and I.  We prayed, and then set up a flip chart (it’s a great tool for training with).  We were quickly into our first chat with 2 young men.  Glory to God, it was a textbook chat, where I was able to work through the whole chat with no resistance – even a profession from one of them.  They both received tracts, a gospel of John, and contact cards for our church.

 

Then a young Muslim lady and her friend went past.  They were intrigued by the flip chart, but didn’t want to stop, so took tracts instead.  But then they stopped, talked together briefly, and then came back!  They wanted to do the ‘good person’ test.  It was an amazing chat.  I didn’t get any of the usual resistance I get from people with an Islamic background.  What a joy!  I was sad I didn’t have any more gospels of John, but I told her how she could get a Bible on her phone.  She also took a church contact card.

 

The chats just didn’t stop, one would roll into another!  Next up we had about 7 young people stop and engage - great chat.

 

And then a man from Australia stopped.  He had a Christian background, but had drifted away.  He didn’t think there was any hope for him now.  I was able to take him through the law, and because I could tell he had to leave, I touched on the gospel, plus a critical check question to show how he was currently trusting in works for salvation, but that it was never too late: because of the gift of Christ!  Short chat, but that one was so special to me.  He left with a tract.

 

By this stage, Mike was with us, and he had set up his flip chart further down (Joe joined him).  He ended up having a chat with a work mate!  The gospel conversation has been started, and there will now be further opportunity to continue it.  God is good.

 

Well, that’s a snapshot of the street work for the week.  Plenty of gospel work online too.

 

I’ll leave it at that.  Sharing the gospel is such a joy.  I’ll never get sick of it.  When I’m ministering to others, I’m also ministering to myself.  The gospel is so simple, and yet it’s so deep.  Be encouraged to take the opportunities to talk to people about Jesus, as you can!  All glory to God alone.

 

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Had a bit of a stressful week in my personal life.  But I’ve learnt so much from it.  I now have a fresh empathy for those that get anxious.  I’ve experienced being constant in prayer and dependence on God - and seeing him answer!  I’ve learned that my micro management is not always needed; when people get in tough spots, God has given them survival instincts - yet, encouragement and support is helpful.  I hope some of this will be applied in my evangelism work in the future.

 

But, anyway, 2 street outreaches this week: Tuesday in Riccarton (with Roger), and Sunday (today, with Thomas) in the City.  On Friday and Saturday I was so tired I stayed home and worked online.

 

Tuesday started out a bit slow, yet Roger seemed busy on his side!  3 Christchurch Boys High students came and sat on the seats behind where Roger was, and since Roger was already in a chat, I decided to go over and engage them.

 

They seemed to have time, so I took it slow - I didn’t push it.  And I gave them plenty of opportunities to disengage.  Yet, at least 2 of them were keen to continue the conversation.

 

It was interesting watching them test my character.  Is this guy genuine?

 

Anyway, I fielded a lot of questions, but within that I was able to share the law and the gospel, and start working through check questions.  It was a great chat.

 

I’m sure I had other chats - I just can’t remember them now.  It was a full 2 hour outreach.  Glimpses of short chats are slowly coming back into my memory.  Nothing is wasted - even those short passing comments / interactions.  Little bits of ploughing and sowing.  God knows the result.

 

It was great to have Thomas join me again for today’s outreach.  He enjoyed the ‘walk up’, from the last time he joined me, so we decided to do that again today - no flip chart.  We started with prayer, and then put a few tracts & a gospel of John in our back pockets, before moving down Cashel Mall.

 

We started collecting rejections.  I think on the 4th approach we got some engagement.  It was with a young couple, hung over.  The guy had a ‘super religious’ family, but was in rejection.  He believed in God, and heaven, but not hell.  I was able to address that, but I was amazed he talked with us for as long as he did, before he decided he didn’t want to keep chatting about it.  Yet, they both took tracts.  He even said, ‘keep doing what you’re doing’.

 

I had a short chat with a young Irish couple from Sydney.  And then Thomas had a few goes at starting chats.

 

We then got into a great chat with 6 or 7 high school aged guys.  They were all in different places, so that was quite hard, but they were all very engaged in different ways.  They were queueing up questions by putting their hands up!  I spend a lot of time on building / builder, really nailing that down, before moving into the law and then the gospel and checks.  I think some of them were really getting it.  Tracts were accepted and a gospel of John was taken - I only had 1, and so they even did ‘rock, paper, scissors’ for it!  I’ve never had that occur before!

 

Thomas started the next chat, it was with a young couple.  He was instantly engaged!  She was very much not.  He came to grasp the gospel, although he really struggled with the initial check question.  “My brain is trying to process it”.  It was at this point that she became involved in the conversation.  She was very resistant, I became very aware of how the issue was less about intellect / logic, and more about something emotional.  I wanted to address it, but I struggled to disengage the intellect and address it.  In hindsight, I should probably just cut to the law!

 

We finished up with 3 more short interactions before starting to head back towards the car.

 

It was then that we encountered our local World Mission Society Church of God evangelists.  I decided to engage them in a very friendly manner.  One of them looked fresh.  What was great was the freshie decided to engage Thomas while I talked to the main evangelist.  That was great!  Because the guy I was talking to was very open about how closed he was (he refused my offer to catch up again or via email).  Yet, Thomas was able to engage the freshie with the gospel.

 

Well, that wraps another week of God’s mercy.  Please pray that God continues to raise up labourers for the harvest!

 

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I love climate change marches.  Or any kind of gathering that brings people passionate about some form of justice.  Because I always end up getting to talk to a lot of young, intelligent, people about Jesus - who makes so much sense!

 

It was no different on Friday, with a climate change march just getting started as I arrived at the bridge of remembrance.  It was interesting profiling all the people there (gay rights, palestinian rights, animal rights) and seeing a common thread: hurt people with no answers, who need to hear the answer: Jesus.

 

Anyway, after the march, young people would be moving through the city in little groups, and I could hand out tracts, or get into gospel conversations with them.

 

There was one young man, in his last year in high school.  We started by talking about the march and what the ultimate goal / solution of the march was.  I was then able to gently swing the conversations to deeper things.  Interestingly, his parents went to a good local church, but he was at a crossroads with Christianity.  He reminded me of me at his age.  I wanted to save him some pain, and so I pleaded with him about Christ.  But I could tell he wasn’t interested.  He was being polite in continuing the conversation, and so I respected that and wrapped it up.

 

By this stage, Roger had engaged his friends, who didn’t want to engage with me.  Rogers' chat seemed to be going well, so the kid I talked to went down a bit to wait for them patiently.  That was good, but sad that he was rejecting Christ himself at the moment.

 

I ended up finishing up the outreach in an unusual way.  There are usually Jehovah’s Witnesses about, and I normally leave them to themselves, but today I decided to approach them.  Usually when I approach people in cults, I take a non standard approach, them being prepared for a frontal assault.  And today was no different.  I started by asking them about another cult that is rampant in Christchurch at the moment: World Mission Society Church of God (the mother god cult).  I was curious on how 1 cult deals with another cult.  Interestingly, they didn’t know much about it.  But we ended up getting into a friendly conversation and getting to know each other better.  We talked about things we believed, without ever directly attacking each other.  I guess it could be considered a ‘waste of time’, as I never got to work on sharing the law or the gospel with them.  But at least I know them better as people - I know their names.  God willing that will lead to more conversation opportunities in the future - if not with me, with another Christian who will be able to bring truth and clarity to them.

 

On Sunday, I had Joseph and Elijah - from my own church - join me for the afternoon outreach.  They are familiar with the flip chart, so I decided to bring that with me for this outreach.  We prayed, and then set it up on the corner of Cashel and Colombo.

 

The first 15 minutes of the outreach was slow.  No takers.  I was concerned that my boast about an outreach always ending with at least one meaningful conversation would fall flat!  Yet, God was faithful, 2 young ladies who had gone past earlier, came back and were keen to engage.  It was a set up: they were there for a fight.  It became clear early that climate change was something they were passionate about.  But I was able to swing the conversation away from that and to the question of how we know what is right and wrong.  That led to the Building / Builder analogy.  They fought hard, but I didn’t back down, just answering their objections and sticking to my main point: there must be a universe maker.  It was interesting to watch the main opponent eventually concede the point (without actually saying so), I was then able to move into the law and get to the gospel.  It was a great chat, but sadly they had to go.

 

From here the outreach was busy.  If we weren’t in a conversation, sharing the gospel, I was debriefing and training with Joseph and Elijah.

 

Next we had another 2 girls there, this time not to attach, but just curious.  Sadly, they weren’t really engaging, so I touched on the law and the gospel before giving them tracts.

 

There was a young Catholic guy, who was also in it to fight.  That was a great chat, as we got to wrestle with the tension of repentance (that our deeds don’t save us, but deeds will follow our salvation).

 

There was a young couple who didn’t believe in God, but when they heard the building / builder analogy, he said, ‘that makes sense’, and they opened up to hear the law and the gospel.

 

These chats would often draw others to find out what was happening.  And tracts were able to be distributed.

 

God truly answered our prayers.  I was encouraged, because I so want Joseph and Elijah to have a good experience and be willing to come again and to grow in their ability to share Christ, for God’s glory alone.

 

We ended the outreach with a chat with one of my regulars.  Sadly, he knows about Christian things, but is clearly trusting in his works for salvation and now willing to reason - just wanting to joke around instead.

 

No outreaches on Tuesday or Saturday.  I decided to work online instead, and regather my strength.  God willing I’ll be able to do a full week of street outreach next week.

 

Please keep the team in prayer.  Soli Deo Gloria!!

 

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Happy Easter!  It’s been a busy week, with 2 special outreaches over the Easter weekend.

 

I took last week off (hence no report), but partly in preparation for this big week of outreach.

 

The Sunday afternoon before Easter I was able to have the opportunity to deliver a 1 hour lecture on ‘the bones of a gospel conversation’ to those in my church in preparation for the Easter outreaches.  Much thanks to the elders of my church for giving me this opportunity.  If you’d like to see my lecture notes, you can find them here.

 

So, Roger and I had our standard outreach to Riccarton on Tuesday afternoon.  So much has been going on, I can’t remember any of my chats from that outreach!

 

We didn’t do any street outreach on Friday, because it’s a public holiday, and all the shops are closed, there are not many people out.  I worked online in the afternoon, after a Good Friday gathering with my church family in the morning.

 

Saturday was the Oxford A&P Show outreach.  I have to admit it’s a bit of a blur for me.  I left home at 7am to be there by 8am, and set up by 8:30am.  My daughter Dani was with me with a solid team from my church (the Brown’s, the Linton’s and Jordan) plus Mike & Rebecca Ryan.  It was so great catching up with Sam Linton and Jordan the next day and to hear of how encouraged they were from the outreach.  Thanks for your support team!

 

We had a bit of drizzle (rain) during the day, which was a bit annoying, but we all were still very busy in gospel conversations.  We finished up at 4pm.  Great outreach, glory to God.

 

On Sunday, I spent a couple of hours in the city in the afternoon.  There was a Christian dance conference on during the weekend, and they were going to be doing some street dancing.  I was asked to share the gospel with those that passed by.  The dancing caused a lot of people to stop, which was great!  I handed out a LOT more tracts than I normally do, with a cheery “Happy Easter”.

 

I also got into a conversation with 3 young people who recognised me.  They said one of their friends loves our tracts and follows the content online - which is very encouraging.  But sadly, these young people weren’t really interested in the gospel.  While I was talking to them, I got pooped on by a bird!  I think that’s a first!  (I’ve had a few near misses).  Luckily it only hit my hat, which I sweeped off.  I didn’t let that kill the conversation, we moved and continued chatting.

 

On Monday, we ran our yearly Hot Cross Bun & Gospel Tract outreach in Cashel Mall.  We had 3 tables set up and gave away 1,200 hot cross bun halves (minus about 50 eaten by the Christians in the team!) over the 2 hours of the outreach.  It was a lot of fun.  A bit slower than previous years, maybe because the weather was cloudy?  But that was okay, I had opportunities to get into conversations, and give away hot cross buns and tracts myself - which was great.

 

So, no details of my actual conversations for this report.  But needless to say I had many interesting conversations.  God knows the fruit it will bear.  Thank you for your prayer and support.  Glory to God in the highest alone!

 

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Only 1 street outreach this week.  The others were replaced with online work due to weather (Friday) or other events (engagement party on Saturday, and baptisms on Sunday).  So, this is probably going to be shorter than usual!

 

Roger was with me in Riccarton on Tuesday.  Autumn is in the air, it is cold!  I wasn’t prepared for it, so we ended up wrapping up a little early.  Yet in the time we were there we had gospel opportunities.

 

The highlight for me was a chat with a couple of guys - high school age.  I was frustrated to hear one of them say that their English teacher has told them: “There is only 1 thing you can be certain of: that you can’t be certain of anything”.  Not only is that statement a contradiction (yes, I know they are trying to play on words), but it is completely untrue.  There are many things we are certain of (for example, that your house had a builder).  And it’s a subtle attack against God, who is certain.  I wish they would teach Logic at school, and they should maybe get this English teacher to teach it - he might learn something!

 

Anyway, I spent time with this young lad showing him how we can be certain, and proceeded to share the law and gospel.  It was a good chat.

 

So, this affords me some time to talk about the online outreach I did this week.  

 

First up: on Tuesday, I was paired up with Jack for the first chat on the live stream: a duo chat.  We were paired up with a young man from the USA.  He wasn’t very talkative, but he followed along.  And it was wonderful watching him smile as he came to grasp the gospel.  He made a profession of faith.

 

On Wednesday, 2 highlight chats were with 2 young ladies from Tauranga.  I think there was some Adventist influence, because the sabbath came up.  But I didn’t let that become a distraction from sharing the gospel.  They also made professions.  And then a chat with a young man from the UK - there was resistance from him, but he stuck around for 30 minutes as I walked him through all the check questions.

 

On Thursday I had a duo chat with Jone with a guy who said he liked the 10 commandments.  But, it was his own form of the 10 commandments, with a whole lot of exceptions built in so he could sin as he pleased.  We spent 30 minutes with him before his resistance went up a few notches and there wasn’t much point in continuing.

 

On Friday I had a great chat with a couple of guys somewhere in New Zealand.  Catholic school.  They were being silly initially, but they stayed around for 16 minutes for a complete chat.  Ended up being a good chat.

 

And then, because the rain was so heavy on Friday, I went over to Rogers place to get him set up for online outreach again.  I ended up having an amazing chat with a young man who lives in the same city as Roger and I!  He was in home detention (he showed us the bracelet on his ankle).  Sadly, he is only 13, and the reason for the home detention is because he was involved with a ram raid (driving a car into a shop to rob it).  I was able to share the gospel with him, and start moving through the check questions.  It was so good when he had a penny drop moment.  From that point on (as he saw how the gospel made sense) he was weighing up the cost - he knew his life would change, and he didn’t like that idea.  E.g., he didn’t want to go to church.  But he stuck around for me to be able to point him to the book of John in the Bible, and 2 good local churches close to him.  He is so bored being on home detention, I hope he will read it.

 

Speaking of Roger, I got a text from him earlier saying he had a great online chat with a drug dealer up north.  This is what I responded with: “That’s who we want to reach!  Go for the sinner and go for the worst!  May he start dealing: Jesus”.

 

On Saturday I had a fascinating online chat with a young man for 23 minutes.  He was working in London in a warehouse picking stock for orders.  His job must be so boring that he can do it and have chats online at the same time!  Anyway, he thinks about the afterlife “all the time”, and although there was some resistance as I took him through the law, he ended up understanding the gospel, and seemed impressed enough to start reading the bible for himself.  It was so fun chatting with him while he was automatically moved around the whole warehouse.  May God have mercy on him!

 

But not only do we have face to face chats with strangers online, we also have text chats via Instagram and TikTok DM.  This morning I had a great chat with an intellectual young Mormon (well, I assume he is young; and I’m pretty sure it’s a he).  He wanted to argue about baptism?  But that was a distraction, I focused on getting him through the law, and towards the gospel.  The more we chatted, the clearer it was how uncertain he was about things that are obvious (logical).  And he was resistant, he was fighting to take the conversation off on a tangent, but I wouldn’t let him.  I love him too much.  Even if he is resistant now, may his suppression be shaken for future gospel seed to take root.

 

I’ve also had the privilege of training 2 young men in online evangelism this week.  Both from the USA, and both so different in personality, and yet both passionate to share these truths with others.  It was wonderful seeing these young men getting their feet wet!  Glory to God!

 

So, yet another wonderful week of outreach.  The opportunity to engage people with the gospel is limitless.  Evangelism is as essential in our lives as prayer, reading the Bible and church.  I hope you are encouraged to get involved with the harvest!  All glory to God alone.

 

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Just got back from an awesome outreach in the city, but the whole week of outreach has been awesome - all four usual street outreaches ran this week: Tuesday afternoon in Riccarton with Roger; Friday afternoon in the city with Andy, Roger, and Ben; Saturday lunch time in Riccarton, and just now: Sunday afternoon in the city, with Thomas.

 

Casting my mind back to Tuesday, the highlight chat was with a group of 5 high school kids - Christchurch Boys High.  They already had a gospel tract, I guess from Roger over the street.  I saw them coming back, but Roger was already in a chat, and so they came over to me.  I smelled a set up, but I love these situations.  We got into a conversation, and the ring leader was being silly (no surprise).  I rolled with his jesting, but also answered the subtle questions he was asking.

 

As the conversation continued, his 4 friends started engaging in the conversation, which was great to see.  Eventually the ring leader realised he had lost control of the conversation - his response was to become outrageously silly, but by this stage, his friends were ignoring him, and one was even telling him to be quiet!  They all got to engage with the law and the good news of Jesus, and they all walked away with their own copy of the same gospel tract.  God is good!

 

Friday in the city.  It was great to have Ben with us.  Ben heard the gospel from a street evangelist up North, and when he moved to Christchurch last year, he encountered Andy on the street.  Well, Ben is now regularly attending our church and is even part of my home group.  He is getting baptised next week, but not only that, he is willing to come and join us on the street to share the gospel!  God is good!

 

Ben was paired with Andy, and Roger was running his flip chart, and so I went for a wander down Cashel Mall.  I had quite a few good gospel chats, but none with any real engagement from their part, and so they ended up being shorter chats.  That’s fine!  The law is still the law, and the gospel is still the gospel, they are powerful even without engagement - just maybe ploughing and sowing for a harvest later in time, by someone else.  All glory to God alone.

 

Anyway, Ben and Andy had had a string of conversations with tourists who were resistant - also not bad, still ploughing and sowing.  But, Ben joined up with me for the rest of the outreach.  We headed off down Cashel Mall, and the chat we got into was also with someone resistant!  Oh well.  It was a great chat, because his worldview was post modern: “The only thing I know is that I don't know anything”.  As soon as I said it, I pointed out his contradiction with “Do you know that?”, but in his suppression, he wasn’t willing to see it.  We sparred apologetically for a while, but then he started talking about all the things he knew, so I checked in again, “Do you really know it?”  I was able to touch on the law, and the gospel, but he wasn’t open to it.  Finally, for a third time he started talking about what he knew.  So I checked in again, “So, you know it, do you?”.  It hit home, I could tell by the way he cut his eyes at me.  It was at that point that I shook his hand, and wished him a good day.  There is no point in trying to reason with someone being unreasonable.  I think Ben was surprised that the conversation ended - I think he was enjoying it!  Yes, these discussions can be fun and interesting, but I don’t want to spend 2 hours arguing with someone who is resistant (at this time), when I could have conversations with others that are open (at this time).  God is in control.  And there is a time to move on.

 

Saturday in Riccarton, I had a number of good conversations.  I was beginning to wonder if it would be a slow outreach, when the first fish came on the line.

 

I ended up chatting with an American couple.  It turns out he was a PK, and she had recently been reading the Bible: the whole NT, and halfway through the OT (I think she said).  So there was interest there.  Yet, neither understood the gospel.  The engagement was very brittle, and as I was working to strengthen the engagement, it was broken when a group of guys interrupted.  They really wanted to talk to me.  So as the American couple moved on, I had no choice but to engage them instead.

 

But that wasn’t bad.  It was a great chat.  It turns out I had talked to one of them at the Canterbury A&P Show outreach at the end of last year.  I realised that they were Orthodox, and went to the local Orthodox church.  They had come to continue the apologetical fight.  They claimed to go to heaven because of Jesus, and not works, but then denied that with their explanations and interpretations of scripture.  I didn’t allow them to rest in their false hope.  I also ended up spending some time exposing Mark 10 (the rich young ruler).  They left holding on to their rejection of Jesus, but it was a good conversation, I hope to see them again.

 

I had other good chats too, including a long one with a young lad for Geraldine, and a short one with two young ladies - who wanted to argue about homosexuality.

 

It was great to have Thomas with me on Sunday afternoon!  He is from France and speaks French fluently.  Last Sunday, and on Friday, I spoke to people from France, and the lady from last Sunday didn’t have good English - so it’s great to have someone who can speak French.  Jordan cracked a joke before we left: “But you’ll end up encountering a German”.  Well, no French speakers today, but our last chat was with someone from GERMANY! Haha.

 

But the whole outreach was great.  The very first person I offered a tract to accepted it, and I was able to get into a good gospel conversation, an encouragement for Thomas (and an answer to prayer that Thomas would be encouraged).  And it went well from there.  Our next chat was with a young streetie.  She was open, but I had to really labour for her to see the gospel.  She had a click moment when I used the ‘sin again’ check.  And then she said something profound - I wish I could have recorded it: basically she said something like: “If Jesus does that for us, even takes our future sin, then I wouldn’t want to sin any more” - exactly!

 

By this stage, Thomas was warmed up (had shaken off the rust) and ready to get into his own chats.  Which he did (pictured).

 

We had other good opportunities as well, we even encountered some World Mission Society Church of God cultists - I had warned him they were rampant as we were walking in.

 

Anyway, I’ll leave it there.  I’m over time for this report.  But God is good in giving us so much opportunity.  May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering!

PS, I forgot to mention, in the first photo, there are 2 gospel chats happening.  But there are 2 school kids coming into the frame from the right.  Well, a few moments after I took that shot, I got into a good gospel chat with them.  God is so good!

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