Battle Log

It was great to be back on the streets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (today).  Really nice sunny weather!

It was great to have Jermaine join Roger and I at the Bridge of Remembrance on Friday afternoon.  There were a lot of people around.  Actually, a lot of rugby players.  The local team was out drumming up support for the new season about to start.

I was able to start a chat with one of them, and he pulled one of his mates into the conversation.  The mate was resistant, but the original guy seemed impacted as they both heard the gospel.

I saw Roger having a conversation with one of the rugby players too.

Later, a couple of Hare Krishna’s went past chanting.  I’ve tried to engage them in the past, but they wouldn’t stop.  They didn’t stop this time either, but a minute later they paused and called me over!  I wanted to know what they believed, “why should I become a Hare Krishna.  Their brief answers weren’t answers at all, and then they wanted to move on.  I asked if they at least had a pamphlet explaining, one of them said they would bring a free book next Friday - so I’m looking forward to seeing them again.

But the highlight conversation of the day was with a young man walking down the middle of the mall.  He was willing to stop and take off his headphones, but when he realised I wanted to talk about “afterlife”, he rolled his eyes and said he was too high for that at the moment.  Not to be put off, and suggested that now may be a better time than ever, and lo and behold we had a great long chat.  It turns out he grew up in a local evangelical church, and even went to the Christian High School where my church meets each Sunday.  But he had rejected Christianity.  It turns out he is bisexual.  I was able to labour through the law and the gospel with him, and he really seemed to appreciate the chat.  Glory to God alone.

On Saturday, I wasn’t going to head out, as my legs were a bit sore.  But I decided to go anyway.  I set up my flip chart, and it was a bit of a slow start.  I felt like an idiot standing on the corner of Rotherham Street and Riccarton Road, with all the cars going past and not talking to anyone.

I prayed, and just said, “here I am God, use me”.

I went and sat down for a moment, and then looked up, 2 guys were walking past, I said, “hey guys, I have a question for you”, and they stopped, it was a wonderful chat!  One of them was familiar with the church, but wasn’t currently going - he received a wake up call.  But the other guy seemed genuinely impacted and appreciative for hearing the good news.

Soon after they left, an Asian guy called Erik went past, he was curious about the flip chart, and we fell into a gospel conversation.  Before I even get to the gospel, he says, “you're going to say Jesus”.  “Yeah, that’s right”, I say.  I explain why Jesus' sacrifice is our only hope.  And then he stops me and says, with a slightly red face, “Just yesterday I told my friends I don’t believe in Jesus.  And this morning, some things have happened, and now I walk into you”.  His look was one of shock at how perfect the timing was.  He had questions, “Why is God letting these things happen to me?”.  I answered his questions, and then I warned him, and I pleaded with him about the gospel.  I was so encouraged that God, in his perfect timing, would bring Eric to me.  I was so honoured that he would answer my prayer as he did.

Christian, may this encourage you too, as you step out in sharing the gospel!  God uses our feeble efforts for his glory.

I went on and ended up having 6 solid gospel chats over the 2 hours of the outreach.  It was so busy that twice I had people (3 in total) stop to want to talk, but I couldn’t because I was already deep in conversation.

Now, please, don’t join me in this work.  The harvest isn’t ripe, and there are plenty of labourers.  So don’t pray for more.

I mean, there is treasure in heaven to be gained, why should I share my marvellous treasure with you?  I can’t wait to lay my treasure at the feet of Jesus.

Sunday (today) was really interesting.  I turn up at my usual spot at the corner of Colombo and Cashel, and there is a guy there, James, sniffing a bag of glue.  It was a sad sight.  At that very moment, a lady (Tina) walks past smiling at me, but she turns to pour scorn on James.  So, I decided to go and sit beside James and get involved with this conversation.  It was weird watching them gently verbally abuse each other.  She was a druggie, but she doesn’t do glue like James!  So bizarre!  Weirdly, she goes to the local convenience store and buys James a pie and a drink (her good deed for the day I guess).  Anyway, they both take tracts, and I’m able to start discussing the gospel with both of them - but mainly with Tina because she was more sober.  She was very resistant, but I could see I was making some progress.

A crowd draws a crowd, and so a skater, Carl, joins the conversations.  By this stage, Tina is ready to move on, so my focus turns to Carl.  Turns out he used to sniff glue, like James - but he “matured”.  He is a good person now, and, sadly, he fought for his self righteousness.  I was able to labour with him in regards to the law until a distraction occurred and he took the opportunity to skate off.  He ignored my calls - I wanted to give him a tract.

Well, by this stage, Susan had joined me.  I looked up and I saw a Greek Orthodox priest and his friend walking down the mall!  This is an opportunity I couldn’t refuse, so I approached them and we fell into a conversation.  The priest was maybe caught off guard, because he didn’t have any answer as I seeked to find out what he believed.  But his friend interjected and started explaining a story about how the Russian Czar chose the religion for his country!

But then, there was shouting coming from behind me.  I turned to see James the glue sniffer getting into a fight with someone!?  It killed my conversation with the Orthodox guys, but luckily Susan gave the priest a tract.  I went over to try to calm the situation as a crowd started to gather.  The situation calmed down (security turned up), and I was able to start engaging a couple of kids with the gospel, while Susan gave a tract to the guy that was in the scuffle with James.

Whew, such a busy outreach!  Susan and I were now in the shade, and so we decided to head down to the other end of the mall (bridge of remembrance) to the sun.  We handed out a heap of tracts (a crowd had gathered to watch a local busker) and I was able to have a few more short / half gospel conversations.  We finished up with prayer.

I give glory to God for another weekend of gospel opportunity on the streets of Christchurch.  As I write this, I’m reflecting on the parable of the sower that Jesus explained.  Our job is to scatter the seed, I leave all the results in his care.  May there be an increase for God’s glory alone.
 

---

Last week I wrote about how I was determined to go out in spite of the rain (and I’m glad I did).  Well, this Tuesday, I decided to stay home!  There was a river outside my house, and I just thought the opportunities online would be better.  I’m glad I did, because I managed to get into a chat with a lady who had been involved with The World Mission Society Church of God - a nasty cult that even has a branch in Christchurch.  Andy and I have had many encounters with people involved with this cult on the streets.  And even a member of my church was able to engage them when they knocked on their door!

Anyway, this particular lady had apparently left the cult back in March, but she hadn’t come to know the true Jesus.  I was able to labour with her for over 40 minutes, working against the false teaching and explaining about God’s grace.  Sadly, although she was able to give the right answers, I didn’t see any spark of true understanding.  But who knows?  The gospel is the power of God for salvation.  Perhaps God will bring other Christians into her life to continue the chat?  Maybe someone like you?  We may not all be able to do street / online ministry, but we are all certainly able to share the gospel with those around us. :)  Be encouraged to step out!

The sun was out by Friday, and Roger and I hit the streets.  2 significant chats stand out for me.

The first was with a couple from France!  I write that with such joy, because it means foreigners are starting to come back to NZ after the long period of border lockdown due to Covid.  It’s so good that people travel so far to hear the gospel of Jesus!  Long may this continue :)

The chat went well, but the lady didn’t speak English well, and the guy was nice but resistant.  Yet, he heard the gospel, and they left with tracts.

The 2nd chat was with a couple of ladies that were very new age.  Early on in the chat, one of them said, “there is no ‘the’ truth, only many ‘a’ truths”.  I subtly kept referring back to this all through the chat so they could see how inconsistent they were being to that statement.  It was a longish chat, where I was able to share the law and gospel in between learning more about their worldview.  As I really nailed home how Christianity is about a gift (and not earning it) at the end of the chat, one of the ladies started to lose her cool ever so slightly.  It amazes me the people hate such good news!  What is that?  Pride?

Roger was having good chats too, a couple of them are pictured.  As I reflect on those pictures, it amazes me at how easy it is to spark up conversations (with a little bit of training, and pushing yourself through the initial nerves).  People really do want to talk about what happens afterlife, and it brings God much glory, even if they reject what we share.  I can’t recommend this work highly enough!  Speaking of training, we have some coming up in October.  To find out more about it, check this out.

Sadly, Saturday morning I came down with what is likely Covid (2 of my daughters tested positive, and the rest of us have symptoms).  That’s put an end to my ability to go to the streets for the next week, and yet I’m so grateful for the opportunity to share Christ online.  Bad things, like Covid, have a silver lining.  God uses all things for good!

I managed to do some gospel chats on both Saturday, and today (and they were really good ones).  But at the moment I’m mainly focusing on rest and recovery.  Please continue to keep the Christchurch Operation 513 team in prayer, it’s so needed and appreciated. :)
 

 

---

I checked the weather forecast at the start of the week, and it didn’t look good.  Rain, rain and more rain.  And yet, I determined that I wasn’t going to let it stop me.  Sure, in the wet and cold, online outreach is wonderful to do - and I often take the opportunity to go online when it’s wet.  But I thought about Joshua in Yangon, Myanmar.  He doesn’t have the online option.  Yet, he goes out in the heat and the rain anyway.  If Joshua can do it, so can I! :)

It was spitting as I headed to Riccarton on Tuesday afternoon, so I didn’t bother with my flip chart - in wet weather, it’s often better without it.  In the providence of God, the rain held off, and I was able to complete the whole 2 hour outreach without problem.  And I had some great opportunities to share the gospel.  3 chats specifically come to mind.

I was walking down Riccarton Road trying to get chats started, when a person I didn’t expect stopped at my question and wanted to engage.  I was able to take him through the law, gospel, and checks in a very efficient chat (it was cold, we both wanted to talk, but we both wanted to get moving again!)  I love it when you have those “unexpected” chats, it just reminds me that we can’t judge from what we see externally.  We don’t know what God is doing on the inside.  The gospel is to be proclaimed to everyone.

The next chat that comes to mind was one with an older teenage girl with a Muslim background.  She was very keen to receive a tract and eagerly engaged in conversation.  She too came to hear the gospel.

Finally, I approached a largish group of teens.  These chats are often tiring, but I had the energy, and with God’s help we can do it!  I ended up being able to hold the attention of most of them in a back and forth conversation.

The exact details of these chats are a bit dim as I write.  But it fills me with such joy knowing that the attributes of God are being explained, and the gospel proclaimed - for the glory of God alone.

It was dark and threatening rain on Friday morning, but by the time the afternoon outreach started, it was sunny!  Very glad for the sun, as it was bitterly cold.  Roger, Andy, John and myself were all busy in conversations.  My first was on Cashel Mall, before I did a wander over to Cathedral Square where I was able to spark up a conversation with a young Catholic guy who was on his break.  It was so interesting to listen to what he was saying, because he was making things up on the spot.  I eventually called him out on his Idolatry (making a god to suit himself).  In spite of his profession of innocence and guitlessness, later in the conversation he admitted to his sexual immorailty (pornograph), and, multiple times, I was able to reason with him on the gospel.  He stayed a long time to chat, but eventually had to get back to work.  He seemed to appreciate the chat.

I made it back to the bridge of remembrance via Worcester Blvd.  As I walked, I handed a tract to a young guy walking briskly in the other direction.  Who knows, maybe he will read it and be saved?  The simple gospel message is the power of God for salvation.

Back at the bridge, I was really encouraged to see Roger, Andy, and John all in conversations (see pic).  John ended up pulling me into his, and I was able to work through all the check questions with the guy.  He left counting the cost of the gift.

Saturday I was back in Riccarton.  I’ve just sat here trying to remember what happened on that outreach.  It was only yesterday!  But I remember now.  It started with a chat with three teen girls.  One was keen, but the other 2 were a bit standoffish.  Yet, I went through the law and the gospel.  I could tell that they didn’t really like what I was saying, and yet they couldn’t really argue with it either.

Soon after I had 6 teen guys go past.  I was able to get them to stop because of the flip chart, and they quickly engaged.  A couple of them were giving all the answers, and they were answering really well.  It turns out they all went to a good local church, and I could tell they were receiving good bible teaching.  I took them through the flip chart anyway.  And the check questions came to the fore.  When I got to the “100%” question, I turned to the guys that were only listening and challenged them all to give their own answer.  3 were “50%” sure, one was about 70% sure, and only 2 were 100% sure.  I asked the ones that were less than 100%, why they were unsure.  One of them responded with, “because I’ve done bad things”.  I was then able to demonstrate how that shows they actually should be 0% sure they are going to heaven, and the only reason why we can be 100% sure - not because we are arrogant, or know it all, but because our salvation is a gift, and doesn’t depend on us being good enough, but on Jesus sacrifice alone!  All 6 kids left with 2 kinds of tract each, and a challenge to get in touch and join me in the harvest!

I’ve just finished the Sunday afternoon outreach at the Cashel / Colombo corner.  It was raining on the way in, but I was going anyway!  To my joy the rain stopped as I arrived.  I was able to set up my flipchart and complete the 2 hour outreach without any rain!

A muslim guy that Andy and I have talked to a lot (mainly back when we were bringing the gospel to the issue of abortion outside the hospital a year or so ago – he really agreed with our stand against abortion) stoped to catch up.  We had a long chat focused on how we can get to heaven.  He seemed really challenged, in spite of his resistance.  It was great catching up with him - God willing I will see him again soon.

I had other chats.  2 that stand out was one with a young couple.  She baulked at my question of how we know what is right and wrong: “if you have to ask - there is something wrong”.  Well, I turned that on her: “spot on!  If you have to explain that God is real to someone, there is something wrong - it’s so obvious”.  There was much resistance, but it was an amicable chat where the gospel was explained.  The 2nd was with a young family very interested in the flipchart, but not so keen to talk about religion.  The father ended up asking about theodicy (why is there suffering and evil), and heard the gospel before shaking my hand and leaving with a tract.

During the outreach, I also handed out a lot of tracts.  At one moment, a group of about 8 teen boys went past (kinda interrupting a conversation I was already having).  They all took tracts, but I warned them not to litter!  If they were just going to throw them, don’t take them.  They all took one.  As I was walking home, sadly, I wasn’t surprised to see 3 discarded tracts.  One had been ripped up.  And yet, maybe 5 of them kept theirs?  Maybe one of them will read it, at a future time?  The silent missionaries are ever working.

I’ve also had some epic chats online this week.  One in particular on Omegle.  I’ll leave the photo to do the talking, but in that 14 minute chat, I explained the gospel 3 times, and answered 2 questions: how do you know God is real, and how do you know hell is real.  I re-watched that chat once, and I was shocked at all the mistakes I made, and yet, the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  I’m grateful that God uses us in our weakness to show his strength.  The other chat has been an ongoing Tik Tok dm conversation.  The message (I’ve included as a picture) brought me to tears.  Oh God I leave them in your hands!  Soli Deo Gloria!!!

Sorry for spelling and grammar issues, I’m way over on time for this, I hope it makes sense!  I wanna get back to the harvest!  Come join me!!!
 

---

I’ve been very encouraged to hear that people are reading these reports and are finding them encouraging.  Glory to God alone.  May you be encouraged for the evangelism opportunities that come up day to day, may you take those opportunities to swing a conversation to the deeper questions of life and share the gospel.  Maybe you would be able to join me on the streets some time?  I’d love to have you with me :)  Or maybe you don’t live in Christchurch and, like me, are desperate to see God glorified in your community and beyond.  Be encouraged to, with the support of your church, go to a busy local street corner and start handing out tracts (you can get them for free here, here, or here), and start conversations.  God will honour our obedience.  You might think you can’t do that.  Well, I used to think that too, but then I discovered I could do it, and you can too!  Be encouraged as you read about how my week, doing exactly that, went :)

The rain was really heavy on Tuesday, so I made the decision to stay home and work online instead.  But although it’s been cold, the outreaches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday went ahead.

John, Roger, Andy and I were in our usual spot at the bridge of remembrance on Friday.  I was first there, and I noticed some JWs there with their stands - I haven’t seen them out for a long time!  I went over to say g'day.  During the brief chat I let them know I was a Christian out to share the gospel - but I wasn’t going to try to engage them in debate.  I let them know we’d have our own stand up soon (Roger).  After a cheery farewell, I headed to the other corner and proceeded to actually attempt to engage people, and within a minute, I was into a gospel conversation with a young couple.  They heard the gospel, and took tracts, but they had to move on.  Romans 1:16 - I leave them in God’s capable hands.

By this stage Andy and Roger had arrived.  Roger set up his chart, and then I decided to go for a wander to see who I could talk with.  I had barely moved down Cashel Mall when two young ladies stopped to chat.  Apparently they had been at some protest in Cathedral Square.  Ignoring that, I swung the conversation to the most important issue: what happens after life.  One of them had studied religious philosophy and uni - so I asked her what Christians have to do to get to heaven.  I wasn’t surprised when she said, “be good” – wrong answer!  So, I corrected her, and then moved into the building / builder analogy.  She was impressed by that.  But, sadly, she wasn’t interested in continuing the chat and needed to go.  Both girls accepted tracts as they moved on.

I made it down to Colombo street, but the fish weren’t really biting down there.  I saw the two girls again, and they said the protest was over - so I decided to go in that direction.  I spied some people sitting on the seats on High Street, so I bee-lined over, the first guy didn’t want to chat, but the two guys further on were keen.  I had a long chat with both of them (I’d say they were high school aged on school holidays, and so had the time).  They both came to grasp the gospel, and even made professions - so I got them to consider the cost of the gift.  And pointed them to the Bible and a good local church.  I left them with tracts which gives them a way to get in touch.

The Square was fairly empty, so I made my way back to the bridge of remembrance, handing out tracts as I went.  I was pleased to hear that Roger had been busy in conversations.  And Andy and John were talking to a small group.  So good!  I was able to have a couple more conversations before the outreach ended in a time of prayer.

Saturday’s outreach was amazing!  The sun was out and melted the frost.  It was so good having Mitzi join me again in Riccarton.  I had the “good person test” flipchart up, and it attracted a lot of attention.

But first up, I had a guy come over and say, “Hi Glen!”  I didn’t recognise him, but he explained that I had talked to him and another lady a few weeks ago - I remembered.  They were keen to go to a church after that chat, but he said they hadn’t followed it up.  I was able to check his gospel understanding (he got it right!) and then I gave him a card for my church (he lives close) with my contact details on it.

After that it was busy.  My prayer was that Mitzi would have some good opportunities to see the whole flipchart used - and God answered that prayer multiple times :)

The outreach ended with 3 different guys standing around the flipchart in gospel conversation.  The first guy is a regular heckler, who has mellowed out a lot lately.  He is asking really good questions, which is a really encouraging sign that the Lord is working on his heart.  And, he wasn’t interrupting the gospel conversation I was having with the guy next to him - instead just listening and soaking it in.  The guy next to him was claiming to be Christian, who had been an Atheist a year ago.  As he left, he paid me a huge compliment.  He said he had learnt more in our 15 minute conversation, than 5 years of religious education at high school!  Glory to God alone - the gospel really is simple, and the Bible answers all the questions that need to be answered.  The third guy in the mix joined the conversation part way through.  He was happy to just listen.  He actually left first!  But not after telling me he was from the USA and currently at the uni in Christchurch and looking for a church – he also left with a contact card for my church.

Sunday was cold.  So good to be at my church gathering in the morning (sadly none of the people I talked to on Saturday turned up - but that’s okay, they are in God’s hands), and a shared lunch after, before heading back to the city for outreach in the afternoon.

It was a bit slow in the city initially.  When Susan arrived, we decided to move down the mall a bit to set up the flip chart.  I had an awesome follow up opportunity from the week before, and an epic chat with a trio of girls – one in particular was very engaged and followed the logic of the gospel perfectly.  She was stoked!  I had some other chats as well.  Glory to God alone for any eventual fruit from the ploughing, sowing and watering.

Oh, nearly forgot to mention, you can now purchase the large, 6 page flipchart here! :)

---

The end of another week of God’s amazing patience.  Another week where we were able to declare the great just and mercy of God.  This week followed the usual schedule: Tuesday and Saturday in Riccarton; Friday and Sunday in the Central City.

The details of Tuesday’s outreach are growing dim, but there were a couple of highlights.  It was great having Roger there with me :)  Roger’s persistence and energy encourages me!

My first interaction was with an elderly lady.  By the way she was walking, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t stop, but I offered her a tract as she went past.  To my surprise, she did stop.  She didn’t believe in God, but even if there was, she considered herself a good person.  I was briefly able to challenge her with the law of God which did its job well, and so she was listening when I explained about Jesus.  Before I knew it, she was on her way again (a couple of minutes max) with a tract in her hand.  I was encouraged, because the gospel is the power of God for salvation!

Soon after I had 4 teen kids stop.  2 guys and 2 girls.  It turns out the girls had done the flip chat 3 times before (I think they said 3), but they wanted me to explain it to the 2 guys.  After 5 minutes of discussion, they asked if I could turn my flip chart around so they could sit in the seats behind.  No problem! :)  They sat in the seats, and I sat on the pavement, explaining the gospel.  What a privilege.

The two guys were resistant.  One was giving silly responses, the other one asked hard questions – it was so good seeing the look of comprehension and challenge on his face as I did my best to answer him, and take him through the law and the gospel.

But it was actually the two girls that were really paying attention.  One of them in particular.  I was so encouraged to hear she had attended a local church, and they had given her a Bible that she was reading occasionally.  So, I was able to continue ministering to them, and encouraging them.

Later in the outreach, it was getting dark when I had a great opportunity to share the gospel with a young high school student who is planning to go to medical school.  Early in the conversation, a guy I had talked to before came past and stopped to listen, he then interrupted me and asked me not to condemn anyone.  But just at that moment, Roger appeared; I signaled for Roger to talk to the interrupter, so I could focus on the high school student.  It worked!  The high school student stayed, not to be condemned (he already is), but to hear of the mercy of Jesus.

Friday was wet, but there was an opening in the weather in the afternoon that allowed Andy and I to head into the city to minister the gospel.  We didn’t have flipcharts and so were mobile.  Starting at the Bridge of Remembrance, I decided to open air preach to those passing by.  I didn’t preach for long, maybe 10 minutes.  Early on a lady stopped to listen, and ended up talking to Andy.  My guess was that she was against what I was saying.  But afterwards, she came over to encourage me!

Andy and I headed down to Colombo Street, where we both had multiple opportunities to talk with people.  I was able to talk to a couple new streeties, as well as have a follow up chat with a streetie I had talked to last week - sadly, she is going back to court and likely prison next week :O  She didn’t want to talk for long, but she did take 2 types of gospel tract with her as she left me.

We moved on to the Square, which was empty.  We had a bit of a strange encounter with two guys that seemed to be on drugs sadly, we decided to move on.  At this point, Andy had to leave to go to a work function.  I ended up back at Colombo street where I had an intense conversation with another streetie to end the outreach.

Saturday had rain forecast to start part way through the outreach, but I headed out anyway.  I was so excited to have a member of my church join me!  It was so awesome to have her with me. :)  The outreach started a little slow, but that was okay, it gave me the time to explain the ropes.

But then two people went past, one of whom was a jogger.  I didn’t think she would stop and I thought the other person would.  But to my surprise, it was the jogger that stopped!  She had a Christian background, and was even attending a couple of churches.  But very early on it was evident she had deep questions.  She was struggling with the issue of injustice.  I did my best to answer her questions, as well as explaining the law and the gospel.

It was during that chat that I noticed one of my regular streeties.  When the jogger moved on, I was able to speak with him.  He asked me to pray for him, and a difficult situation he is dealing with - I was happy to do that.  And it was at this point that another guy stopped.  Turns out it was a fine young Christian man who had a chocolate bar for me!  When it rains it pours! :)  Anyway, I was able to continue the chat with the Streetie.  I was able to give him my #, and a contact card for my church.

The outreach continued, but the actual rain had arrived, and it was getting worse.  I moved the flip chart to a more sheltered spot, but the fish weren’t biting, except for accepting tracts.  So we decided to end the street outreach early.

The Streetie came back, and I offered him a ride back to where he was staying (it was on the way), and during that time I continued to minister the gospel to him.  He’s staying only about 500m from where my church meets, and I invited him along (sadly, he didn’t turn up).

So, now I’m up to today’s outreach.  It was so busy!  It ended up going for 30 minutes longer than usual.  I had 3 other Christians with me - which was so good!

I was explaining the flip chart to the 3 Christians when a guy stopped and expressed interest, he was keen to go through it!  And then a young family stopped to engage as well.  So there were now 9 people around the flip chart.  Well, a crowd draws a crowd, so 2 others stopped as well, and then another.  That’s a dozen!  I couldn’t hold them all.  As the family left, they took tracts.  But the original guy, and 2 others stayed to hear the law and the gospel.  It was so good!

Later, I was talking to a couple of Christians who had stopped when suddenly a group of Muslim boys stopped to do the flipchart.  It was a great chat!  I could see them understanding the gospel and being challenged by the truth of it, and also the cost of accepting it.  Only a couple of those boys accepted tracts at the end.

The outreach ended with a long chat with a couple of guys.  One was Presbyterian, but going to a Catholic school, the other was Atheist (although actually agnostic).

Those are just the highlights of the day.  But the thing I was aware of the most is how practical and applicable the book of Romans is.  My church is studying this book at the moment, and today the preacher taught Romans 1:18-23.  As I was on the streets today, I was so aware of how often I indirectly refer to what is taught in this passage, over and over in my conversations with people.  And also how powerful it is!
 

---

Yeah, a really action packed week of street and online outreach.  Just focusing on the street work, I don’t think I’ll be able to articulate it all to you in the hour I have to write this, but I’ll do my best! :)

So, I was able to make it to all four regular street outreaches this week.  Roger couldn’t make it on Tuesday, so I was on my own at Riccarton.  Andy, Roger, John and I were in the city on Friday.  I was on my own again on Saturday lunchtime in Riccarton, and there was a good team in the city on Sunday afternoon - a total of 6.

So, starting in Riccarton on Tuesday.  It was a dreary day.  Not raining, but it had been, and it was cold and grey.  The outreach started slow, and I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed home and worked online, when a school kid turned up.

It was so funny, because he came to me out of pity!  He was so nice, a Christian who saw me standing on the corner of the street with my flipchart in the cold, and he decided he was going to hop off his bus and come to pray for me!  I let him do that, and then we had a brief chat where, of course, I checked his understanding of the gospel.  His initial answer wasn’t clear, and so I started to ask questions when he suddenly said, “It’s not because of my works, but because Jesus died on the cross for me”.  Good answer!  :)  We continued to chat for a bit before he had to head off and catch the next bus.  He left with a tract and a challenge to join me in sharing the good news of Jesus.

Not long after he left, I had 5 Christchurch Boys High School guys stop to chat.  The conversation was going well, where I was working on getting them engaged on the important topic of what happens after life, when suddenly a lady stopped and interjected herself into the conversation.  The things she was saying were abrupt, and everyone became uncomfortable.  Amazingly, the kids hung around for a bit.  But eventually they left.  I think the lady was happy, because she wanted to talk with me.  Sadly she was drunk.  She called herself a satanist.  She talked about her life, and all the terrible things she had done.  And then, amazingly, she declared how good of a person she was!  She wasn’t in a stable state of mind, and so I had to be very careful in how I said what needed to be said.  But I was faithful in explaining how she is not good, and how she deserves hell.  At this point she started talking about how she had just stolen things from Riccarton Mall!  She even showed me these items.  I told her she needed to take them back.  She refused, and then continued to talk about how unfair life is, and how all her problems were the fault of others.  So sad.  Thankfully the long chat came to an end.  I touched on the gospel, but she really wasn’t read for it.  So I gave her two types of gospel tract.  I was surprised when she accepted them, and tucked them into her bag.  God willing, she will eventually read them, when in a better state of mind.  She left.  But she came back at least 2 more times.  The first time it was to try to give me the things she had stolen - maybe out of conviction?  And the 2nd time, she interrupted another conversation I had started with an elderly lady who didn’t believe in God.

It was dark by the time the outreach finished, but I had other good opportunities, including a quick conversation with a couple of guys waiting for a taxi to take them to the airport.  They left with tracts

Friday’s outreach was very busy.  I was first there, and so I handed out some tracts and was even able to get into a good gospel conversation before the outreach proper even started!  After prayer, I decided to go off on my own for some walk up evangelism.  Starting at the bridge of remembrance, where I had a chat with a guy sitting in the sun, I moved down to Colombo Street, where I had a chat with a christian girl who was between churches and struggling with the issue of homosexuality.  Sadly, she basically said it wasn’t wrong, and after discussing it for a while, she wanted to move on.

I headed towards Cathedral Square.  And ended up bumping into one of my regulars.  Sadly, still pointing to their good deeds as the reason they are going to heaven.  I spent about 20 minutes labouring with him.  He was open and friendly, and wanted to talk, but it felt like what I was saying was falling on deaf ears :(

I made it to the Square and was able to have some more follow up with three streeties.  One of them is fairly new.  She thinks she is going to heaven because she has said sorry and asked for forgiveness.  She thought she was a good person, in spite of the can of booze in her hand.  I explained why I deserve hell, and it shocked her.  I was able to explain why asking for forgiveness can’t remove her punishment.  She engaged for a few minutes, but sadly the other 2 guys distracted her and she quickly switched off again. :(

I completed the loop and made it back to the bridge of remembrance, handing out tracts as I went.  Back at the bridge, I could see the rest of the team were all busy in conversations.  So encouraging!  And I was able to have 2 more solid conversations there as well.  The first was with a deep thinking young man who loosely called himself Bhuddist.  And the 2nd was with two young high school aged guys, who think about what happens after life all the time.

No real down time in that outreach - which was great!  But, annoyingly, I lost one of my gloves! :(  Oh well.

Wow, I’ve still gotta write about Saturday and Sunday’s outreaches, which were really busy, but I’m running out of time!  And I don’t want to bore you (does anyone actually read these?  Are they helpful?  Let me know, because I could just use this hour in more evangelism! ;) Haha ).

So Saturday, I was on my own, nice Sunny day.  Started out a bit slow, but then I got into a great chat with a young couple.  They heard the gospel, and then I started working through the guy's questions. He had grown up in a Christian environment, but had rejected it.  Suddenly, another guy joined the conversation, and ended up killing the chat :(  The couple left and I was left with him.  I vaguely recognised him, I’m pretty sure I’ve talked to him multiple times before (but quite a long time ago).  I was friendly, but he responded oddly.  He then became subtly passive aggressive.  He would ask unanswerable questions, and when I tried to answer, he would basically say I got it wrong and start again.  Frustrating!  He started to twist my words, and accuse me of being insensitive to his culture by the pictures on the flipchart.  I’d had enough, and I politely said it was time for the conversation to end.  I politely asked him to leave me alone and not touch my flipchart.  He wouldn’t leave.  I was really uncomfortable.  He sat across from me, the aim was to stop me from talking to others.  I said I was going to start filming him, and I did - it didn’t phase him.  Finally I said I was going to call the police.  He said, “go ahead”.  So I did.  I tried 105 (non emergency) first, but I couldn’t navigate the menu, so I had to call 111.  Finally, the guy left, just as I started talking to the Police!  The guy I talked to was really good!  He took details, and after a 10 minute call, I was able to get back to work sharing the gospel! :)  I was able to distribute tracts and had a great chat to end the outreach.

I’ve got 5 mins left and I still need to sort pics and post!  Sunday was amazing!  Chat after chat.  The highlight was a chat with a young guy (Catholic background) who was very engaged and stayed in spite of multiple interruptions.  He came to understand the gospel, and then was able to open up about being gay.  I was able to labour with him that their was hope for heaven for him, but that the reality was his life would change - he wouldn’t be able to practice homosexuality.  Even though we sin, we can be forgiven as a gift.  We parted on good terms and a good handshake.  He left with a tract.

I could write more, but I think this is the longest report I’ve ever written.  Today, in church, we read Matthew 9.  The last 2 verses say this:

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 
- Mt 9:37–38

This is so true!  Come and join us out in the harvest!
 

---

It was great having a week’s holiday and spending time with my family.  God is so good.  But this week I was back on the streets! :)

It was so good being in church this morning and listening to the preacher teach from God’s word on prayer.  He used an illustration from the life of George Mueller that brought me to tears, and convicted me on my own lack of prayer and trust that God will actually answer.

Anyway, today as I made it to my regular outreach spot (cnr of Colombo and Cashel) as I set up my flipchart and sat down to pray, as per usual, I was so encouraged when God answered my prayer before I had even had the time to finish!  (Maybe I should pray BEFORE putting up my flipchart! :D )  Someone was standing in front of the flipchart, and I was straight into a conversation!

Later, Susan came to join me.  I was already deep in a conversation, but when it finished, I greeted her and suggested we pray… but before we did, we decided to move across the road to the sunny side (it was a warm day, but it was starting to cool down).  Low and behold, one of my regulars was there, and we actually got into a gospel conversation (he has heard it plenty of times before, but God hasn’t opened his eyes to it yet).  After that chat, Susan reminded me we hadn’t prayed yet!  So we sat down and did just that before getting into more conversations.

Soon after we prayed a young couple, who had talked to Susan before, turned up.  They were relativists, and were using it as a basis to make themselves god (so grievous).  It was mostly a friendly chat, but became very intense as I showed them how an absolute God must be real and the basis for the shared reality we are in.  They said the most absurd things (1+1=3 in my reality), and then would instantly contradict themselves (there is no right or wrong, but you are wrong).  In the end, they admitted they held their position so they can live as they like.  Sadly, the guy started to get angry with me.  When I calmly said there is no need to get angry, it only made him more angry, but he had to contain it, because it contradicted his argument for a world without anger!  It was frustrating and it was time for the chat to end.  They were polite as they left, but I was still feeling the sparks of battle.  Susan and I prayed for those 2 kids.  Sadly, they didn’t get to hear the law or the gospel, but I hope they will be challenged enough to be open to a reasonable discussion in the future.  God have mercy!

So many other great conversations today.  The last one was with a ‘Christian’ who was clearly pointing to his good deeds as the reason he was going to heaven.  I was able to gently, but pointedly show him that he is not currently a Christian, and explain the good news of how to become one!  I also had a full gospel chat with a young guy who identified himself as pagan.

Moving back in time, sadly, I wasn’t able to make it out to Riccarton on Saturday, but Roger and I were in the city on Friday.  It was a new public holiday in New Zealand, and there were LOTS of people on the streets that wouldn’t otherwise have been.  For some reason, I was feeling exhausted; I didn’t have the energy to get conversations started (like I did today).  So I just did my best to hand out gospel tracts to the people flowing past.  When Roger arrived it was great to see him enthusiastically engaging people (pictured).  At least one of us was able to!

On a whim, I decided to go for a walk and headed towards Cathedral Square.  It was providential, because I ended up encountering three kids at preacher's corner and having a wonderful chat with them.  Two of the three of them engaged really well, and we had a long gospel chat.
On Tuesday, Roger and I were at Riccarton.  This outreach was so long ago now that I can barely remember the details.  I’m sure I had some chats!  But I remember 2 things: 1) It was cold and got dark early (we have now passed the shortest day), and 2) Roger was having heaps of good chats!  (I tried to take some snaps, attached to this report).

I’m so grateful for the privilege of being able to focus on this work for the Lord’s glory.  Thank you for enabling me to do it, and please remember to keep us in prayer! :D

 

---

I’ve just finished 3 days of street outreach.  Roger, Daniel, Andy and I were in the city on Friday afternoon.  I was in Riccarton, Saturday lunch time, and then Binu and I were in the City on a cold, wet, and windy Sunday afternoon… It was so worth facing the conditions for, God is so good!

The Friday outreach seems so long ago as I write this on Sunday.  It was a busy outreach, with little down time; plenty of gospel opportunities!  I set up my flipchart, before heading over to approach someone who seemed to have the time for a chat.  Indeed they did!  I asked them what they thought would happen after they die.  She looked at me and said, “I’m probably going to hell, because I’m gay”.  Starting from there I was able to share the bad news and the good news with her, and her friend who joined her.  I was able to communicate 2 things clearly: 1) there is indeed hope for them to go to heaven and 2) that homosexuality is a sin.  They heard the gospel, but sadly there wasn’t real engagement from them at this stage.  Yet, they were happy to leave with tracts.  It was a friendly chat, and I enjoyed it.

I went back to my flipchart and tried to get conversations started with it.  There were 3 girls walking past at a distance, and I was very surprised to see one of the girls go out of her way to disengage from her friends to make a bee line for the flipchart, she wanted to know what the good person test was all about!  Her friends followed and I was able to have a marvellous gospel conversation with them.  They all seemed to be in different places.  The initial girl was chatty, the middle one was silent, but the subtle expressions of comprehension on the third girl's face filled me with joy.  It was such a great chat, and they all left with tracts.  In thinking on that chat, I would guess the 3rd girl would most likely become a Christian.  But, I have no idea, the gospel is the power of God for salvation, and only God saves.  Maybe the silent girl will become a Christian?  Maybe they all will?  Maybe none of them?  I’ll never know - but that’s okay.  Our job is to sow the gospel seed and pray.  God brings the increase.  Either way, God will be glorified!

As soon as the chat with the girls ended, a guy came over who wanted to know what the flipchat was about.  I’ve talked to him before, in fact, he has listened to our open air preaching before.  He “was” a Christian in the past, but is not currently.  He only had 5 minutes, but he ended up staying a lot longer than that.  We never actually went through the flipchart, he just hit me both barrels with the hard questions, esp. Why does God allow suffering and evil?  I patiently answered his questions as best as I could.  The answers are simple, they can just be hard to process sometimes.  He eventually had to go, and we parted on good terms.  He seemed to appreciate the chat and left with a tract as well.

It was so awesome to see the rest of the team busy in gospel conversations as well.  I mixed up the rest of my time with walk up conversations and tract distribution.  I had at least 2 other solid conversations.  Glory to God alone!

Saturday was a bit slow initially, nice sunny day, and plenty of people going past, but no one was taking the bait.  In those situations, just be patient and polite.

A guy came and sat in the seats behind my flipchart, waiting for some friends.  I asked if he wanted to try it out - nope.  Did he want a takeaway version?  - nope.  All good.  I kept trying to start conversations with those going past, and trying to hand out tracts.  It was funny, because the guy eventually either became curious or had pity on me! HAHA :)  He asked my name, and then wanted to know what it was all about.  He accepted a tract and we started chatting.  But, when it rains, it pours!  Just at that moment, a lady who had walked past me earlier came back, walked right up to my flipchart and said, “I want to know all about it”!  The guy's friends came, and he left with the tract, so I was able to focus on sharing the gospel with the lady.  We ended up sitting on the seats and never used the flipchart.  She was very open, and we had a full gospel conversation, where she often interrupted with really good questions.  By the end of the chat, she effectively said “I’m in”, yet I got her to consider the cost of accepting the gift.  She was very keen to take a tract, and she said she would check out the needGod.net socials.

So after this chat I got into another solid chat with an American astrophysicist.  He was on the fence in regards to God (actually, there is no fence, but you know what I mean).  He had a Catholic background and a significant memory from that background was that he wasn’t allowed to ask questions, which he said made him angry.  Well, we certainly had a good time discussing questions and answers, and he also heard the gospel that good deeds are NOT required to get to heaven, because of Jesus!

So, coming to today’s outreach.  Looking at the weather, I nearly decided to cancel and just do online work instead.  But I decided to go, and turned the car around.  I rugged up warm against the elements, and just prayed that God would be glorified in my feeble effort.  I was so encouraged to see Binu turn up as well!  But just as he did, it started to rain quite hard.  We prayed together, and then found the driest spots we could.  I was amazed that I had such a busy outreach, I wasn’t counting, and it was a bit of a blurr, but I’d say I had at least 7 solid gospel interactions, not including all the tracts that were distributed!  God is so good!  One of those conversations in particular was really special.  It’s hard to describe.  It was just special.  A God moment.  At the very least, he seemed to gain much gospel clarity (thank you check questions).

I left that outreach tired, and cold, but inside I was warm and happy!  I just don’t understand why more Christians don’t join me.  You are missing out! :)

To God alone be all the glory!
 

---

We have moved into winter in Christchurch.  The Summer of special outreaches has finished, and we are planning for the next summer at the moment!  But in the meantime, we continue to plod in our daily job of gospel ploughing and sowing.  What a privilege it is to serve the Lord in this way.  And I’m so thankful for all you who are working alongside us in prayer!

I’m going to give an update on the last week on the street, which included five outreaches across three locations: Central, Riccarton and Upper Riccarton.

But first, I found something I wrote recently that I want to share.  It was obviously after a good chat I had, probably online:

Sometimes we get so used to what we do, that we forget the significance of what we are doing.  The gospel really is the power of God for salvation.  It's so amazing we get this privilege to tell people about him.  I'm so overjoyed after that chat.  Those kids were soaking in the gospel and asking so many wonderful questions.  But I can't save them.  God, please change their hearts for your glory alone!!!!!!

On Friday, Roger, Andy and myself were in central Christchurch.  First street outreach of the winter, and It was cold!  I was glad to be wearing thermals and all my other layers! :)

Andy told me later that he had a follow up with a guy he had previously witnessed to at the bus stops.  They went into a coffee shop where it was warm for a follow up gospel conversation. :)

Roger faithfully manned his flipchart near the bridge of remembrance.  He said he had at least 3 solid conversations.

I decided to roam.  And I spent most of the two hours of the outreach in three solid conversations.  They were awesome!

The first was on Cashel Mall, with two brothers with Catholic backgrounds.  They came to understand the gospel, and one of them even asked which church I was at - he said I might see him there on Sunday.  Sadly, he didn’t turn up.  Yet God was glorified in my obedience to share.  And the gospel is still the power of God for salvation!

I moved on to Cathedral Square where I asked two passers by what they thought happened after life.  Well, that conversation went long.  One of them was a Biochemist and leaning heavily towards Atheism.  It was one of the few times that I relied heavily on my knowledge of creation apologetics.  It was a very stimulating conversation, where the law and the gospel was shared.  By the end of the chat, there was no noticeable shift in the position of the Biochemist (you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink), but the other guy seemed impacted, and he carefully accepted a tract and slipped it into his bag.

Moving on through Cathedral Square, I handed out tracts, and was surprised at how many were accepted.

I ended up back at the bridge of remembrance where I got into my third and final chat.  It was with a couple I wasn’t expecting to stop.  The girl played devil's advocate - no problem with me, because, when you are relying on the truth, the answers always stack up.  They both left accepting tracts.

On Saturday, I was in Riccarton at lunch time and then in Upper Riccarton in the evening to test a new outreach location with Mike and John.

It was a bit slow in Riccarton and then I suddenly hit a stretch of three conversations, each rolling into the other!

The second one was a follow up chat with a guy I hadn’t seen for a long time!  It was so good to see him.  He is still articulating the gospel, but, sadly, I’m not seeing any fruit of salvation in his life.  I gave him my contact # and hope to see him again soon to be able to continue labouring with him in the gospel.

The third one was also a follow up - with a young man who is now professing faith, and he even said he has almost finished reading John in the Bible.  Sadly his work schedule stops him from being able to come to either the foundations Bible study my church runs, nor our regular Sunday gatherings.  I continue to pray for him.

One of the final encounters of the outreach was with a lady who seems to have become mixed up with some conspiracies.  She was using biblical lingo, but completely missing the gospel.  She just wanted to rage against the culture and was even thinking about what happens after life.

In Upper Riccarton, on Saturday evening, I had an opportunity to engage three young guys with the gospel.  Sadly, one of the guys claimed to be a Christian, and yet, he didn’t understand the gospel at all.  The conversation didn’t flow too well, because they guys kept getting distracted.  But, I made the most of the opportunity, and they all left with tracts.

Sunday I was back at Cashel / Colombo corner with Susan and Binu.  It’s cold enough now that Susan gets me to set up the flipchart on the eastern side of Colombo Street - in the sun! :)

I was so encouraged to see Susan running the flipchart with a group of young guys at one point.  Yet, I was so busy in my own gospel conversations.

Firstly, and had a great chat with two young Indian ladies, who followed along the gospel presentation flawlessly, and came to grasp the great significance of Jesus: our only hope for salvation from our sin and hell.

I then moved into a long chat with a young man who wasn’t interested in a tract, but decided to answer my question: ‘what do you think happens after you die?’  He didn’t seem very engaged, and yet, he stayed.  He was fairly hard soil, and so I laboured, for the glory of God alone.

Tuesday (yesterday), I was in Riccarton.  Two chats stand out in my mind.  The first was with a young man who loved history.  He knew about Viking gods, and Egyptian gods.  But he didn’t understand the gospel.  It was my privilege to share it with him.  Later, another guy stopped, he heard the gospel and seemed really impressed.  He asked about my church and accepted a contact card.  He said he needed time to process what he had heard - which is fair.  But he also understood that the message was simple enough.  I pleaded with him to trust in Christ, after counting the cost of doing so.

This only covers the work on the streets.  I’ve also been busy sharing the gospel online, and planning the next summer of outreach.  Again, I feel so privileged to be able to serve the Lord in this capacity.  Long may it last.  Thank you so much to all those that donate to enable us to continue in this ministry the Lord has put in front of us.  We ultimately trust him along for all our provision.  All glory to Him!

---

Praise God!  Over Easter weekend, there were 2 outreaches in central Christchurch where over a 1000 gospel tracts, with chocolate Easter eggs were given away.  But even more encouraging, were the amount of Christians representing many local churches that got involved!

Saturday had lovely weather, and I was shocked at the amount of people in Cashel Mall.  It felt pre covid.  We had bought 500 eggs to give away over both outreaches, but in just over an hour, we had pretty much given away all 500!  It was so awesome watching and listening to people’s stoked reactions at getting the gift.

I spent all my time of the 2 hour outreach, walking up and down the mall, making sure Christians had enough stock of both tracts and eggs, and trying to be an encouragement.  I didn’t have a single gospel chat myself!  But that’s okay, I have plenty of opportunities at other times. :)

After the outreach, we had to scramble to find a new supply of eggs to buy.  The first shop we went to had sold out! :O  But, the supermarket next door had some.  So, we were all sorted for Monday

Monday wasn’t quite as busy as Saturday - the weather wasn’t quite as good.  But, there were still plenty of people out and about, and a whole new team of Christians gathered to give away the gift of Jesus.

This time I did have the opportunity to get directly involved.  I had a great follow up chat with one of my regulars, and at the end of the outreach I was able to power out a tray of chocolate and tracts.

Our prayer is that many will read the tracts.  We leave the results in God’s hands - knowing the simple gospel message is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16).

Thanks to all those that got involved.  I was very encouraged.  Looking forward to doing something similar next Easter, God willing!
 

---

Page 1 . . . 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 . . . 47

---