Door-to-Door Evangelism in Newquay

It has been many years since I’ve gone door-to-door sharing the gospel; the last time I actually engaged in this form of evangelism I found it to be unproductive as many people didn’t want to talk. However, over the past few weeks I have been hearing updates about the door-to-door evangelism undertaken by The Faith Mission in Newquay, so today I decided I’d join them… I’m glad I did!

Nigel and George from The Faith Mission met me at Newquay Baptist Church at 10:30am for a time of prayer, after that we loaded up into a car to drive to the otherside of Newquay. Nigel dropped George and I off at a holiday park, as we were going to visit a man named Simon whom they had spoken to previously.

Simon is a rugged man who has travelled the world working with animals; he is also an atheist. Simon very kindly invited us into his home, and we soon began to chat about science, evolution, apologetics and God. It was clear that Simon was looking for an argument, as he had been pondering what had been said to him previously. At first he tried to dismiss us as being uneducated, but he quickly changed his tune when we began to engage him on a science level. For near on ninety minutes we went back and forth on different apologetic issues and also the gospel. Throughout the conversation we kept bringing everything back to the Lord Jesus; which was a subject that Simon called “toxic.”

Many of Simon’s arguments were built upon bad science, but that was to be expected as he was looking for any reason not to repent and trust in Christ. At the end of our conversation we shook hands and he thanked us for coming around for a chat; he also took a copy of the Creation Magazine. Simon is also quite unwell, so sometimes he can’t get out to do his shopping; we were able to give him the contact details for the church and encouraged him to call if he ever needed anything; this gesture seemed to really touch him.

By now it was 12:30pm so we headed back to the chapel for lunch. After a short break we went back out to go knock on doors and see if anyone would like to chat. George and I headed off in one direction, while Nigel went the other way. We knocked on several doors, but most people seemed to be out, so we left a gospel tract in their mailbox and moved on to the next house.

At one house we met a lovely old lady who attends an evangelical church; she was very friendly towards us and seemed to be encouraged that we would be going around sharing the gospel; I was able to give her a CD sermon by John MacArthur as a gift.

Soon after we knocked on a door of a lady named Linda, she told us that she has been to church, but she has many questions that pastors haven’t be able to answer. The question she gave to us related to who wrote the Bible; I gave her a short answer, which she seemed happy with. She also took a gospel tract, a church invite, and a booklet by John Blanchard on the topic of “Why Believe the Bible?” She promised to read all the literature, and even said she’d see about coming along to church.

Just around the corner we bumped into Jan who was out gardening in the yard. We stopped to chat to her about her garden, which then progressed into a conversation about spiritual things. Jan is a cultural Christian who has a loose allegiance to the Church of England. She was adamant that God existed and that we should know Him; the problem was it seemed like she was trusting in her religion. It was quite difficult to get to the gospel as everytime we tried to swing the conversation around she’d bring up a different topic. We then got our opening, but we were going to need to be creative in our approach.

Jan mentioned that every time she is in Truro she visits the Cathedral to light a candle or two for her deceased mother. Recently I visited the Cathedral, so I was able to talk about some of the things I had seen, including the stained glass windows which show different aspects of Church History. This discussion of Church History allowed me to talk about John Wesley (who has a window in the Cathedral) and also Henry Martyn (who came from Truro). Using these two giants of the Faith, George and I were able to share the gospel through talking about the ministry of these men. Jan seemed quite interested as we used this creative approach to evangelism.

After speaking to Jan we continued on our door-to-door outreach with the next lady we spoke to identifying right from the start that she is a former Christian, but now an atheist. She refused the tract we offered her, stating that she became an atheist after the Aberfan disaster as she couldn’t understand why God would allow people to suffer. Since she was prepared to talk we engaged her in the gospel and apologetics, but she kept dismissing us. Eventually I asked her, “If we could answer all your questions about death and suffering, and if we could give rational arguments, would you believe in God?” She replied to my question by simply saying, “No!” At this point I thought it was time to be direct, so I said, “Then it seems that there is a deeper issue that causes you not to believe in God, and it isn’t suffering.” she readily agreed to this statement, so I referenced John 3:19-20 by stating that ultimately she is an atheist because she hates the light and doesn’t want God to tell her what to do; I then shared the gospel with her again. This time she didn’t really respond, but she willingly took an invite to the church. We parted on good terms, with her thanking us for coming around.

By this stage it was nearly 3pm; we had been going door-to-door for several hours, so we thought it best to call it a day. What are my thoughts after spending the day witnessing to people in their homes? I loved it! I cannot wait until next week when I get to join The Faith Mission workers again.

Door-to-door evangelism is hard and scary, but I think it is a vital ministry. Let’s take the gospel to the homes of all people.

Please pray for all those we met today; may the Lord Jesus rescue many!

SDG!

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