Open-Air Mission Outreach: Day 5 – Newquay

Today our outreach moved to our hometown, Newquay. We have been evangelising our community for many months, so it was exciting to have a team from the Open-Air Mission join us.

We met at the chapel at 10am for a time of prayer and devotions, then at midday, we headed out to the high street to share the good news. The town centre was absolutely crammed with people, as there is currently a large music festival taking place here. I have never seen Newquay this busy, there were literally thousands of people walking up and down the street – thousands of souls, all of whom will spend eternity somewhere.

Our outreach setup was a bit bigger today, with a larger Free Bible table, gospel cart, and open-air board. Throughout the day we saw many pieces of literature, and Bibles being distributed, the majority of which would have had our church contact details on them. Our prayer is that people will come along to services, or at least listen to messages online; evangelism must be connected to a local church, so we hope that through today’s gospel witness the local church will grow.

One of the challenges we face during the afternoon outreach was that due to the busyness of the street it was hard to get people to stop to chat. Many would take tracts, and a few would listen to the preaching, but longer conversations were difficult. One tool that helped with conversations was the literature table, as people slowed down enough to browse the material. While manning the table, another team member and I were able to chat to a family that was visiting from Crawley. They were professing believers, but they said they couldn’t find a gospel church in their area. Thankfully, we know of an excellent church near that location, so we were able to give them all the details of that church.

Another conversation we had at the table was with a young man who came from a Christian background, but who had many questions. He wasn’t sure if he was a Christian or not, as he had issues he needed to sort out. We were able to answer several of his questions and were also able to give him a few booklets on different subjects. He said that he was down here for the music festival, but now he wondered if he was meant to be here to have his questions answered. Truly the Lord providentially works!  

As with every other day in our Cornish outreach, the open-air preaching ran continuously throughout the day. When it came time for me to preach, I used the open-air board to present the classic “Bridge to Life” message. I took 1 Timothy 2:5 as my text and explained that our sin separates us from God, but we have a wonderful Saviour who can rescue sinners. At the end of the message, one man who was listening took literature from the table. We trust that the Lord will use both the spoken and written word to save that man.

Probably the liveliest part of the day came when a heckler (who was high on drugs) decided to make a scene while Andy was preaching. The hecklers’ goal was to shut down the preaching, but the Lord used his antics to draw in a large crowd to listen to the good news. Andy did an excellent job in addressing the heckles and bringing everything back to the gospel. Quite a number of those in the crowd took tracts or copies of the Gospel of John.

It was around 4pm when we wrapped up our afternoon session of evangelism; it was now time to rest, and prepare for our evening outreach. At 7pm, we were back on the streets telling people about Jesus. The street was much quieter, but even though there weren’t as many people, the majority were willing to take tracts and many conversations were had.

I was able to speak to a local businessman who was very friendly and interested in what we were doing. We had a good chat, and he took gospel material. We also had Christians from other churches who said they felt stirred up to evangelise also. Our prayer is that the Lord would raise up many other labourers.

Due to the festival being in town there were many Police Officers on patrol. I generally try to thank the police for their service, and this often opens conversations. One of the brothers was able to have a very good conversation with one female officer who described herself as an atheist.

Towards the end of the outreach, I was able to preach on John 3:16. Using the open-air board I broke down the verse and explained what it meant. The streets were quiet, so I am not sure how many people heard, but a number did hear the Scripture being read.

Overall, it was a long, but busy day. God-willing, we will do it all again tomorrow.

 SDG!

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