Plymouth Evangelism: Many Great Gospel Conversations
It was perfect weather for open-air evangelism today - the sun was out; the sky was blue, and the temperature was pleasant. Due to the weather, I wasn’t surprised that the city centre of Plymouth was overflowing with people.
Today, I was working with a fellow Associate Worker from the Open Air Mission, Peter and his team. When I arrived, Pete was already deep in a gospel conversation, so I set up my board and began to hand out tracts. Nearly straight away I was into a conversation about the Lord Jesus.
Two young men named Lex and Ben took tracts and wanted to talk. Ben was quite an intelligent man who had studied various disciplines of science and philosophy (this meant he had much to say!). I engaged briefly with the intellectual side of things, but then I swung the conversation around to the gospel. I asked both men if they thought they would go to Heaven, and to my surprise, both answered by saying they’d go to Hell. Normally, people will declare that they are heaven-bound, but not these two. I asked both why they believed that; Ben told me it was because he had read the Bible, and it said that homosexuality is a sin, and since he is a homosexual, he isn’t going to Heaven. Lex told me that he was going to Hell because he smoked weed. We chatted for a little while about what is sin, and then I explained to them the gospel. Both said they didn’t believe it but did say that it made sense. At the end of our chat, they took tracts. Please pray for them.
Around this time Pete began to preach; his theme was “Who do you trust?” He preached well, and a few people listened. He did a good job explaining that we should only trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation. It was particularly encouraging to see several children listening to Peter preach. At the end of the message, he was able to give them age-appropriate gospel material.
When Pete finished preaching, it was my turn. Today, I spoke on “Bridging the Gap.” Using the old ‘bridge to life’ illustrations, I explained that our sin has separated all of us from God and that nothing we can do can ever bring us back to God. But the good news is that God comes looking for us, and rescues sinners at the cross. A few people paid attention to the preaching, including two older people on mobility scooters; both of whom took literature at the end of the message.
By this stage, it was getting later in the afternoon, but God wasn’t finished. Soon I found myself in a conversation with about five or six thirteen-year-olds, all of whom claimed to be atheists. Many of their questions were silly and lacked any depth, but I was able to answer their objections and point them to Jesus. All of them took a tract aimed at atheists, and three of them took more in-depth booklets dealing with the subject of the big bang. Please pray the Lord would save them.
Finally, as we began to pack down for the day, a young man named Liam approached me. It was clear he had some questions, so I engaged him in conversation. He started off by saying, “I am a committed atheist, and I have two questions. One, what are your thoughts on Roe vs. Wade; Two, what do you think about the LGBT community?” The man was very polite and respectful, and it seems that his questions were genuine. I answered by saying as a Christian I can only answer with what the Bible says as that is my sole authority. He agreed that Christians should use the Bible, so I began to explain to him the Scripture. First, we looked at the issue of life and murder. We had a great discussion over when life begins and if it ok to murder babies in the womb. Liam told me that it is ok to kill babies up to a certain point, the problem was he couldn’t decide where that certain point was. At first, he said it was acceptable to kill the baby up until life is viable, but then he changed to saying we can kill a baby if they cannot survive on their own. This argument of survival is a common one, so I asked if his infant son could survive on his own, Liam quickly said that he couldn’t. So, I asked, “Is it ok to kill him?” Liam very quickly said it wouldn’t be right to kill his son. By this stage, I could see that his arguments for abortion had run out, so I explained to him that God is the giver of life and that He sets the rules for when it should end. Liam said he respected my view but disagreed. We then moved on to the LGBT subject.
To answer Liam’s question about homosexuality, I went back to Genesis to show that when God made the world, He made man and woman; as the Creator, God established marriage and the relationships that are to take place. This relationship was not homosexual. I then pointed out that homosexuality is a sin, but it isn’t the only sin. We spoke about how all sin is worthy of God’s judgement, but the good news is that God can forgive all kinds of sinners through the work of Jesus on the cross. Liam said he disagreed, but he understood and was thankful for the friendly chat. As we parted ways, he took a couple of booklets that address the subject of atheism. Please pray for Liam.
It was a wonderful afternoon of outreach. If people won’t come to church, we need to take the gospel to them. Brothers and sisters, look for ways to take the gospel to the streets of your village, town, or city.
SDG!
