“I hate the Bible!” – Southampton Evangelism

It was a beautiful autumn day in Southampton. After a few days of non-stop rain, the sun was shining, and people packed into the city centre to enjoy it. The workers were indeed few today – I was all alone, but the Lord strengthened me for the task.

After setting up the open-air board, I began to preach on “What’s in a Name?” As soon as I started preaching, a busker decided to set up near me and begin to play. This attempt to drown out the preaching drew attention to what was being said. Soon, a man named Ashely began to heckle. He claimed to be a Christian, but he was drunk and thought he was sinless. He decided to be silly in his heckles, but all this did was bring more people in to listen. Whenever I spoke about Jesus, Ashely would try to move the message to the Book of Revelation. He wanted to talk about the ‘end of days.’ So, I decided to go to the Book of Revelation and began to speak about the day of judgment. I asked Ashely, “On Judgement Day, where will you go – Heaven or Hell?” Ashely replied that he was sinless, so I began to use the Ten Commandments to show him his sin. After doing this for a time, Ashely walked off, but the crowd he drew stayed.

As I addressed the crowd, a young man named Josh stepped forward while shouting, “I hate the Bible!” I replied, “Have you ever read it?” He answered, “No!” This resulted in the crowd laughing. Quickly, I asked, “What do you think will happen to you when you die - will you go to Heaven or Hell?” Before he could answer, all his friends shouted, “He’d go to Hell!” The crowd once again laughed. We had a friendly back-and-forth. After explaining sin, I asked Josh and the crowd, “How can anyone be forgiven?” A few people called out their thoughts, so I said, “Can I tell you what the Bible says?” The crowd nodded. It was a joy to explain the gospel to them; then call on all listening to repent and trust in Jesus. At the end of the message, I offered John’s Gospel to anyone who wanted to discover more about Christ. Seven people (including Josh) came forward to take a copy.

One man who listened to the preaching was Hira from India. He is a Sikh who has moved to Southampton. He enjoyed the preaching, as since moving to the UK, he has been impressed by how Christians help people. This is foreign to his religion and culture. We had a wonderful chat about Jesus and the gospel. Hira took a copy of John’s Gospel and said he would be back next week to talk further.

While I was handing out tracts, the Irish Roman Catholic Man who spoke to Nigel last week came back again. He was very friendly and open to talking about Christian issues. It was good to see him and build upon what Nigel had said last week.

To finish the outreach, I decided to preach once again. This time, I spoke on “The Message of the Cross.” As soon as I started, the busker began to play again. Not as many people stopped to listen this time, but some did. A Roman Catholic lady named Erica was moved by the message, so she took a copy of John’s Gospel and literature designed for Roman Catholics.

It was a challenge being by myself, but I rejoice in all that the Lord did. He allowed His gospel to advance in this city. Please pray for all those who heard the good news.

SDG!

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Josh Williamson is a full-time evangelist with The Open-Air Mission. Since 1853, OAM has been sharing the good news on the streets of the United Kingdom. To stay updated about the work of the Mission, please sign up for the free quarterly magazine and monthly prayer notes.

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