Some Joke, Others Listen – Southampton Evangelism

The Christmas markets made the city centre busy, but unlike last week, we had a busker set up near us. She was very good, but her singing did present a few challenges. Yet still, the Lord wasn’t going to allow His gospel to be stopped. There were ten of us on the team today, so we covered the area well and truly with the good news.

Tony Dancer kicked-off the preaching by speaking on “What’s Your Excuse?” from Romans 1. The busker made it hard to hear, but the gospel went forth clearly. As he spoke, a lady from Tanzania stopped at the free Bible table. She asked me if I had any material in Swahili – I did! She took the booklets I had and a New Testament.

When it came time for me to preach, I spoke on “God and Man.” Shortly after starting, a man decided to engage. He told me that there was no God. Whenever he said something, a black lady in the crowd would call out, “Just give your life to God!” I thought she was a well-meaning Christian, but it turns out she was a Muslim. Thankfully, Nigel spoke with her and stopped her from calling out further. The man who claimed atheism walked away, then came back. He told me that he hadn’t sinned, so we began to look at God’s Commandments. As we went through the Law, he would try to justify himself. As I explained the gospel, he hugged and kissed me. He also took a copy of John’s Gospel (as did one other in the crowd). Afterwards, the man told a team member that he was greatly moved by the fact that we would speak with him.

Ben preached next, and nearly instantly, a group of polite young people gathered and asked questions. Ben did a great job of explaining the gospel to them. Many of these young lads perhaps had never heard the good news before, but here they are on the street hearing of Jesus.

As the outreach progressed, Mike Mellor and Richard also preached. The bitterly cold weather and the busker continued to create difficulties, but each faithfully lifted high the Lord Jesus.

During this time, I spoke to a group of four young men. None of them understood the gospel. As I shared the good news with them, two men began to joke and make light of the message, but two became very serious. In the end, the two serious men took tracts and thanked me for speaking with them.

The final person I chatted with today was a man from Albania. He told me that he was going to Hell, as he was a bad person, but he was trying to be good in the hope of meriting heaven. I quickly shared the gospel with him as his friends were trying to drag him away. He took a tract and a card that linked to the gospel in Albanian.

Please pray for all those we encountered today. May the Lord Jesus rescue them all!

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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In common with many evangelistic reports, we have changed the names and some of the photographs to protect the anonymity of those mentioned.