Good Works Open the Door for the Gospel – Portsmouth Evangelism
It appeared that today’s outreach in Portsmouth would be a challenge. When we arrived, local council workers were busy doing noisy work on the park benches. Then the man from last week who thinks he is Jesus showed up; again, he played Covid-19 conspiracy videos loudly through a speaker. Then, the Mormons decided to try to deceive people who stopped to speak with us. What was the solution to these challenges? Prayer!
The team prayed, and before too long, the man who thought he was Jesus disappeared. The Mormons cleared off, and the council workers stopped making noise. We now had a free run to share the good news.
As team members handed out tracts and engaged in one-to-one conversations, I preached on “Who Will Be King?” The wind was blowing, and it was cold, so it was challenging to minister, but still, a couple of people stopped to listen. Roger preached next - speaking on “How Can I Know that God is Real?” A few people sat on the seats nearby to listen (though some pretended not to!).
Between the preaching, we would hand out tracts and seek to engage people in conversation. The weather made conversations difficult, but still, many people took tracts. The Free Bible table was also busy with people stopping to take material and copies of God’s Word.
After doing tract work for a time, I decided to preach again. This time, I spoke about God’s Love for the people of Portsmouth. A few people listened, and at the end, two took copies of John’s Gospel.
A man in his eighties named Barry had been listening to the preaching. I met Barry last week after the outreach when we were called to engage in First Aid. What had happened was that a young lad was vomiting blood, so we helped take care of him until an ambulance arrived. Barry had seen all of this and was touched by the fact that we care for people. He told us he’d like to read the Gospel of John as we were “the real deal.” The good work of first aid opened a gospel door (Matthew 5:16)! Barry took an in-depth gospel booklet and a portion of God’s Word. He promised to read the Gospel and return in two weeks to talk further. Before he left, he also chatted with a local pastor. Please pray for Barry.
While this was happening, Margaret was talking with an 88-year-old lady. This lady listened to the gospel, and then right there on the streets, she prayed to trust in Christ. We were able to give her literature and a booklet for new Christians.
Next, I found myself in a conversation with a young Muslim lady who was very upset about all the killings taking place in the Middle East. She was distraught that Hamas had used the Quran to justify killing, and she was concerned that Israel was quoting the Old Testament to justify their actions. As she spoke, she kept saying about how much she wanted peace. I pointed her to the Prince of Peace and explained the gospel. She took a booklet designed for Muslims and a copy of John’s Gospel.
The outreach started with challenges but ended with God’s abundant blessing. 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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