Peace amid Chaos – Southampton Evangelism

The city centre of Southampton was heaving with people. Everywhere we looked, someone was rushing to one place or another. Amid all the busyness, one of the team members commented that everyone appeared to be grumpy, or as I said, ‘grinch-like.’ The ‘Christmas joy’ of movies certainly was not on display, and the reason for the lack of joy is that people were doing Christmas without Jesus. They hurried past ignoring the offer of peace amid chaos, yet some did stop and heard the good news of the Saviour who had been born.

Due to the number of people in Southampton, we were a little late to set up the outreach, but as soon as we put up the free Bible table, people stopped to ask for literature. Nearly instantly, two Bibles were requested, and then a Muslim man asked for a New Testament. The light was shining in the darkness!

The preaching then commenced. First, Ben proclaimed the good news, and then Will followed. After they had preached, it was my turn. Using the lyrics from Christmas carols, I presented the good news. As I preached, three young lads began to engage. They were clearly looking for a bit of fun, so we went back and forth about the need for Jesus. At the end of the message, four people took copies of John’s Gospel.

Ben then preached again, asking people if they were certain about the opinions they had formed about God, themselves, and eternity. As he preached, the free Bible table continued to be busy. We ran out of New Testaments, and there weren’t many copies of John’s Gospel left either. People were looking for the source of peace amid the chaos.

Will was the final preacher for the day. He spoke on “3 Big Questions.” As he did, a man stopped to listen. He stayed for the whole message. Afterwards, he spoke to Will, saying that he was an atheist. He took material relating to atheism and asked for a copy of John’s Gospel. A lady also listened to Will preach. She chatted with a team member afterwards. The lady was from China, so she took a copy of John’s Gospel and a card so she could access the good news in her own language.

It was cold and busy; people were rushing around lacking peace, but some came looking for the source of peace – Jesus Christ. Please pray for all those we encountered today.

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.