“I’ve never seen a Bible before” – Southampton Evangelism
It was another busy day in Southampton as we went out to share the good news. Five of us from different churches came together with a single mission in mind – to proclaim the Lord Jesus. As people rushed around the city centre, many took tracts, stopped at the free Bible table, listened to the preaching and engaged in conversations.
After a period of tract work, the preaching commenced with Ben speaking on “Spot the Difference.” In this talk, Ben puts two photos up on the board; one is a house decorated for Halloween, and the other is the same house decorated for Christmas. He then asks people to notice the differences. The big emphasis is that one celebrates death and darkness, whereas the other is about light and life.
One person who seemed intrigued by the message was a Roman Catholic who was spoken to by a team member. Sadly, she didn’t know the gospel but did listen as the truth was explained to her. It is always sad to see people deceived by works-based religion.
As Ben was preaching, a man walking by said to me, “If Jesus is real, then why am I homeless?” I answered by referencing Luke 9:58 which tells us that Jesus was homeless. The man didn’t know how to process this information, so he made up another argument. Ultimately, he was looking for any excuse to justify his unbelief.
Over at the free Bible table, a lady from a Middle Eastern country had stopped. I went over to speak with her. As we chatted, she said, “I’ve never seen a Bible before.” Holding the New Testament in her hands, she treated it carefully and respectfully. I told her she was more than welcome to have the New Testament, which surprised her. She then said she had always wanted to read the Christmas story, so I offered to show her where it was in the Scripture. She declined my offer by saying, “I’ll start reading from page one. I will find it.” She took the Bible and a tract. This was the first time she had been exposed to the truth of Jesus.
When it was my turn to preach, I spoke on “Name that Carol.” I found it hard as the fast-moving crowd made it challenging. But one man did listen; it turns out he is a Christian who lives an hour away. He has been praying and thinking about getting involved with open-air evangelism; he has even considered contacting The Open-Air Mission. It was great to encourage this brother into evangelism.
The next open air was a bit livelier. As Ben preached on “The Real Reason for the Season,” a man stopped to listen, but this man wasn’t calm. He was aggressive and took issue with Ben mentioning a ransom being paid. At one point, the man looked like he might get physically violent with a team member, but eventually, he moved away. During the hostility, Ben preached the good news, and one person who listened took a copy of John’s Gospel.
As the outreach came close to ending, I preached once more. This time, I spoke from John 3:16. As I explained God’s love, a young man stopped to listen. He was very much into the new age and was alternative in his views. We went back and forth about God’s love and the gospel; at the end of the message, he took a copy of John’s Gospel, as did another man who listened nearby.
As we packed up the literature table, we noticed that much material had been taken. During the outreach, many tracts were handed out, and numerous people engaged in conversation. Please pray for all those we encountered.
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.