A Challenging Day in Salisbury
In open-air evangelism, there are days where things feel easy and open, but then you have days like today; days where it seems that everything is a battle, but then at the end of the day, you step back and see that the Lord was at work all along.
When we arrived in Salisbury, we were greeted by the sounds of a loud busker playing a guitar and singing, since we preach in a small high street, this proved to be a challenge. To get away from the noise, we moved down to the far end of the street; things weren’t as busy there, but at least we’d be able to witness without contending with amplified music.
As soon as we set up the open-air board, two work vans decided to pull up and park right in front of us. This blocked us off from the rest of the high street and immediately made it impossible to preach. To overcome this problem, we decided to spend time handing out tracts and trying to engage people in conversation. I found it difficult to get people to stop to chat, which I think was in part due to the drizzle we were now experiencing.
After about thirty minutes, the workman finished their jobs, and then they left the high street. Finally, we had space to preach, plus now the sun was beginning to break through the clouds. Paul was the first preacher up for the day; he preached on six things God wants you to know. He did a good job of proclaiming Christ, and as he spoke a couple of people stopped to listen. After he finished preaching, one older lady who was a churchgoer, but not converted, came up to chat. She heard the gospel, then took a copy of Ultimate Questions, and John’s Gospel. Things were starting to look more positive!
We then went back to handing out tracts, and this time I noticed more people were receptive to receiving literature. After doing this for about fifteen minutes, it was my turn to preach. I decided that it would be good to preach a simple gospel message from John 3:16.
The preaching had turned into a bit of a tag team event; as soon as I finished, Paul began to preach again. This time he spoke on “What does it mean to be a real Christian?” A few people seemed intrigued by this topic. Then, once Paul was done, I was tagged in to preach. For my final message of the day, I preached on “What’s in a Name?”
Shortly after my message began, an older man stopped right in front of me. He was making a few comments, and it was clear he had the potential to be a heckler. When I spoke about sin, he began to sing and dance around in front of me, which helped to gather a few people to watch. I challenged the man with a question, “Sir, if you were to stand before God, why would He let you into His Heaven?” The man replied by singing and dancing again. It was clear that this bloke wasn’t going to be a good heckler, so I was relieved when he danced his way up the street. What was encouraging was that some young ladies who stopped to listen now approached the open-air board and took gospel leaflets.
The challenging day in Salisbury certainly produced some interesting encounters, but looking back we see the Lord was at work. We were able to encourage several Christians, and also two pastors. We also had the opportunity to hand out tracts and engage people with the gospel. The challenge was great, but our God is greater!
SDG!