“You Won’t Convert Me!” – Trowbridge Evangelism
The town was buzzing with people all focusing on a race that was about to commence. As the crowds watched, the town crier called out, “GO!!” With that, the community broke into cheers and laughter. It took me a few moments to realise what was happening – it is Pancake Day, so there were the traditional pancake races in the town. This would certainly make open-air preaching a challenge, but we were informed that the festivities would end at 11 am (just when we planned to start the outreach).
When all the races were finished, the town crier announced the close of the races, and then a new race began, the race of people leaving Trowbridge. Soon the town centre was quiet with only a few people walking around. It was to these few that we ministered for two hours.
Upon setting up the board, the four of us began to hand out tracts. A few people took literature, then Paul started to preach. As he preached a few people glanced and paid slight attention. One lady stopped next to me to say, “I’ve lost my faith. But I am trying to find it again.” I offered her a tract, but then she said she wasn’t interested in religion. It seems she wasn’t looking too hard at finding faith.
As Paul finished preaching, I offered a tract to a man who walked past. He took it, and said, “I’ll read it, but you won’t convert me.” I jokingly told him I couldn’t convert, nor could I put him in a headlock and force him to be saved. He laughed, and we began to chat. This gentleman openly declared himself to be an agnostic; as an ex-soldier, he had seen things that made him question all religious views. It was clear he didn’t have a good understanding of Christianity, but he was open to listening and learning. We chatted for quite some time, and in the end, he took a couple of apologetic booklets and a tract. Please pray the Lord would save James.
While I was talking to James, other team members were also engaged in gospel conversations. It was really encouraging to see many one-to-one talks taking place. Then it came time for me to preach. Today, I spoke about “Bridging the Gap” which uses the old ‘bridge to life’ illustration. A couple of people paid attention to the preaching, and one man stopped to take a copy of John’s Gospel off the literature table. Little by little the Kingdom of God advances!
Trowbridge certainly isn’t the busiest outreach location, but each person we spoke to is a precious soul who is loved by God. Please pray that the Lord would save all those we met today.
SDG!