The Unsaved Church Attendee – Southampton Evangelism
Over the past few weeks, it seems that it has always been raining at the time when we were supposed to conduct our open-air meeting – today was no different. Instead of cancelling the outreach, three of us went out to the city centre to see if we could find an undercover location that would allow us to hand out tracts and talk to people.
Just outside of West Quay, we found an area that provided cover, so it was there that we began to hand out tracts and chat with people. Due to the weather, it was difficult handing out tracts, but many were taken. Conversations were much harder to come by!
I managed to speak to one man who was working for a charity. He approached me and wanted to talk about stopping knife crimes. His solution was to ban knives and create youth recreation centres. I asked him how this would solve the violence problem, and he replied by talking about peer pressure. I gently pushed back against his position by suggesting the that reason we have violence in our society is that there is something wrong inside all of us and that we need a spiritual change before a physical change. The man agreed and said, “That is why we need God. We need to get back to going to church.” He then went on to tell me that he attends a Baptist Church.
I have learned over the years that church attendance doesn’t mean much when it comes to understanding the gospel, so I asked the gentleman, “Imagine knife crime took place in front of us. Someone has been stabbed, they don’t know God, and they only have three minutes to live. What would you say to them so they can have their sins forgiven?” The man replied, “I’d tell them to accept God.” I asked if he could clarify what that meant, and he answered, “I wouldn’t explain it. I would trust that my psychology training would force them to believe in God as they need comfort.” I challenged this position by asking, “Is psychology the answer?” The man replied by saying, “Yes!”
It was now clear that this church attendee didn’t understand the gospel. I flipped the conversation around by asking, “Imagine you are the man who has three minutes left to live. Why should God let you into Heaven?” This time psychology wasn’t the answer; instead, he stated, “I am a son of God. I’ve always been a son of God. I do good things as a son of God.” This man trusted in himself, not the Saviour. I explained the gospel and urged him to repent and trust in Jesus alone. He didn’t seem concerned, instead, he shook my hand and continued in his deception. Please pray for him.
Things were challenging in the wet weather, but I am thankful the Lord allowed us the opportunity to witness. May He bless the seed that was sown today.
SDG!