“When you’re dead, you’re dead” – Portsmouth Evangelism

It was great to return to Portsmouth today for a few hours of evangelism. The city centre was busy as people came out to enjoy the spectacular weather the Lord gifted us.

As usual, we set up the open-air board and the free Bible and literature table. Soon people were making their way to both locations to take gospel leaflets and copies of God’s Word. Throughout the day, the table would prove to be a magnet. People would be drawn to browse what literature was on offer, with many taking different items, and others wanting to chat about the gospel.

I commenced the preaching by expounding upon God’s love as found in John 3:16. As I preached, a few young lads stopped to listen. I engaged them, and this interaction brought more people in to listen. The young men told me that they believe that “when you’re dead, you’re dead.” So, I challenged them, “How do you know that is true?” They admitted they didn’t know if it was true and that it was a bit of a leap into the dark. It was clear that these lads were thinkers, so I asked, “If you stood before God, why should He let you into His heaven?” They paused and said, “We don’t know. Maybe because we are good people?”

This allowed me the opening to use God’s Law to show that all people have sinned against God, and all of us need the Saviour. The lads quickly admitted that they weren’t good and that they should face God’s judgement. I was then able to use John 3:16 to explain to them God’s kindness in sending Jesus. At the end of the message, two of the young men came forward to each receive a copy of John’s Gospel.

After preaching, the team handed out tracts and engaged people in one-to-one conversations. As we did this, many Christians stopped to say how encouraged they were to hear the gospel being proclaimed openly. They encouraged us as we encouraged them. Our prayer is that they will become labourers in the harvest field.

I found tract work to be quite challenging today. Perhaps because of the nice weather, people would rather enjoy the sun instead of taking a leaflet, but still, many tracts were handed out.

As the outreach went on, I preached again, and so did Roger. Then, as the outreach came to an end, and we began to pack down, a group of German students came over to chat. It was hard to engage them through their broken English, but we were able to give them a copy of “Ultimate Questions” in German and a card where they could visit a website to read the gospel in their own language. In a limited capacity, I managed to share the gospel with them, by using the illustration of Martin Luther. The students enjoyed talking and promised to read the material we gave them.

We rejoice that little by little the Kingdom advances. Please pray for all those we met today.

SDG!