Damaged, Bitter, and Proud – Reading Evangelism

Since March, we have conducted a monthly outreach in Reading. Each time the Lord has done many wonderful things - today was no different!

Seven of us from four churches came together today to make much of Jesus.  Even though we come from different styles of congregations, we all came together united in the gospel of Christ.

The outreach began before we finished setting up the open-air board and the free Bible table. An older gentleman stopped to look at what was on offer, so I pointed out that all the literature was free. He laughed and said, “Free? Religion is never free. They're always after your money!” I assured him that it was free and that he could take any material he wanted. Again, he laughed and commented that religion wants your money. I asked him, “Why would we want your money when Jesus has already paid it all and now offers forgiveness freely?” The gentleman laughed and walked away. Sadly, this man had seen the damage that false teachers have done; those wolves want to make merchandise of people (2 Peter 2:3). Throughout the day, we would encounter others who had been abused and damaged by religious movements.

One of those who had been hurt by religion was an older lady named Rita. She stopped to listen while Jamie preached, but she wasn’t keen to pay much attention. When she began to move away from the preaching, I offered her a tract and then engaged her in conversation. From the very beginning, I could see that Rita would give the Pharisees a run for their money when it came to self-righteousness and pride.

Rita declared that she was 83 years old and that she was going to Heaven as she is a good Samaritan. To prove it, she began to detail the good works she does in society. I have to say, Rita did much for the community, but those good works won’t earn salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5). I gently challenged her position, but when I mentioned the Bible, she would go back to her childhood, and talk about how she was brought up in an oppressive, legalistic, and abusive religion. Rita hated religious hypocrites as she had seen many people say one thing and then do another.  In her mind, none of the churches did good for the community.

At this point, I called in Rich, who is a Pastor at a local church. He shared about community care and the good they do as a congregation, but Rita didn’t care. In her mind, she was right, and everyone else didn’t come close to her good works. Both Rich and I tried to explain the gospel and kept bringing everything back to Jesus. We did manage to quote a few Bible verses to her, but Rita would dismiss whatever we said.

Rita did say she respects those who shoot straight and say it as it is. She liked raw and open honesty. I saw this as my opening, so I said, “Rita, I’m an Australian, we are known for being direct and honest. May I be direct with you?” She said I could, so I continued, “I love you, but you aren’t going to Heaven, you are going to Hell. Your good works will not help you. You need the Saviour. If you could earn your way to Heaven, then why did Jesus have to die and rise again?” I then called on her to repent and trust in Christ. Rita listened to what I said but disagreed. Again, she went back to the damage that religion had caused her. Sadly, this older lady was damaged, bitter, and proud. In the end, she shook my hand and thanked us for the conversation. We pray that the Lord takes the seed we sowed and saves Rita.

While all this was happening, another brother from a local church, Bill, was preaching. I wasn't able to hear all that he said, but from the parts I did hear, he was faithful to exhort people to trust in Jesus.

For my message today, I spoke on “Hope for a Broken World.” As I explained the gospel, a young lady was paying close attention. She started listening while standing behind the open-air board, and then she made her way to a seat in front of the preaching. She sat, smoked a cigarette, and maintained eye contact as she listened. It is always encouraging to see people engage deeply with the good news. At the end of my message, when I offered a copy of John’s Gospel to anyone who would like to discover more about Jesus, she took one.

During the message, two Sikhs listened but left as I began to wrap up the message. Thankfully, Jamie was able to engage them in conversation.

Over at the Free Bible table, Trevor was witnessing to one person after another. As people stopped to chat, Trevor would engage them with his Ulster accent. People liked talking to him; every time I looked over, he was speaking to someone else about the Lord.

At one point, I went over to help him on the table; it was then that a young man stopped to ask for a Bible. He told us that he was trying to find his way to God. We were more than happy to give him some resources and urge him to look to Jesus. This young man lives near the church where Trevor is the pastor, so we invited him to attend. He said he would come to the evening service as he works through the day.

Rich was the last preacher for the day. He did an excellent job of explaining all that Jesus did, and then he finished by asking the people, "Do you know Jesus?" It was a great way to finish off the preaching.

When the outreach came to a close, we rejoiced that the Lord allowed the good news to spread. Many tracts were handed out, and conversations took place. We also saw eleven New Testaments distributed and five copies of John’s Gospel.

Please pray for all those we met today. May the Lord Jesus save them all.

SDG!