Many Wanted to Talk about Jesus – Southampton Evangelism
As the time for the outreach approached, I was concerned about two issues: 1) Would it rain? 2) Would anyone be joining me? These concerns were unfounded. The weather remained dry as four of us shared the good news. Once again, we were joined by Tim and Gill from Derbyshire; their presence was a great encouragement, and they helped us reach more people.
The city centre was noisy with street performers; we found ourselves positioned between two buskers, yet despite the music, the gospel still went out. In fact, today was probably one of the best days we’ve had in Southampton for some time. Conversations came frequently, and people were very receptive to taking copies of God’s Word. By the end of the outreach, we discovered people had taken: 1 x Full Bible, 14 x New Testaments, 14 x John’s Gospel.
I commenced the open-air preaching by speaking on “Your Life.” In this message, I explain how life is short, so we must find a solution to sin and death. While I preached, a man stopped, who was wrestling with this topic. He listened but then began to walk away; as he started to leave, Gill engaged him in conversation. A young lady also listened to the preaching and afterwards spoke to Tim. Three young lads also listened; I chatted with them at the Free Bible table. All heard the good news, then took copies of John’s Gospel.
I’ve noticed there seems to be a growing interest in Christianity amongst those under 30. Today, most of the conversations I had took place with young people. At one point, I shared with three young men – a Muslim, a Sikh, and a Churchgoer; none understood the gospel, but they listened and engaged in conversation.
Tim preached next; he did a great job engaging a group of young people as he took them through the “Good Person Test.” Four young men listened and engaged. At the end of the gospel presentation, all took copies of John’s Gospel. While Tim preached, a mother and son listened but then walked away. I went after them and asked for their thoughts. They said they agreed with Tim, but they didn’t understand the gospel. I explained what Jesus had done and how they could be forgiven; both took New Testaments from the table.
The rest of the outreach was taken up with tract work and gospel conversations. Today we would go from one conversation to another. One really encouraging chat was with Nicholas from Denmark. He said he is an atheist; but respects the Bible and supports Christian morality. I listened to his story and shared the gospel with him. He took a New Testament and booklets on science, atheism, and the Bible. Later, I saw Nicholas sitting on a seat reading the New Testament.
The liveliest conversation had today was with an ordained Church of England priest and her atheist husband. The atheist began by saying he’d rather have certain parts of his anatomy removed and sit in vinegar than listen to Christianity. I asked him, “Why would you rather suffer pain than hear a message of love?” This caused the floodgates to open, and soon I was dealing with a wave of weak atheist arguments. He thought himself to be an intellectual, but his arguments were of the level that one finds on message boards or in comments on social media posts. Whenever I answered his argument he would jump to another. Eventually, he stormed off in a huff, but his wife remained.
The ordained priest was very friendly (not like her husband!). She told me she doesn’t believe the Bible is true, nor that it has authority. Rather, she believes it was put together by the Patriarchy to control women. She then said that she didn’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that multiple people had the title of Jesus, but were just scientists doing experiments (which the people interpreted as being miracles). We had a wonderful chat for around thirty minutes, covering topics about the history and formation of the Bible and the person and work of Jesus. As we spoke, she took a booklet explaining how we got the Bible and one that examined the person of Christ. She said, “After talking to you, I’ll start reading my Bible again.”
At this point, her atheist husband came back. This time he asked, “Where do you keep the Chick tracts?” I told him we don’t use material from Jack Chick. He then accused us of being anti-science, so I engaged him in a scientific discussion about evolution and genetics. It was clear that he wasn’t interested in discussion; at one point I gave him a booklet by Professor Andy McIntosh that examines the claims of atheism. The man threw the booklet down declaring that Professor McIntosh wasn’t a real scientist as he believed in God. Once again, he went off in a huff, which caused his wife (the ordained priest) to say, “He can’t answer you.” She then began to look at more literature as she was amazed that Christianity could provide answers.
While I am encouraged that the priest was listening and asking good questions, I am sad that she was a priest in the first place. To have unbelievers in the leadership of a church tells me that something is drastically wrong. May the Lord send reformation to the Church of England!
Nigel, Tim, Gill, and I talked to many people during the outreach. In fact, we were so busy the ministry ended up running 90 minutes longer than we had planned. We rejoice that the Lord was at work in Southampton. Please pray for all those who heard the good news of Jesus.
SDG!