An Encouraging Gospel Day in Southampton

The city centre of Southampton was buzzing with people as our outreach commenced. The local news reported that cruise ships were scheduled to depart, so the city would be crowded with people. Being a major shipping port, Southampton provides a unique opportunity to reach people from many nations. The seed of the gospel sown here could be planted in a heart that takes the message to some foreign field. Only the Lord knows the impact of this ministry.

There were five of us out sharing the good news today. With so many people to reach, the need for workers is huge! I started the preaching by speaking about ‘The Way to Heaven.’ In this message, I detail four wrong ways to Heaven and then explain the only correct way. As I preached, a few people paused to listen, including a Christian lady who was so excited about what she heard that she rushed to hug me afterwards. A particular encouragement was seeing two people respond to the preaching by taking copies of John’s Gospel.

Personal witnessing conversations developed after the open air, with team members speaking to several people. I chatted with two young ladies interested in learning more about Jesus. Both came from a Church of England background but were not converted. We had a friendly conversation, and they took a copy of the Bible.

Ben preached next. I didn’t hear much of what he said, as one lady who listened to him preach went to the Free Bible table to browse the literature. I went over to her and began to chat. She told me that last week she listened to the preaching and took a book. She has read it and wanted to read more. We spoke briefly about the good news, and she left with a copy of John’s Gospel. Seeing this lady again reminded me of the importance of regular outreaches in the same location. One-off outreach events are great, but being in the same location weekly enables us to develop deeper relationships with people. Week by week we can build upon the gospel foundations that are being laid.

It was great to have Trevor out with us again. It has been a few months since he has been out with us due to recovering from a medical issue. He did a good job preaching the gospel and calling on people to trust the Saviour.

While Trevor preached, I noticed John was talking with a man by the Free Bible table; I wandered by so I could listen in. The man was a Muslim; somehow, I joined the conversation, and soon a friendly discussion was underway.

The Muslim man refused to give me his name and said he wouldn't take anything from me as that would be the same as Judas taking silver to betray Christ. This man said he had studied, but I don’t think he has ever considered the answers to the arguments he was presenting. He claimed the Quran was preserved and was the pure word of God. His proof for this was that people could quote it from memory; he didn't know how to answer when I pointed out that people could do that with the Bible or even with Shakespeare. We then discussed Surah 4:157 and the Islamic claim that Jesus never died. I made the case that if the Quran is true, then Allah must have deceived people, whereas the God of the Bible is the God of truth and cannot lie. We went back and forth for quite a time, and I was able to share the gospel with him several times. Even though he wouldn’t take literature from me, he did shake my hand and thank me for the conversation. Sadly, this man has been well and truly blinded to the truth – but we have a God who opens blind eyes. Please pray for him.

By now, the outreach was coming towards its end. I decided to finish out the final minutes by preaching once again. This time I spoke from John 3:16. As I preached, a group of young people I met a few weeks back (at a different location) came past. They excitedly called out, “It's Josh!” Then they came up to fist-bump me and to take photos. I am thankful that they were able to hear the gospel once again. The last time I saw these guys, I shared the gospel from John 3:16; today they heard the same verse again. Please pray the Lord would save them.

Overall, it was an excellent day in Southampton.

SDG!