London Outreach – Day 1 (Hyde Park)

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols. (Acts 17:16)

As I caught the bus from my hotel to Hyde Park, I reflected on Acts 17:16. Looking out of my window, I saw masses of people from all different religions walking the city streets. As the bus took me closer to my destination, I saw shops devoted to false religion. Then, as we arrived in Hyde Park, I saw Muslims set up at the entrance with loudspeakers blasting out the Quran and with prayer mats laid on the ground so people could worship their false god. Inside Hyde Park, I witnessed people from all walks of life seeking to present their views or heckling those who disagreed. Truly, London is a city full of idols. It was into this spiritual darkness that we commenced our outreach.

Hyde Park has historically been the location of much good gospel preaching. Whitefield preached here to crowds of up to 80,000. Billy Graham conducted an open-air meeting in this park in 1954, with an estimated 40,000 people listening to the good news. Today, there were more who preached the false than the truth, but we did our best to make much of Jesus.

Allan commenced the preaching by speaking on Philippians 1:21 – “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” As he spoke, a heckler engaged. This served to bring a few more people in to listen. It also allowed team members to begin to engage in one-to-one discussions.

I was the second preacher; I wasn’t quite sure what to preach, so I used my talk, “Who Will Be King?” I didn’t get any hecklers, but I am happy that people did hear the good news.

Stuart, then Andy preached next. Both did a good job proclaiming Christ and engaging the arguments of people. One man who listened to Andy was disappointed, as he said he had come to Hyde Park to see crazy people, but Andy wasn’t crazy!

As the preaching took place, I noticed a man wearing a shirt that said, “Science doesn’t care about your beliefs.” At first, I assumed he was an atheist, but it turns out he claimed to be a ‘Christian’ apologist from New Zealand. He was friendly, but then again, most false teachers are. He told me he wants people to know that Genesis is wrong and that you don’t need to believe in creation or Noah’s flood. He then said 90% of the New Testament is true, but 10% is incorrect. He denied the inerrancy and the infallibility of the Scripture while claiming the Holy Spirit had told him the Bible was false.

I challenged his position, and he got mad. But as he fired up at me, others stopped to listen. He claimed he didn’t need the Bible as the Holy Spirit tells him what is true and false, so I replied, “The Holy Spirit tells me you’re wrong. What do we do now?” He couldn’t answer that question. Instead, he declared, “If you believe the Bible, then you believe that men can rape women as long as they marry them.” I handed him my Bible and said, “Show me where the Bible says that?” He shook as he replied, “I can’t! You should Google it!” Those who were listening now insisted he show them where the Bible supports rape, but the man tried to change the topic. Thankfully, the crowd wouldn’t let him. They held him to his claims and dismissed him as not knowing what he was talking about. This allowed me to speak to them and share the good news. At this, the false teacher from New Zealand stormed off to speak to others in Hyde Park.

One who listened said he was very interested in the discussion, even though he is an atheist. He said, “I respect Christianity, as our culture needs it. I need it. But I don’t know what the Bible teaches.” We had a great chat about how the Bible has impacted Western civilisation and how we need the teaching of Jesus. He listened as I shared the good news, and then he took a copy of John’s Gospel. He shook my hand and promised to read the Scripture for himself.

After lunch, the outreach continued much as it had in the morning. People stopped to listen as Rob spoke on “Are You a Good Person?” I chatted with a group of Christians from Florida who were greatly encouraged.

Andy preached next. As he spoke, a Muslim heckler began to engage him. The heckler was a ‘professional.’ He had his set arguments but wasn’t interested in answers or discussion. Andy answered him, but the man didn’t want those answers. A member of the crowd then took on the Muslim (which was distracting). At this stage, I stepped in to talk to the heckler, then slowly walked him away from the crowd so Andy could keep preaching.

The Muslim wanted to argue about the deity of Christ and the Trinity. He claimed to be a Jewish Muslim, which he said made him an expert in the Old Testament and Qur’an. It soon became clear the man didn’t know the Bible as his arguments were completely out of context. At one point, I caught him looking up Google to discover new arguments. I asked him, “If I can answer all your questions, will you repent and become a Christian?” The man said he would. I asked, “If I answer all your questions, will you renounce Muhammad and declare Jesus is God?” Again, he said he would. He then asked me a question, which I answered. Before I could say anything more, a man who was listening said, “He answered you, so you better start renouncing Muhammad!”

The Muslim clearly wanted to argue, so I answered more of his questions and kept bringing them back to Jesus and the gospel. Two young Muslims who were listening were polite and engaged. One said, “Jesus is claiming to be God in the Bible” (he understood!). In the end, I had to walk away from the conversation as the Muslim heckler was running in circles and not listening. Thankfully, the two young Muslims spoke with Natalie. They both heard the gospel and took a New Testament from her.

Day one of the outreach is complete. Please pray for all those who heard the good news!

SDG!

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Josh Williamson is a full-time evangelist with The Open-Air Mission. Since 1853, OAM has been sharing the good news on the streets of the United Kingdom. To stay updated about the work of the Mission, please sign up for the free quarterly magazine and monthly prayer notes.

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