“Why then did Jesus have to die?” – Southampton Evangelism

It was overcast in Southampton as seven of us began to share the gospel. Thankfully, we had no rain, and many were able to hear the good news. From the start, the literature table proved to be busy. At first, a man from Turkey stopped, and then a lady on her way to court wanted a Bible. Soon, others were browsing the material, and some stayed for long gospel chats.

The preaching commenced when Richard preached on “Life: What’s the Point?” As he explained the gospel, a couple of lads stopped to listen. After listening for a while they began to move away, so I intercepted them and began to talk. They told me they were lifelong Christians, who had been born into the Christian religion. I asked them, “Since you are Christians, can you tell me, how can someone have their sins forgiven?” They gulped, then said, “I guess you must work hard to undo the wrong you’ve done. If you do enough good, you’ll remove your sin.” I followed up by asking, “If that is the case, why then did Jesus have to die?” One of the young men said, “You’ve got me there. I don’t know!” This allowed me to explain that Jesus is the sinless Saviour who died as a substitute for sinful people. The young men shook hands at the end and took gospel booklets.

As soon as that conversation finished, I heard from behind me, “That is the problem with you Protestants! You don’t tell people to honour Mary!” I turned around to find an older gentleman pointing at me. He went on to say, “Mary is the mother of God. She is divine. You need to tell people to worship her!” I asked the man if he could answer a question for me. At first, he objected but then conceded. I asked, “Is God perfect and sinless?” The man agreed. I then asked, “Is Mary divine?” He said she was. “Is Mary sinless?” The Roman Catholic quickly agreed. So far, the logic held water. If Mary is divine, and God is sinless, therefore Mary must be sinless. At this point, I took the gentleman to Luke 1:47 and showed him that Mary says, “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” I then asked, “Why does Mary need a Saviour if she is sinless and divine?” The man couldn’t answer; instead, he began to talk about all the different so-called appearances of Mary. I asked how he knew these appearances were really Mary, but he couldn’t answer, so I took him back to Luke 1:47. Eventually, the man left me and went to talk to another team member.

It was now my turn to preach, so I spoke on “Your Life” (audio posted below). A few people stopped to listen. In the end, five people took copies of John’s Gospel, and team members were able to engage in conversations. One lady who listened to a bit of the preaching spoke with Zoe. She revealed she was a lesbian Roman Catholic who is ‘married’ to a woman. Zoe was able to share the good news with her.

Another man who listened said he found it all very interesting but wasn’t ready to read the material or consider it further. Please pray the gospel seed would take root in his heart.

Jeremy preached next. Using John 3:16 as his text, he explained the good news and called on people to come to Jesus. While he was preaching, a Spanish lady who had listened to me preach came back to listen again. Then, she went over to the literature table where I was able to speak with her. She related how she grew up Roman Catholic and had read the Bible. Then she spoke about how her boyfriend is going through a hard time, so they’ve begun to look for God. I was able to give her a few booklets to give to her boyfriend, as well as a Gospel of John in Spanish for her.

By now, Ben was preaching, but I couldn’t listen as I was engaged in another conversation. This time it was with a man who used to attend an evangelical church but due to work and other commitments had drifted away. He shared about his need to get back to church and Christianity. I shared the good news with him, and he took several booklets.

After Ben finished preaching, he spoke with a well-educated young man. This man had spoken with team members previously, so he had heard the gospel several times. The man had questions relating to history and archaeology, so we gave him a booklet on the topic. I then found myself engaged in a discussion with him. We chatted about history and how Western civilisation was built upon the Bible (but we’ve now rejected it). It was a nice chat, and he promised to come back another week to speak further.

It was a good and productive day in Southampton. 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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