The Good News Spreads in Portsmouth
After the lively outreach we had in Portsmouth last week, I wasn’t sure what we’d experience today. At first, things seemed quieter, but as the day went on, we discovered that even though we didn’t have the same level of heckling as last week, people were still very open to hearing the good news. Many people showed that interest by requesting copies of John’s Gospel.
Before the preaching could commence, we had a lady stop at the literature table; she wanted to find out more about Christianity, so she took a copy of the Bible. Another lady had questions about God’s existence, so she took a booklet on that topic. The questioning lady returned later to speak with Jean; she had read the booklet and now wanted to discover more. She left with several booklets and a Bible.
The open-air preaching commenced when I spoke on “Steps to Peace with God.” This is a new message, so it was good to test it out. People listened, and one lady did lightly heckle. As I spoke about our sin, she piped up to say it was all the fault of social media. I pointed out that social media reflects our hearts, so ultimately, we are the ones to blame. She agreed and ended up speaking with a team member. At the end of the message, three people took copies of John’s Gospel.
Over at the table, a couple of Muslims stopped to speak with Jean. They asked for a copy of the Injil (Gospel) as they wanted to read it. They also took booklets examining who Jesus is.
Around this time, an American pastor from Connecticut stopped to listen. He expressed how encouraged he was by the preaching, but then said sadly this style of evangelism doesn’t happen in his area. We gave him material about our ministry and encouraged him towards evangelism. It would be wonderful if good news preaching spread further afield!
Next to preach was Roger. He was so keen that he preached two messages in a row. First, he spoke on “The Bible Has Answers.” Second, he preached on “The Message of the Cross.” It is always good to hear Roger proclaim the good news.
Things had been moving quickly, so I was surprised to look at my watch and see it was nearly time for the outreach to finish. But before we packed up, I preached once more, this time on “Warning: Six Deadly Lies!” A few people paused to listen, with conversations taking place after the message. Below you can watch a clip of the preaching; there is also a link to listen to the audio of the whole message.
Please pray for all those who heard the gospel today.
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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