Stoke-On-Trent: Training and Proclaiming
It was wonderful to conduct a ‘Teach & Go’ evangelism training event at Milton Baptist Church today. The Lord brought along 24 people who were keen to learn how to share the good news. I must admit, I was surprised at that number, given that it was a bank holiday, and I expected it to be lower.
Throughout the morning, I taught three sessions:
1) Who Should Share the Gospel?
2) The Message the World Needs to Hear!
3) The Need and Practice of Open-Air Evangelism.
I was in pain from my surgery, but the Lord’s grace enabled me to teach, and then, in the afternoon, to lead an outreach into the city centre in Hanley. Twenty of those who attended the training came out onto the streets, and all seemed to have been encouraged and enabled to effectively share the good news. I found it wonderful to see so many team members handing out tracts and chatting to people. The literature table also proved to be very busy, and the Lord blessed the open-air preaching.
I commenced the preaching by speaking on “How Can You Be Sure You’ll Go to Heaven?” A few people listened, and at the end, three responded to the free offer of a John’s Gospel. What was great is that all three of those people then ended up talking further with different team members.
Next to preach was Andy, who spoke on “Warning: Six Deadly Lies.” At the end of his message, two men who had listened took John’s Gospel, and then entered into conversation with team members.
I think open-air preaching should always lead to gospel conversations on a one-to-one level. These personal witnessing encounters help reinforce the gospel and ensure the message is clearly understood.
Tim preached next; he used the “Good Person Test” to engage people. One lady heckled him by declaring that the Bible is full of contradictions. Before he could answer, she walked away, although Gill was able to engage her further in conversation.
While the preaching took place, I was able to have a few short conversations with people who objected to the preaching. One was burnt by churches that demanded a 10% tithe, and the other was a Muslim (though not a very devout one). Just by listening and chatting, I was able to counter some of the arguments from these men, with both taking tracts.
The final preacher for the day was Billy. He preached on John 3:16 and did a good job calling on people to come to Jesus.
Overall, I was greatly blessed and encouraged to be part of today’s training and outreach. May the Lord raise up a strong gospel witness in Stoke-on-Trent!
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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