A Sunny Outreach in Southampton
As summer draws to an end, it was nice to be able to enjoy the sunshine and share the good news in Southampton. Today, I was in a bit of pain at the outreach, but I was able to push through thanks to the grace of God and the support of the ministry team.
The outreach had an interesting start; just after setting up the literature table, a man approached to ask a question. He said he had been watching videos on YouTube which claimed that God is ‘gay.’ He then said, “But, if God loves everyone, wouldn’t that make him multi-sexual?” The question flowed from a misunderstanding of gender/sexuality and love. I answered his question by showing that God sets the bounds on sexual behaviour, and then explained how God loves. I pointed the man to the self-sacrificing love of Jesus and encouraged him to think about it.
Richard was the first to preach today; he did a good job preaching on “Life: What’s the Point?” A few would listen for a short time before moving on. Others went to the literature table to browse, while some took tracts from team members.
As Richard was preaching, I noticed a man wearing a shirt from an Australian AFL team. Thinking he might have been a fellow Aussie, I went over to jokingly tell him that I didn’t think much of his team (it was a Richmond Tigers shirt), but to my surprise, the man didn’t speak English and didn’t know what the shirt was about. The man was from Romania, so I gave him a tract in his language and wished him all the best.
When it was my turn to preach, I spoke on “Steps to Peace with God.” As I mentioned God being the Creator, one man began to heckle. He yelled out, “My parents created me!” I pushed back by asking, “Who made them?” He went back to his grandparents, so I challenged him: “But where did the first man come from?” The heckler boldly declared that humanity crawled out of a pond millions of years ago. I was expecting this objection, so I countered by asking how life can arise from non-life. The man walked off, saying a few unpleasant things. Ben engaged him in conversation, but the man was very closed. The positive was that this heckler brought along a few others to listen. One lady responded by accepting a John’s Gospel, and a couple of others went to the literature table for a Bible and a chat.
Next to preach was Jeremy, who spoke on “Warning: Six Deadly Lies,” followed by Ben, who preached about the truth of the gospel whether people believe it or not. As all this took place, Richard was engaged in a great conversation with a couple of young ladies who were very open to the gospel.
Due to the pain I was in, I found it hard to have conversations with people, but I was encouraged to see the team busy speaking with people about the Lord Jesus. Over at the literature table, Zoe was chatting with a young lady, while Claire was engaged with a Muslim couple. It was wonderful to see! As the sun shone down on Southampton, we lifted high the Son of God. 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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