Hope, Truth, and Transformation – Southampton Evangelism

The Lord showed Himself as mighty in Southampton today. It never ceases to amaze me how He does more than we could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Over the course of a couple of hours, many people heard the good news, and numerous conversations took place. Below is just some of what happened.

The open-air preaching commenced with Richard speaking on “Life: What’s the Point?” A few people listened, including a young lady who spoke with a team member, as a relative of hers had recently committed suicide. Then, a group of homeless men listened and engaged. Richard, Mike, and I all spoke to one man who is in the grip of drunkenness. He told us he wanted to be free, but he couldn’t kick the bottle. Yet, despite his open sin, the man believed he was a good person who would go to Heaven because he was baptised. I explained to him that the first step in beating sin is realising the depth of sin and how he cannot save himself. I shared the gospel and stressed that, at its root, drunkenness is an idolatry issue, as this man would rather have the pleasure of the bottle than Jesus Christ. The man was impacted by this statement and agreed with me. We stressed the good news and called on him to repent. We also pointed him to an evangelical church running a course to help people understand the gospel further. As he left, he shook our hands and said he’d be back another week to speak further.

While this was happening, team members were busy handing out tracts and chatting to people. Nigel spoke with a man who heckled the preacher but then softened in a personal conversation. Jeremy was busy speaking with someone else who had listened to the message.

It was now my turn to preach, so I spoke on “Death: Is it the End?” Soon after I commenced preaching, a lady rolled up to me in a wheelchair. She came close and was softly spoken; I suspected she did this to make me stop preaching and instead just chat with her (I was later told she had already spoken to the local council asking why I was permitted to preach). The lady wasn’t interested in what I had to say; instead, she wanted to proclaim her own message. She declared she was a spiritualist who connects with the spirits, and with that, she proclaimed a universalist message of everyone being right with God. As she spoke, she expressed how great a teacher she considered Jesus to be, so I decided to challenge her on this point. I took her to the teaching of Christ in John 14:6 and John 8:24. As I declared, “Jesus said, ‘If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins,’” she looked uncomfortable. She began to turn and wheel herself away. She didn’t want to hear the truth, so I pleaded with her to come to Jesus.

Hecklers often beget hecklers, so I now had another man asking questions. This man asserted that the Bible had been changed through the years and, as proof, pointed to the differences between the Old and New Testaments. At this point, I considered using an apologetic argument to show the veracity of Scripture, but that wasn’t what this man needed. His objection was weak, so I simply showed him that the Old Testament pointed forward to the Messiah, and the New Testament pointed back to the Messiah. Both Testaments speak of Jesus and focus on His death, burial, and resurrection. The man seemed happy with that answer as he left.

However, the open-air was not yet finished! Now, I had two young men standing in front of me. It was clear they were there for a joke and a laugh. So, I engaged them and began to challenge them. I took one of them through the ‘good person test’, as he had declared he was perfect. As we explained sin and the consequences of sin, he seemed a bit more serious. He listened to the gospel, and both took copies of John’s Gospel.

While I was engaged with those two, another man heckled, “There is no Heaven or Hell!” I saw him as a distraction from the gospel conversation I was having, so I said, “Sir, you are wrong, and my friend Jeremy will explain why!” Jeremy had a long chat with the man; then the man took a copy of the New Testament.

Next to preach was Ben, who spoke on God being true whether people believed it or not. A couple of young ladies listened and took material. Mike finished the outreach by preaching on “6 Deadly Lies.” A lady listened and took a copy of John’s Gospel.

As we finished the outreach, I offered a tract to a man who had been listening to the preaching. He said to me, “Actually, I’ve been thinking of reading the Bible.” We gladly gave him a copy!

It was a really productive day in Southampton. The gospel seed has been widely sown; please pray the Lord will water the seed and bring many to salvation.

SDG!

Watch as Nigel Williams shares with a heckler who at first was hostile, but then softened.

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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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