Freezing Evangelism – Reading Outreach
Today was cold; I don’t just say that as an Aussie who still struggles with British winters, but even the locals were telling me it was cold. The temperature sat around 0°C–1°C, but the ‘feels like’ temperature made it below freezing. The weather made the town centre a bit quieter than usual, but we were still able to engage people with the good news.
As we walked towards the outreach location, I could hear loud amplified noise. It soon became clear that two well-meaning brothers (not connected with us) were preaching in the area. The sound was so loud that it felt like they were trying to reach the ends of the earth without leaving Reading! Amplified preaching, in some cases, can make evangelism harder as people become hostile and annoyed by the noise. This was certainly the case today. Trevor went to speak with the brothers, who kindly moved further away from our preaching location, but they came back later and were once again loud. Even though I may not agree with their methods, I couldn’t fault their message (the parts I heard), so I rejoice that the truth was proclaimed (Philippians 1:18).
After setting up, Bill commenced the preaching by using ‘The Good Person Test.’ He did a good job proclaiming Christ, but there was little interaction. Next to preach was Trevor, who spoke on “The Immeasurable Love of God.” As he explained that Jesus was given to save sinners, a lady stepped up and said, “May I say something?” She then went on to commend the preaching because we aren’t Muslims. I have spoken with this lady previously; she isn’t saved, but she seems generally supportive.
When it was my turn to preach, I spoke on “Steps to Peace with God.” As I preached, the brothers with the amplifiers returned. It was loud and distracting. As people approached me, I could see they were angry because of the noise. This made engagement with the preaching difficult, and even the literature table slowed down. Once again, Trevor went to speak with them, and again they moved further away.
Rich preached next, but I didn’t hear much of his message as a Muslim family from Bahrain decided to stop to argue with team members. At first, they were arguing with Bill and Jonathan, then they ended up arguing with Richard (not preaching Richard) and me. It was clear this family had no concept of Christianity, and only a cultural grasp of Islam. I listened to their objections, then began to ask questions. The father of the family mocked the Trinity, so I asked him to define what he meant. He explained the Trinity from the perspective of the modalist heresy, so I pointed out that it wasn’t historic Christianity, then explained the biblical view. He quickly changed topics and wanted to talk about all the amazing facts in the Quran, so I asked him to show me some. He was a bit lost as he scrambled to find examples. Eventually, I took him to the death of Jesus (a truth denied by Muslims). As we examined the historic event, I asked him a few hard and direct questions. The man said, “I am not a scholar, I don’t know. I cannot answer.” His desire to argue had decreased, so we gently pointed him to the truth of Scripture. Our interaction may just be one step to help this man consider the error of his way. Please pray that the whole family would come to know Jesus.
The final preacher for the day was Jamie, who did a good job speaking from John 14:6 on the truth of Jesus being the Way and the Life.
By now, we were all frozen, so we packed down, prayed, and had lunch together as a team. Would you please pray for all those who heard the good news in Reading 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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