A Heckler Draws a Crowd – Guildford Evangelism

I’ve driven past Guildford many times but have never been into the town centre – that changed today. This busy community provided a wonderful opportunity for gospel ministry.

Joining up with The Open-Air Mission associate worker, Tony Dancer, and four others, we shared the good news with all who would listen.

Tony began the preaching by asking the question, “Could someone be certain they’d go to Heaven?” He did a great job explaining the gospel, and a couple of people paused to listen. One young couple listened for a while and then had a long conversation with a team member. Both ended up taking copies of the New Testament.

Then it was my turn to preach. After praying, I felt it would be best to speak on “The Origins of Evil.” Almost immediately, I had interaction from people. A group of students answered the question by saying that we have evil in society because of Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay to engage further, but they did take tracts.

As I spoke, I noticed two workmen sitting on a bench nearby, commenting on my message. I could hear one of them strongly disagreeing with what I was saying, so I decided to engage him.

The workman was very friendly and engaging. He was a good heckler—he would state his point and then allow me to respond. As we went back and forth, a crowd began to gather. It was great to see so many people listening to the good news of Jesus.

The workman declared that he didn’t like how Jesus defined sin, as at the end of a busy working week, he liked to commit a few sins to relax. I asked him if simply enjoying something made it right. The man couldn’t answer, so I said, “What if, at the end of the week, I wanted to relax and enjoy myself by punching you in the face? Would that be OK?”

The man laughed and said it wouldn’t, but the point had been made—just because we enjoy something doesn’t mean it isn’t wrong.

He then shared that he had been raised Roman Catholic but was now an atheist. I used some apologetics to demonstrate the existence of God and then brought the conversation back to the gospel. The man then asked about the trustworthiness of the Bible, so I answered his question with apologetics and again pointed him towards the gospel.

Apologetics are a great tool, but they must always move the person towards the gospel. The aim is not to win an intellectual argument but to clear away objections so that the gospel seed can be sown.

As we continued, the crowd grew, but eventually, the workman had to leave. He came over to shake my hand and give me a hug. He took a copy of John’s Gospel and said he had really enjoyed our discussion. I quickly summarised the good news for the crowd and then offered them copies of John’s Gospel—four others gladly received copies of God’s Word.

Tony preached again after this, doing an excellent job of using Scripture to explain the gospel. With plenty of biblical quotes, he pointed all who would listen towards Jesus.

At this point, we took a break from preaching and focused on handing out tracts and chatting with people. Team members were engaged in conversations, including one with a local security guard who loved the preaching—she also took literature from the table.

After distributing tracts, I decided to preach again, this time on “Lessons from the Boomerang.” There wasn’t as much engagement on this occasion, although a young couple listened. They later had a long chat with a team member and, in the end, took a New Testament.

Tony preached the final message of the day—“Warning: Six Deadly Lies.” He did an excellent job addressing common objections and proclaiming the gospel.

Today’s outreach was a trial run to see if we could establish a monthly outreach in Guildford. From what I saw today, I believe it will be viable to have regular gospel work in this community.

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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