“Hopefully, I’ll go to Heaven!” – Southampton Outreach
Today, I had a good reminder that I’m not needed when it comes to evangelism. The good news of Jesus will advance with or without me. Before anyone panics, I am not going down the hyper-Calvinistic route - I believe we are commanded to share the gospel and that God chooses to use us to spread His message, but what I mean is that the outreach will continue even if I am out of action. This reminder came home today to me when I arrived in Southampton, but then realised I had forgotten a key piece of equipment for cold weather ministry – MY JACKET!!
Leaving the outreach equipment with the team, I rushed home. While I was away, the team shared the gospel. I am thankful for such a faithful group of men who will declare the good news, even when I am forgetful and out of action for a time. When I finally returned to the outreach, I was told that conversations had taken place and two open-air messages had been preached.
When it was my turn to preach, I spoke on “The Way to Heaven.” One man who stopped to listen asked for prayer, then said, “Hopefully, I’ll go to Heaven!” When I spoke with him afterwards, he told me he is a Christian but struggles with assurance. He is attending a hyper-charismatic church that has told him to stop reading the Bible and instead look for prophetic words. I used the Scripture to undo some of this false teaching, then explained how salvation is dependent upon Christ alone. He took a booklet designed to help new Christians and a John’s Gospel.
As the outreach drew to a close, I noticed that team members were engaged in numerous gospel conversations. It was encouraging to see so many people being exposed to the good news. Richard found himself in a conversation with two Mormon missionaries, so he called me over to help. These two young men were polite but slippery. They use the same language we do, but they redefine their terms. They told us that they believe that salvation is all of grace, but they defined grace as the work of Jesus and the works they do. It was subtle, but the moment they added works, they had a false gospel. We engaged them with the truth and pointed them to the biblical gospel. Both Mormons took tracts.
Despite the unusual start to the outreach, I rejoice that the good news spread. Please pray for all those who heard the message.
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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