Bad Enough for Hell – Southampton Evangelism
With the temperature hovering around 30°C, and not a cloud in the sky, the city centre of Southampton was hot. Some of my readers won’t find 30°C that bad—and I wouldn’t have either when I lived in Australia—but in the UK, that is hot weather.
Something I’ve noticed is that when it is hot, it is very hard to get British people to stop and talk, but still, many of them do take tracts. Today, the team had several good conversations, and a few people listened to the preaching, though not as many as usual.
Ben commenced the preaching by speaking on “Who Can You Trust?” He did a good job explaining how there is only One whom we can trust—the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once Ben finished preaching, I spoke on “Your Life!” Since there was a graduation of university students taking place in the area, I used that as a springboard to show that our life is short and frail. One lady sitting in the shade took a copy of John’s Gospel at the end of the message.
What encouraged me the most was that several gospel conversations came about as a result of the preaching. We want people to listen to the good news proclaimed, but then we want them to hear the good news personalised and applied in one-to-one conversations. It was great to see several team members engaged with those who had been listening.
Next up to preach was Jeremy, who spoke on “The Message of the Cross.” As usual, he did a great job explaining the love of God shown in Jesus Christ. As soon as Jeremy finished, Richard preached on “Life: What’s the Point?” At the end of his message, a Christian lady who had been listening was so thankful that she gave him a hug.
I was the final preacher of the day, so I decided to use the “Good Person Test.” As I shared, an older lady pushed forward her 18-year-old granddaughter, saying, “She isn’t good enough for Heaven—she is bad enough for Hell!” It is sad that a family member would laugh and joke about their own flesh and blood going to eternal judgement, but it did give me an open door to engage with the young lady.
The young lady interacted with me as we went through the Good Person Test. As I used the Ten Commandments to show the reality of sin, I made sure to keep firing shots at her family and friends who were listening. I wanted them to see that they were just as sinful as the young lady.
Once I had explained sin and judgement, I took them to the cross, then called for repentance and faith. When I offered copies of John’s Gospel, four of the family, including the young lady, took a copy each. Another man who was listening also took a copy of John’s Gospel and asked if we could recommend a local church for him to attend. We pointed him to Spring Road Evangelical Church, since he lives nearby.
Despite the heat, it was a good and productive day of gospel ministry. 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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