“I Prayed You’d Be Here!” – Newbury Evangelism
It was good to get back to Newbury for our monthly outreach. Today, we were blessed to have leaders from two local churches supporting the work. Our desire is to serve and strengthen the church, so when leaders come out, it encourages us, and we hope we can encourage them.
As we set up for the outreach, we noticed a man intrigued by what we were doing. It turns out he is a Roman Catholic, so he had a gospel conversation with Bill. Before we had even ‘officially’ commenced the outreach, people were already hearing the good news.
The open-air preaching started when I spoke on “How Can I Have Peace?” I thought there was little interaction, but Bill told me he saw people stopping to listen to snippets of the message. Perhaps a seed or two found its way to a receptive heart.
One lady who heard me preach was outraged. She is a Roman Catholic and couldn’t believe the audacity we had to bring religion into public. Trevor spoke to her and explained that Jesus and the Apostles all ministered openly in public. She conceded the point but refused to take any material.
The highlight of the day was seeing a lady excitedly approach the team. She had seen us previously in Newbury, but she told us, “I prayed you’d be here!” It turns out that this morning, she had a great desire to find a local church, so she prayed the Lord would bring us to Newbury so we could point her to a good fellowship. We were able to direct her to two local congregations and introduce her to leaders from those churches.
Another encouragement was the homeless man who began the outreach in a hostile manner. I noticed he had set up behind our open-air board and was begging. After I had finished preaching, I went over to see if he’d like me to buy him some food. The man aggressively replied, “What has Jesus ever done for me?” I answered, “He sent me here to ask if you’d like a sandwich. Do you want one?” The man declined my offer, but his aggression began to subside. By the end of the outreach, the man had told us his name, shared a bit about his story, spoken with team members, and taken gospel material.
Next to preach was Trevor, who shared about how all of us have a great problem – sin! He then explained the holy judgement that must come upon us, but then pointed people to Jesus – the One who was judged on our behalf.
Shortly after Trevor finished preaching, Bill preached on “Are You Good Enough for Heaven?” A couple of people listened to snippets, and a few took tracts. I noticed that today in Newbury it was the slowest we’ve seen it. Still, some were hearing the good news.
I preached the final message of the day; this time I spoke on “The Way to Heaven.” A man stopped, saying, “All you are saying is rubbish!” I asked him why he thought that, and he replied, “The world is messed up! God has forsaken us!” I agreed with him that the world is messed up, but said God hadn’t forsaken us; rather, we had forsaken Him. The man wouldn’t stay around to listen, but a small group did stand at the back listening – though, at the end of the message, they made it clear they didn’t agree with me.
Even though today was slower, many still received tracts and heard the gospel. 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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