A Receptive Day in Southampton
After the heat of the past few days, the weather was much nicer today. The city centre was busy, so we had plenty of people to speak with. We started off the outreach by spending around twenty minutes just handing out tracts. I find it is good to start the outreach like this, as it allows you to settle into evangelism and get a feel for the responses of the people. Today, lots took tracts and were very receptive.
Over at the literature table, there was a steady stream of people stopping to request Bibles and browse the material. Ben was kept busy speaking to several people about the Lord Jesus.
Richard commenced the preaching by speaking on “The Power of Words.” As Richard proclaimed the gospel, I noticed a young man standing silently, listening to the good news. This young man had only minutes earlier been reading tracts and mocking the message. Now, he politely listened to the message of Christ. Many a mocker has been saved, so we pray another one may be rescued by Christ!
Next to preach was Jeremy, who spoke on “The Message of the Cross.” He did a good job explaining God’s love shown in the giving of Christ. A couple of young mothers with their children stood to listen.
It now came time for me to preach. I spoke on “The Way to Heaven.” There wasn’t much interaction, except from a ‘drive-by’ heckler who said he’d get to Heaven in a rowing boat or an aeroplane. At the end of the message, two people did receive a copy of John’s Gospel.
Ben continued the gospel proclamation by preaching next. Today, he spoke on God’s Word being true whether people believe it or not. A lady listened and engaged. As she interacted with the preaching, she revealed she is far from perfect. After the open-air, she had a conversation with Ben and took gospel material.
While Ben was preaching, two men walked past declaring that Christianity should be banned. I challenged their assertion by asking, “Why?” One of the men said, “It is a cult, as they won’t let everybody in!” I countered by saying, “Jesus invites all to come to Him. It can’t be a cult if you are invited to join!” The man wasn’t sure how to respond, so both ranted a bit about why they hated Christianity. I engaged them and was able to get the gospel into the conversation. One of the men changed in attitude—at the end of our chat, he fist-bumped me, saying he enjoyed the discussion. The other man walked away, saying he couldn’t answer my questions.
As the outreach came to an end, I decided to preach once more. This time, I spoke on “Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven?” There was little interaction, with only a couple of people listening. One of those who did listen was a Greek Orthodox man. He said he couldn’t read English, but he did take a copy of ‘Ultimate Questions’ in Greek.
Overall, I found the people of Southampton to be very receptive today. 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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