“Big Lovable Gentleman” – Portsmouth Evangelism
It was a hot day in Portsmouth, but thankfully the Lord provided a shaded area for us to share the good news. While we were setting up, a man we had spoken with previously came back. He said he had questions and was thinking through what we had told him before. As he chatted, he forgot his questions and instead took more booklets about the gospel.
This was just the first of many conversations we had with people we had spoken with previously. Today really felt like a “follow-up” day. We were able to build upon past chats and point people once again to the Lord Jesus.
Throughout the outreach, we also met several Christians who were encouraged by the work. Some were from local churches, such as Eastney Evangelical Church, and others were from farther afield, such as two ladies from a Welsh Baptist Church near Cardiff.
A man who regularly listened to me preach last year came up to me with a question. At some point over the past few months, he has professed faith in Jesus and is now excited about reading the Bible, as he can finally understand it. His question today centred on a sin he had committed recently and whether God would forgive him. He told me that the first thing he thought after sinning was, “Oh no! I’ve sinned against God.” He then shared that he immediately began to confess to Christ. I was able to share with him from 1 John 1:9 and 1 John 2:1–2, then explain that the very fact he was concerned about sinning against God is a good sign that the Lord has changed his heart.
Now to the title of this outreach report! Shortly after chatting with the man mentioned above, a regular came past whom we see nearly every week. She is sick with blood cancer and is a churchgoer, though not converted. Each week she takes a different booklet, reads it, and then shares it with several elderly people she visits in a care home. Today, she brought a message back from the elderly folk, saying how much they appreciate the booklets. The lady told me they had asked her, “Where do you get all these books?” To which she replied, “You need to go to Portsmouth and find the Big Lovable Gentleman—he’ll give them to you.” I’ve been called many things on the streets, but this was a first for me!
The follow-up continued when a man who had listened to me preach last week came back to talk further. After hearing me preach, he had spoken to a team member. Since then, he has been considering all that was said. I was able to point him to the good news once again and urged him to consider Jesus.
It was now around 12:30 p.m.; the past hour had been taken up with conversations and distributing literature. Now, it was time to preach! My message for the day was from John 3:16. As I shared about our need for Christ, a group of young men stopped and engaged. We began to go back and forth with questions, but at this point a well-meaning Christian kept going over to them and giving the young men the answers to my questions. This was frustrating, as the questions are designed to reveal what the group believes and to allow me to walk them through the gospel.
Eventually, I managed to get the group on the path I wanted them to be on, and as I was about to explain how Christ can rescue them, a shirtless man rushed up to me and got in my face. He was holding up a Bible, shouting, “Whose Bible is this?” I tried to send him to Nigel, but the man wouldn’t budge. I told him it could be his Bible if he really wanted a copy, but then he started shouting about the King James Version.
The man then proceeded to try to silence the gospel. He would shout, get right into my face, and at times even physically put his hands on the young men who were listening to me. The only way to describe his behaviour is to say it was demonic. I told him that Christ could set him free and urged him to trust in the Saviour. Eventually, Nigel was able to get the man away so I could keep preaching.
By now the whole atmosphere had changed; the group wasn’t as engaged, except for one of them—a young agnostic who tried to argue that the Bible supports genocide. I engaged him with apologetics and the gospel, which drew in a crowd, but the young man was quite proud and self-righteous. I noticed he had to keep bringing out his phone to Google for questions and answers.
Eventually, I finished preaching so I could continue speaking personally with the agnostic. At this stage, a young Muslim lady who is questioning asked to join the conversation. I had spoken with this lady a few weeks earlier, so I was happy for her to participate (you can read my previous report about this lady HERE).
The agnostic kept making the same arguments but wasn’t interested in answers. He demonstrated his pride when he said, “Tell me, who is more likely to go to Heaven: me, a good and moral person who doesn’t believe in Jesus, or the President of Israel?” My answer wasn’t what he was expecting. I said, “Neither of you will go there unless you repent and trust in Jesus.” This seemed to shock him and calmed him down a bit. He did end up taking a Bible, saying he would read it further.
The conversation continued with just the Muslim lady and me. She brought up the points I had raised last time and then asked questions about the booklets I had given her. She is very intelligent and keen to know more. She is questioning everything and eager to learn more about Jesus. Our conversation went on for a long time, and before I realised it, it was 2 p.m. The lady took another booklet and said she would be back another time to talk further.
The Lord truly was at work in Portsmouth. Please pray for all those who heard the good news, especially the Muslim lady.
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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