From Hindus to Mormons: A Fruitful Day in Portsmouth
There were five of us out in Portsmouth today sharing the good news. This morning, it looked as though rain would interrupt everything, but by the time the outreach commenced it was sunny and warm.
For me, the outreach began with a conversation I had with a Hindu man from Bangladesh. He took the tract ‘Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven?’ and then said to me, “I think I’m very good.” We had a pleasant chat about the standard of morality and whether we are truly as good as God. Using the Ten Commandments, I explained how we have all sinned (Romans 3:23) and need the Saviour. He was keen to hear more about the gospel, but his wife insisted they move on. He did, however, take an in-depth booklet, ‘4 Things You Need to Know about God’.
** Some readers of my blog have wondered why I use the Ten Commandments so frequently in evangelism. The reason is that the Law provides the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19–20) and brings people to Jesus so that they may be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24). The Commandments are a very helpful tool for outreach; if you’d like to learn more about their use in evangelism, I recommend the sermon ‘Hell’s Best Kept Secret’ by Ray Comfort. **
After handing out tracts for a while, it came time to preach. My first message of the day was on “The Way to Heaven.” One listener spoke with a team member and it turned out he had never heard the gospel before. At the end of the message, he and three others took copies of John’s Gospel.
A family sitting nearby then called me over. They told me they believed it was important for children to grow up learning the Bible and asked if they could have a New Testament for their kids. We gladly gave them a copy, along with children’s gospel material.
Team members were busy throughout the outreach—either handing out tracts, helping people at the literature table, or sharing the gospel one-to-one. After one conversation, a team member asked me to join them in speaking with a Greek Orthodox gentleman.
The man explained that he had been baptised as an infant and believed that made him right with God, as a child of God. I didn’t want to get into a debate over baptismal practice on the street, so I asked him, “What do you think baptism does?” He replied that, in his view, baptism made someone part of God’s family and brought salvation. Using John 1:12, I explained that becoming a child of God comes not through baptism, but through faith in Jesus. We then looked at New Testament examples showing that repentance and faith precede baptism. As we read together, he said, “Oh, that makes more sense! In Greece, they must baptise more out of tradition than from the Bible.” He took a booklet explaining the gospel and left after shaking my hand.
As the outreach was nearing its end, I thought it would be good to preach once more. This time I spoke on “Hope for a Broken World.” A Muslim man listened for a short while, and one person took a copy of John’s Gospel at the end.
I thought that would be the conclusion of the outreach, but the Lord had other plans. As we began packing up, a young lady I had spoken with last month returned to ask more questions. When I last saw her, she had been studying with the Jehovah’s Witnesses (report here), but she has now come to see the error of the JWs. She had many questions, which I did my best to answer, before giving her a couple of booklets. We’ve also connected her with the wife of a local pastor, who will be following her up.
Finally, we packed up and started to leave Portsmouth. As Nigel and I walked along Commercial Road, we saw a group of Mormon missionaries with a whiteboard posing their ‘question of the day’. They stopped us and asked for our thoughts—so we happily shared them!
We had a very good conversation with one of the Elders. He based his whole religious view on subjective feelings, so we challenged him from the Bible and urged him to trust in Jesus alone. As we spoke, he admitted our questions were fair, and that the Book of Mormon isn’t entirely reliable. At the end of our conversation, he asked for my number, which I gladly gave him. I hope he does get in touch, as I’d love another opportunity to point him to Jesus.
It was a fruitful day in Portsmouth. Please pray for all 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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