“Your Dad is an Antichrist!” – Reading Evangelism

It was great to head back up to Reading today; it was particularly encouraging to have two new team members, including a ministry trainee, join us from Carey Baptist Church.

As we set up the outreach, a Colombian man with broken English stopped to speak with us. He had seen the ‘Free Bible & Literature’ sign on our table and wondered if we had something for him. I had a copy of John’s Gospel and a tract in Spanish, so we gave it to him. The man was very excited to receive something in his own language. He enthusiastically thanked us before heading on his way.

This man was thrilled to have God’s Word in his language, but I can’t help but wonder why we often don’t get excited about God’s Word ourselves. We’ve been blessed with the Word of Life in English, yet so often we treat it as something boring. Perhaps we can learn something from this Colombian man!

I commenced the preaching by speaking on “God is Love.” As I explained the good news, an older man stopped and began to heckle. His heckles were good questions, so I happily engaged with him. He started off by asking about suffering, and why people face hardship. I reasoned with him, showing that the evil we have in society is a direct result of humanity’s actions and choices – we choose to do evil. He agreed with me and said he could see the point I was making. I further explained that Jesus is the solution to evil, but humanity would rather live in sin than trust in Christ.

At this point, the man shared that his father had been a Reverend, so he had grown up going to church. Then he said, “My dad told me that Jesus was wrong, and prophesied falsely.” This damnable heresy had impacted this older gentleman so deeply that, years later, the lies of his father still influenced his understanding.

I gently replied, “I know you love your father, but your dad was wrong. I must be direct, and biblical. Based on Scripture, I’d say your dad is an antichrist (1 John 2:22), as he denies the truth about Jesus.”

Saying such a hard and direct statement left me wondering how the man would respond, but he took it well. He listened as I pointed him to Jesus, and when I offered copies of John’s Gospel to anyone who wanted to discover who Christ is, he—along with four others—gladly took a copy.

Next up to preach was Richard, who spoke on “Four Big Problems: Past, Present, Death, Judgement.” He did a good job pointing to Christ as the solution and calling on people to trust in the Saviour.

While Richard preached, a Hindu man with his young daughter walked past and motioned towards the literature table. Trevor engaged him in conversation, and I grabbed a copy of the children’s booklet How Can I Become a Child of God? I then asked the father if I could give it to his daughter. The father happily agreed and encouraged his daughter to read it, so she sat down under a tree to read while he continued his discussion with Trevor. After a long conversation, the father was still trying to argue from a Hindu perspective—but then his daughter began to tell him that Jesus died for our sins on the cross. Trevor encouraged the man to listen to his daughter!

Around this time, a young man came up to the literature table saying, “I’m not sure what I am looking for; I just want to learn about Christianity.” One of our team members gladly pointed him towards a few resources and shared with him. It is always encouraging to meet young people who are keen to discover more about Jesus.

Next up to preach was Pastor Trevor from Whitley Wood Reformed Baptist Church. He spoke on “What’s Your Greatest Need?” He did a great job explaining that we all have a debt we cannot pay – sin – but the good news is that Jesus paid the full penalty for sin.

As the outreach was drawing to a close, I decided to preach one more time. As I spoke on “Hope for a Broken World”, something happened that had never occurred before. Pastor Rich from Carey Baptist Church was listening with his two young daughters (aged 7 and 9). One of them came up to me as I preached, asking if she could help by putting my open-air cards on the board. So, for the first time ever, I had an assistant as I shared the gospel. I could hear several comments about the cuteness factor (I assume they weren’t talking about me!), and a few people did stop to listen. Both girls ended up assisting me in some way, and I hope that being part of the outreach serves to encourage them, and that they will come to know and love the Saviour.

It was a wonderful and encouraging afternoon of ministry in Reading. 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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