Tragedy Leads to Thoughts about God – Portsmouth Evangelism

After being away for a few weeks, it was good to get back to Portsmouth. The city seemed quieter than usual, but there were still enough people around to speak with. Between the seven of us on the team, many tracts were handed out and conversations took place. The gospel seed was sown widely.

Shortly after setting up, I found myself in conversation with two young ladies who stopped at the literature table. One identified as spiritual, whereas the other did not. The reason they stopped was because they had recently been struck by tragedy: a good friend of theirs had died. However, before he passed away, he had ‘got into God’. This caused them to start thinking about God, Heaven, Hell, and eternity.

Both had good questions, so we answered them and went through the gospel together. As we shared the truth about sin, the cross, and the resurrection, one of the girls became teary-eyed. When the conversation concluded, both received Bibles and took tracts and booklets.

I preached first today. Playing off the theme of Lent and Easter, I spoke about the “Three S’s” (sin, substitution, salvation). Right at the start of my message, local council workers decided it was time to dig up the pavement, so they began making a great deal of noise as they cut into the road. This certainly made it challenging.

After the open-air sermon, we handed out tracts for a while longer before Jim began to preach. I didn’t get to hear much of his message (which I’m sure was good), as two people who had listened to Jim came to speak with me. One was a Roman Catholic, and the other was influenced by the Seventh-day Adventists—both agreed that they did not like our message or method. I reasoned with them from the Scriptures, and as we spoke they became increasingly friendly. I was able to share the gospel, and they were both willing to listen. At the end of our chat, they shook hands and took tracts.

As I prepared to preach a second time, a lady I have witnessed to many times over the past few years stopped to chat. She is a Roman Catholic but is very open to hearing the gospel. Today, she listened again to the truth and this time took a copy of John Blanchard’s book, ‘Ultimate Questions’.

For the final open-air of the day, I preached on John 3:16. There was little interaction, although a man did keep shouting, “BOO!” He would not engage. Instead, he began to play music by Madonna over a loudspeaker to try to drown me out.

It was a slow, challenging and, in many ways, an odd day in Portsmouth. But still, the gospel has not lost its power—the truth is still marching on, and people heard the good news. Please pray that the Lord would save many in this city.

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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