Eastbourne Outreach – Day 1
The forecast promised wet weather, but the opposite was true. The Lord sent lovely sunny, though windy, weather for us to enjoy on the first day of The Open-Air Mission team event in Eastbourne.
So much happened today. During the four hours we were out on the street, the team spoke to many people, and numerous open-air sermons were preached. We saw good engagement with the message, and even one young man professed faith in Christ.
I can’t tell all the stories from the team; in a future email update, we will send out a few accounts from those who joined us on the street, but for this report, I can only mention a few of the encounters I had.
One of the first conversations I had was with a lady who claimed to be a Christian. She told me about her baptism, but then revealed she doesn’t read the Bible, and sadly, she didn’t have a grasp of the gospel. We had a nice chat about the good news, with her taking a copy of ‘Why Christianity’, a Bible, and the details for a local evangelical church.
While Billy was busy preaching, a man who had been listening came up to me asking, “Do you believe the Bible is literal, or metaphorical?” We had a discussion about the different genres within the Bible, and how we should understand each section of Scripture according to the style in which it is written. The man then went on to ask about the Gnostic gospels, and revealed that he was a Gnostic. This opened up into a good conversation about how we got the Bible, and the nature and character of God. After hearing the good news, the man received a copy of John’s Gospel. As he took the Scripture, he shook my hand, thanking me for the chat and saying he’d start reading the Gospel today.
After several men on the team had preached, it was my turn to speak. For my first message, I spoke on “Hope for a Broken World.” One man called out a few comments, but there was little interaction. However, it did break the ice for the team to have numerous conversations with people nearby.
Later in the day, I found myself over at the literature table when two transgender men (men who think they are women) stopped to talk. I must commend them, as they mentioned they needed to understand Christianity before they rejected it. They wanted to make sure they weren’t ignorant, and desired to be fair towards what we believe. We spoke about the gospel, then one of them said, “I find the cross repulsive. How could anyone like a symbol that speaks of death!”
I noticed the man was wearing a necklace, so I asked him about it. He told me it was his mother’s, and that it reminded him of her. The other man then pulled out a coin his grandfather had given him and said it reminded him of his grandfather. I pointed out that symbols remind us of loved ones and important matters — which is what the cross does. I explained that the cross reminds us of our sin, and the judgement we should face, but also tells us that Jesus died to pay for our sins. Finally, I pointed out that the cross is empty because Jesus rose again. The men listened, then said, “That makes sense.” They took some gospel material, then went on their way.
As the outreach began to end, I preached once more, this time on “The Road to Heaven.” A couple of people stopped to listen, with one saying she found it all very encouraging.
At the end of the outreach, the team went back to the church where we are staying, happy and rejoicing in all the Lord did. Please pray for all those who heard the gospel, and for all those who will hear it this week.
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.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAGAZINE AND PRAYER NOTES