Manchester Outreach – Day 4
The city centre of Manchester was different today from previous days. Instead of having a nice open space to set up and preach, there were stalls advertising companies and clubs for the new intake of university students to consider joining.
This created a challenge, as we needed to find somewhere to set up. We did manage to find a far-from-ideal spot, but it had to do. We were close to constant road traffic, a construction site, and a pedestrian crossing, and we were facing into the wind. All of these are key things I advise people to avoid when finding a good spot to preach. But beggars can’t be choosers, so we had to set up in that location.
Considering how many preachers we had for the day, and the fact that I have a very busy month and a half of preaching ahead of me, I decided not to preach today. I didn’t think preaching into the wind would be good for my voice, so I thought it best to preserve my vocal cords for other speaking engagements. Instead, I focused on handing out tracts and chatting with people.
As with other days, the team was kept busy, but I will only be able to share some of the encounters I was directly involved in.
Due to the smaller location and team size, it was a challenge to hand out tracts, as many team members were already offering people literature. I did manage to hand out a few in between the different open-air messages.
I had a few brief chats with people, including a man from Australia! But nothing was overly deep. One particular stand-out conversation was with a young man and a young lady. Both are from London but are studying in Manchester. He is a Muslim, and she claims to be a Christian but wants to study Islam.
We had a nice chat about the gospel and the challenges Islam faces. As we spoke, they were very friendly and engaged in the conversation. At the end of the message, they took several booklets each, including the excellent booklet, “Why Muslims Reject Christianity.”
Tomorrow is the final day of the outreach. Please pray that we would finish well and that many would come to know Jesus.
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