Is street evangelism effective? :: Gospel Outreach Report: SOUTHAMPTON

Today I met with two very different extremes in this work - while God was doing some fascinating work inbetween... Some people ask the question, Is street evangelism effective? I will attempt to show you in this report that it really is.

A team of us (five people) did another Gospel outreach in Southampton today (Friday). (an Open Air Mission outreach, headed up by Mike Mellor.)

"Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah" Psalm 62:8

A Man Hungry for the Bible

As soon as we set the table up, things began to happen – and they carried on for a long while. A man came straight over and essentially asked me to tell him all about the Bible. He had never read it before, but he was genuinely interested. I believe he was from Asia and preparing to return home soon. He asked many honest and searching questions – from wanting to know what the

Bible is, to asking what it means to be born again, to how he could be saved.

I used the picture of marriage to explain. If a husband and wife don’t speak, the relationship breaks down. In the same way, we don’t naturally seek God, and our relationship with Him is broken. To be made right with Him, we need to talk to Him. It begins with conversation. I pointed him to Luke 11, where the Lord teaches us how to pray. We need to humbly seek Him, confessing our sin and our need of His mercy.

We finished our time together in prayer – his very first conversation with God. How wonderful it would be if this man is truly saved and begins to serve the Lord for His glory!

It was a joy to pour the truths of the Gospel into him. Encounters like this remind me why street evangelism is so effective. This dear man left with his very first Bible, along with other pieces of literature. I felt we could have talked for hours, so I gave him my personal contact details and really hope he will get in touch.

Fascinating work going on in Between

All the while, I looked around and saw other conversations taking place between team members

and passers-by. From what I later heard, a pattern emerged. I’ve noticed it before, but it struck me again today: the impact of Christians simply being present.

Here’s what I mean. Sometimes Christians approach our table, and I encourage them to take literature for their own witness. That happened again today. But what stood out was seeing Christians walk past with non-Christian friends. The preaching, or even just the sight of the table, became the spark for them to begin eternal conversations with those friends – conversations they may have prayed for but struggled to start. Simply by being there, we were providing the ice-breaker. How amazing is that!

A Difficult Conversation with a Professed Believer

Another man came to the table, and we spoke for well over an hour. He poured out many struggles: loneliness, suicidal thoughts, sadness over the state of society, and fears of war. He had suffered a terrible upbringing and a life marked by rejection. His eyes filled with tears more than once.

I couldn’t claim to fully understand his pain. What he really needed was someone closer than a brother – the Lord Jesus Himself. Proverbs 18:24 says, “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

I couldn’t solve his many problems, but I encouraged him to seek the Lord, to open His Word, and to pour out his heart in prayer. He left with a Bible and some literature, and I asked him to come back and say hello next time we’re there. This is why regular witness in the same place, on the same day and time, is so important. I hope I’ll see him again.

A Weight That Is Heavy to Carry

My final conversation of the day was with a lady I hadn’t seen for a long while. She didn’t recognise me, but I remembered her – even her name. She shared how she and her family had

been badly treated by a church. I hadn’t known about this before, and I must admit it made me angry. It was deeply unjust, especially coming from a church.

And yet, despite all she had been through, she still held a strong faith in the Lord. Remarkably, her concern was for others. She asked if I had anything she could give to a friend who was “stuck” in evolution and struggling with how it fits with the Bible. I gave her some resources and promised to be praying for her.

The weight of her story, combined with the earlier conversation with the troubled man, left me heavy-hearted. But I have to cast these burdens on the Lord. He is in control, and only He can carry such weight.

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” – Psalm 55:22

Please pray for those mentioned here, and for all who heard of the mercy of God in Christ today.

For His Glory,

-Nigel, Printing Evangelism