Battle Log
Wednesday 15 January 2020
Posted 15 January 2020, 6:33 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
Day three of the NZ Summer Mission is complete. Today we focused on outreach at the beaches in Christchurch. In the morning we were at New Brighton, and in the afternoon we were in Sumner.
We were slightly late getting over to New Brighton, but it was providential that we were. When we arrived, the location was dead. We peered over a low wall to take a look at the beach, and the only person I could see was someone surfing! But then I turned around and noticed a young lady walking past, I mentioned to her that there weren’t many people around, and from there I ended up having the best gospel conversation of the day (for me)! If we had arrived earlier, I may have missed her. It felt like one of those divine appointments, and I knew I needed to focus on the conversation rather than getting the team organised. At one point, Andy tried to call me, but I ignored it. Eventually the lady said, “I think your phone is ringing”. I just responded with, “I know, but this conversation with you is more important right now”.
After that conversation, the team (of seven) gathered (in the meantime, some had distributed tracts to the people fishing off the pier, and others had gospel conversations with those they could find), and we prayed together before pairing up as usual. And by now, there were more people appearing - not too many, but enough to keep the team busy sharing the good news of Jesus for the morning!
And this just caused us to be brave and bold, and approach everyone we came across. This led to many surprisingly good gospel interactions.
At lunch time, we bought cans of soft drink and some ice to fill a chilly bin with before moving over to Sumner. The team enjoyed lunch together before we headed onto the beach for round two of the day armed with the chilly bin as a means of blessing people with a free cold drink and starting gospel conversations (that is, if they wanted to talk - some took a drink but didn't want to talk, which was fine, but most would at least take a tract).
A highlight conversation for me was with a family of four from the Philippines. They were very grateful for the drink, and were keen to chat about what happens after life. This was a great opportunity for Julia to try using the mini flip chart for the first time. She did a fantastic job! Well done Julia! She got stuck a few times, which was fine as I was there to help her through. It turns out that this young family had a Catholic background, and so the conversation focused on salvation by faith alone (not works) - and what the right motivation for good works should be (not trying to earn salvation). I gently challenged them to trust in Christ alone for their salvation, and to come away from the Catholic church. Their young son, engaged in the conversation very well. I was surprised that when the conversation ended, he gave me a hug! How precious was that!
But the afternoon had it’s trials as well. One lady was so offended at us giving away free drinks to “dupe” people into a conversation that she made a bit of a scene about it. This was out of the blue and I wasn’t prepared to deal with it. I could have handled the situation better, and it was a good learning opportunity for me. Unfortunately it spoiled the conversation that had started but, praise God, another team member was able to share the gospel with one of them later in the day. And it certainly didn’t stop our efforts to continue the mission! It was a reminder of the battle we are in, and the desperate need to have our armour on and to be in prayer. We need your daily prayers also - thank you!
View previous Special Outreaches report (14 January 2020)
Special Outreaches (QLD, Australia)
Australia Day (26 January)
Easter Monday
ANZAC Day (25 April)
Labour Day
Riverfire Outreach
Queen's Birthday
Halloween
Schoolies
Christmas Outreaches (December)
New Years Eve (31 December)
Contact Ryan Hemelaar for more information.