Hi Everyone

The 9th to 13th September marks Wellington Street Outreach Week for Calvary Wellington, which is part of our September Missions Month.

On 7 September we had Training day, followed by an afternoon to put it into practice. You can read more about that here. 

On the Sunday, Glen Richards spoke the message at our fellowship, exegeting  Mark 10:17-31′ “The Impossible That’s Possible With God”. He drew out that we all fall short of God’s perfect standards, which means that there is no such thing as a good person apart from Christ Himself. We know this through the law, which exposes our sin. This is why it is a good thing that we use the law in evangelism!

I had locations around Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, and Wellington City mapped out as potential outreach venues:

• Naenae outdoor Mall (our normal monthly outreach venue)
• The Strand, Wainuiomata shops
• Main St, Upper Hutt shops
• Massey University, Wellington
• Cuba Mall, Wellington
• Queensgate shopping precinct
• Jackson St, Petone shops
• Lambton Quay, Wellington
• Wellington Waterfront

We had a core group of Glen, Andy, Roger and myself at every venue, along with various members of our fellowship coming and going where possible. It was very encouraging to see the body engaging in the Great Commission! The weather was overcast and very windy all week, but God was gracious to us, withholding the rain every time we were out on the streets!

Naenae Mall: This place is not super-busy at the best of times, so I didn’t know if there would be enough fish to go around. But there were enough coming and going to keep us busy. A few of the usual Gone Fishin’ crew turned up for this one, so we hit the ground running. I have a standing competition with Marie that we try and beat each other to the bus stop. She got there first today, but as I went past the stop and around the corner, I bumped into a young high school guy.

Jericho  – I had to labour a bit with Jericho regarding the concept of universe = universe maker. Once he conceded, we were off and running. He thought he was a good person, but had an uh-oh moment when he realised that he wouldn’t make it to heaven. I told him the consequences. He understood, but was quite nonchalant about it all. He had to get to school, so I drummed in the urgency, left him with a tract, and prayed that the Lord would work on his heart.

Gary – Mike teamed up with me, and we found Gary scoffing down a pie like there was no tomorrow. I thought I recognised him, but couldn’t place where. He was a very humble guy, and went quiet when he realised the consequences of his sin. Then Mike shared the good news of Jesus offering to take his hell punishment. A few checking questions later, and Gary professed faith in Christ! We showed him how to download a Bible, and the need to find a good church. he was very thankful, and so are we to God for pulling another soul from the fire! After the chat Warren said he worked at a local retail store, which connected the dots for me. Next time I am in that store I will follow up with him.

Dominic – This guy was also humble, but it was obvious he was having trouble comprehending things. He admitted he had drug issues and was schizophrenic, so we had to slow-walk this one. He admitted that everything we said was true and made sense, but he didn’t know what would happen when his ‘other self’ took over. All we could do was keep going over the information, and give him as much material as we could in the hope that it would not be lost on him. He was open and honest, and we just had to leave him in God’s hands.

The Strand, Wainuiomata: Just over the hill from Naenae is the suburb of Wainuiomata, A couple of my family have lived here from time to time, so I knew the area. But this was prior to looking for fishing holes, so I was playing it by ear. The Strand turned out to be a great spot! I teamed up with Andy, and we went looking for fish.

James – This guy was cruising past on his bike, and Andy called him over. He said he had plenty of time to talk. It took a while to get past the creation/creator analogy with him. Andy explained it, he sort of agreed, but I could tell he wasn’t buying it. He did eventually agree that if there was a God, he would be in big trouble on judgement day. I took James through Jesus taking his hell punishment and what that means, as well as some checking questions. He agreed, but then reverted back to his doubt of God existing. Andy tried again to convince him, but it was going in circles. He thanked us for the chat, and we had to leave him in God’s hands.

Nick and Ashley – This was a great chat. We spoke to this young couple for a long time. They had many questions between them. Ashley had recently lost a family member, and had many questions around that. They were very open, and honest with us. They both had church experiences, so sort of knew what was coming – but I don’t think they were expecting to be challenged the way they did. They understood that faith alone in Christ was the only way to avoid their hell punishment. I never heard any declaration of faith from either of them, but at least they were both open-hearted to listen to us.

Braydon – College had just got out, so the shops were flooded with school kids. Andy engaged Brandon as he was passing by us. He was eager to chat. It transpired he was a Mormon. Andy knows a lot about Mormonism, so he was able to deconstruct some of Braydon’s arguments. Braydon was left a little confused, so he was able to return the conversation back to the true Gospel. It was obvious that Braydon was left conflicted, so I gave him my copy of the Gospel of John, which has the needgod.net pictures on the covers that show that trust in Christ on the cross is the only way to avoid his hell punishment. He said he would read the Gospel and consider what we said. We pray he does, and that his Mormon elders and teachers cannot steal away the seed that was sowed.

By this time it was time to finish for the day. It was great to try out new fishing spots, and these I will mark for future outreaches. We pray that all spoken to and offered tracts will come to a knowledge of their standing before God!

Blessings

Craig.