Battle Log
Sunday 4 May 2025
Posted 4 May 2025, 2:40 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
I love the winter months. For me, all the special outreaches have been completed, and I can get back to a normal routine - I love routine! Like clockwork, I can get out and share the gospel, both on the street and online. Routine helps with discipline, and without discipline we simply won’t get done the things we need to do, like: personal devotions: time reading the Bible and prayer, family devotions, church gathering, and, of course, intentional evangelism! So, if you don’t have a routine, build one! Set regular times during the day where you do the things you need to do - no matter what. Just think, no Bible, no coffee! Just do it! ;) Oh, and if setting a routine like this is new to you, start out small and grow. E.g., Maybe start with reading the Bible for 10 minutes and prayer for 5 minutes each day before, or while you have your morning brew (and then increase gradually from there). Or, maybe join a church outreach once a month, instead of every week - to begin with. (Your church has some kind of outreach, right? If not, talk to your elders, maybe you can start one!)
In March, I was doing some online evangelism training with Fran. She lives in NZ too, and she just so happened to be coming down to the city I live at the beginning of April, and so we organised for her to join a street outreach. On Friday the 4th, she joined Roger and I on a sunny afternoon outreach on Cashel Mall. We had a great time having gospel conversations and giving away tracts. Roger had his flipchart going, and Fran was able to see how it worked.
Fran was interested in getting a flipchart for herself, and since I have 6 of them, and only use all 6 on special outreaches, I said she could borrow one. This she did, and took it back with her up north.
Well, much to my encouragement, Fran has been able to lead her first street outreach where she lives, with others in her church joining her, and using the flipchart. I’ll include the photo she shared, and here is what she said:
“Today I took the Are You a Good Person flipchart into town for the first time. I managed to get a few people from my church to come along too. I was quite nervous as I usually only share the Gospel online. However, there were a few people praying for today and God answered. The flipchart drew quite a bit of interest and I ended up having six good chats, three of who had never heard the Gospel. This is now something I intend to do regularly. God is so good”
My prayer is that God would continue to raise up labourers like this, from amongst the churches, who will be in it for the long haul. Jesus sacrificed his life for us. I now want to sacrifice my life for his glory. Be encouraged to use your gifts to the best of your ability! He is worthy.
The only special outreach for the month of April was the Easter outreach. For a very long time I’ve been leading hot cross bun and gospel tract outreaches over Easter weekend. But, I just didn’t have the energy for it this year, and I didn’t want to drag people out that didn’t want to be there. Instead, my wife, son in law, and a couple of friends spent 2 hours in Riccarton giving away Easter eggs and tracts. All I needed to do was go to the supermarket, buy a few packs of eggs, grab a pack of tracts and go. I had a good time. Although people were a bit suspicious of why we were giving away chocolate, we ended up giving them all away. May God use our feeble efforts for his glory!
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (6 April 2025)
Christchurch (NZ) Team
Weekly outreaches:
Tue 3:30pm - 5:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Fri 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (Bridge of Remembrance)
Sat 11am - 1pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St).
Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.