Proclaimer Blog
Cornhill Missions 2020: SJWRBC
Street evangelism. Few phrases instil such a fear of social awkwardness and uncertainty in Christians. Rejection, being outwitted by a total stranger and literally jumping into the unknown within a matter of seconds are among many things that might cause the most zealous evangelist to quake. And yet, what a joy it was to spend 3 days on the streets around St. John’s Wood Road Baptist Church doing exactly that. Six of us budding Cornhillers were sent out to speak to strangers about the simple gospel of grace.
Scott Little, the pastor of the church, patiently taught us how to do street evangelism using a simple, and highly biblical model, that allows you to get to someone’s conscience in minutes. ‘If you were to die tonight, would God let you into heaven?’ was the opener. You then use the 10 commandments to point out (to your token total stranger no less) that they are a lying, murdering, blaspheming, adulterer… without getting punched! We didn’t literally shout these things out to random people, but we were taught that if you use God’s law to show someone where they would stand in a court of law against a perfect standard, you have to admit how far you fall short. Only then do you bring up grace, because why would someone think they need a saviour if they don’t think they need saving?
And so, we hit the streets, into the plentiful harvest, and had gospel focussed conversations with nearly 80 people over 3 days. We had our ups and downs, but on the whole, it was a deeply encouraging, edifying and completely exhausting experience. One that we all couldn’t be more grateful for.
Then on the Sunday we helped out at their morning service looking at the topic of, ‘Are you a good person?’ with a number of non-believers in the audience. What a joy seeing someone we had spoken to come to the service.
Having started thinking that this was probably going to be a very painful and long few days, I think I speak on behalf of us all when we say, what a fruitful, humbling and faith affirming few days we had.
Please pray that the Lord would continue to bless the church in St John’s Wood, that reaching the lost in this area would continue to be a top priority for Scott and his team, and that there would be a plentiful harvest as a result of God’s gospel being proclaimed.
by Olivia Milligan