South Wales Mission
For the third year we decided to hold a South Wales Mission. For a variety of reasons we had a smaller team than we have had in the past. We almost cancelled the mission but were convinced by God to persevere and we’re so glad that we did. The aim of the mission is to have a week of intensive street outreach in Cardiff, Bridgend, Pontypridd and Barry. These are all of the areas where our South Wales based Evangelists hold monthly open airs.
The 2024 Mission
After having unsettled weather for most of the year God blessed us with the best week of weather that we’d had. We always find that people are more inclined to stop when the weather is good. So, having the fantastic weather was such a great encouragement to us. In every location we had good crowds listening to the messages and lots of fantastic conversations.
Every day we were able to come back to New Life Church, where we were based, and fill a whole flipchart sheet of paper with the names of those that we’d spoken to.
Memorable Moments
Every day was a great day for evangelism but there were certainly some memorable moments throughout the week.
On Tuesday when we were in Bridgend, one of our London based Evangelists, Steve Gurnett, was just starting a sketchboard entitled, “what is a long life” as a young man came along to listen. It turns out that he was really afraid of death and this was just the perfect message at the perfect time for him.
Without a doubt the best day of the week was on Thursday when we were in Cardiff. Every message was blessed with a great crowd and many conversations afterwards. We even gained some extra team members as the Open Air Mission would normally be in Cardiff on a Thursday but had had to cancel and some of their team didn’t receive the message and so had turned up and asked if they were able to join us.
There were some people who tried to argue and disrupt but couldn’t dampen the spirit of all the great conversations that were happening. We even faced the issue of our Cornwall based Evangelist, Marten Holmes, losing his voice part way through a magic trick and our National Director, Steve Harris having to step in to finish off the gospel presentation, but even this went smoothly and the crowd stayed right until the end to hear all that we had to say.
On Friday in Barry, a gentleman, who was clearly drunk, started heckling one of the boards but in an unusual way. He was telling people to come and listen as we were speaking the truth and had a message that people needed to hear!
Prayer
Please pray for all of those we spoke to, but especially:
- B, a homeless Turkish man who struggles with depression and was really interested in the gospel. He was delighted to receive a Turkish New Testament
- N, a young man who is afraid of death. He came along just as Steve Gurnett was doing a message asking, “what is a long life”. He spoke with one of the team for a long time and took a New Testament and a book of testimonies
- R, an atheist who went to a Christian school and has a Hindu parent. He said that he’s read a lot and wants to believe but nothing has happened for him. He took a New Testament and was encouraged to read Mark.
- L & S, students from China. She was especially interested as she had never heard much about Jesus before. She believes that there is something more but has never been sure what it is. She was delighted to receive a New Testament and a Grill A Christian book.
- J, an alcoholic and drug addict. He listened to one of the messages and then asked Christine and Kevin to pray with him to get clean. He took a John’s gospel with “Finding Hope” on the cover and was encouraged to find hope in Jesus.
If you would like to join one of our short term missions please check out the page on our website to find out how to register.
