ID Takes On London
On October 22-23 2018, the ID team took on London Town! All of the ID interns from across Relational Mission came together to take a Bible tour in the British Museum, catch up and pray together, learn about street evangelism, and put it into practice!
We started out at the British Museum and took “The Stones Cry Out” tour led by Mark Hendley. The tour was incredibly eye-opening, explaining the surrounding cultures and providing context to biblical stories. We saw real artifacts used by people at the time and that tangible connection to scripture was incredible. We even saw part of the wall that Esther would have walked by when she went to King Xerxes’ throne to plead for her people.
One of my favorite moments was learning more about Abraham’s culture before God revealed himself to him. At the time, human sacrifice was a fairly common occurrence and people believed that in order to appease the gods, they needed to spill human blood. So when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, Abraham most likely wasn’t surprised. After all, this was pretty normal. Crazy, right?! Well, if you don’t know the story, major spoiler alert ahead! Abraham took Isaac up a hill to sacrifice him, laid him across the altar, and was about to kill him when an angel of the Lord stopped him, and provided a ram to sacrifice instead. If you’ve grown up in the church, this story may not seem very radical to you, but when God stopped Abraham, He was essentially saying that He is not a God who desires human sacrifice - a counter cultural concept for the time. The ram, innocent of all sin, represents Jesus who sacrificed Himself for us. This is just one example of God showing Himself as different to any other “god”.
After the Bible tour, we gathered together for a meal. We spent time in fellowship, catching up on each other’s ID experiences so far, shared our blessings and our difficulties, and prayed for each other. It was such a refreshing and refilling time.
On the 23rd, we gathered together at Revelation Church for their Morning Prayer meeting before spending most of the day being taught about why evangelism matters, and how we all have a part to play. The wonderful Paige Marrett, Evangelist at Christ Community Church in Attlborough, shared her top ten reasons and tips to why Evangelism matters and they were so helpful that I’ve included them here!
WHY EVANGELISM MATTERS
Telling people of the greatness of Jesus
God’s desire for the lost to be saved
Because He tells us to - it’s always scary but He is strong
Human need
To have complete joy
On the doctrine of election
We owe it to the world
It’s the desire of the Holy Spirit
It’s our identity as ambassadors and witnesses
It’s the example of the early church
EVANGELISM TOP TIPS
Love the people in front of you
Ask questions and graciously listen to the people around you (Do you have a faith in something? What do you think is the most important thing in life? What do you think of the church? What is something you’d like Jesus to do for you today?)
Offer prayer
Share your stories and what amazes you about Jesus (share how Jesus has helped you through an ordinary problem in your life)
Keep the focus on Jesus. If they don’t like religious hypocrisy, say “yeah, Jesus didn’t either actually”, etc.
Invite the people around you without fear.
Rely on the Holy Spirit
After soaking up all of Paige’s wisdom and praying together, we were put into groups, each with an experienced leader, and sent out onto the streets! It was such a scary concept to me before I did it. I had been dreading it, if I’m being honest.
By the time we headed out, you could feel the huge tensions in the room. Some people were excited, others were anxious, most seemed like a mix. I was definitely still scared, but also filled with this burning desire to go share Jesus with people unlike anything I had really experienced before.
So out we went! We just had 30 minutes, and my team leader had us jump in right away. We started by just praying for the person walking in front of us. We didn’t stop them or talk to them - we just prayed. Our leader said that was a great way to start on the right foot, reminding us that God has the power to reach them simply through prayer, and it’s not really reliant on us at all. After that, we each spoke to a few people. We were given instructions to ask “The Miracle Question.” It goes like this: “Hi, can I ask you a question? If God could do any miracle for you today, what would it be?” Hopefully they’ll respond and you’ll have a chance to pray with them, and if they’re still around, you can ask “What do you think is the greatest miracle God could ever do?” This opens the door to share that you believe God already HAS done the greatest miracle by sending Jesus to die for our sins.
It was pretty scary at first. We had a mix of people, some of whom were willing to chat with us, and some not, but regardless of how they would respond, we would pray for them afterwards in our group. Our team was so incredibly good at building each other up. For example, I sounded so nervous when I talked to a pair of girls, and as soon as we walked away from them, my whole mind was flooded with accusations and insecurities. But at the exact same time, my team members started saying “GREAT JOB! That was so brave talking to two people at once!” And “You did exactly what Jesus asks you to do, and it was awesome!” It struck me how real spiritual warfare was in that moment! As soon as you step into obedience with what God has called you to do, you will be attacked. You’re a threat to the enemy! But with those brothers in Christ cheering me on and countering those lies, I felt so supported and encouraged. I would actually really like to try street evangelism again in Canterbury sometime!
These two days of challenge and encouragement were a huge gift. I learned so much, and I know that all of us were pushed to go even deeper into our relationships with Christ. I hope that some of these insights have encouraged you! Keep pursuing Him and know that He will be faithful to His promises.
About the Author
Claire is currently doing ID and has moved from America to serve the students here in Canterbury this year. She doesn’t like tea or coffee.
