Making the Gospel Accessible
Telling the good news of Jesus to people where they are is the motivation behind an evangelism training course starting on the 23rd of January. OAC Streetwise aims to present the truths of the Gospel in a way that is accessible to all.
‘Jesus himself was an open-air preacher and as we know many flocked to hear his message being proclaimed in such a clear way. We believe we need Christians today to be following His example,’ said OAC National Director Peter Kennelly.
Streetwise includes six training sessions over a six month period. In order to accommodate people with other commitments, London based sessions take place one Saturday every month. Students acquire practice in preaching a message in the open-air, using a sketch board for accompanying illustrations, speaking to individuals about the Gospel, and leading an outreach team.
One week away from our next Streetwise training day on Saturday 24th April. The whole course will be going down to Chatham to work with our friend Mike, who was trained on STREETWISE some years ago. He has set up a team in his own area. Now Saturday open-airs, run by him and his team, are a regular feature in Chatham High Street. We will join him for the day and some of our students will preach in public using the sketch board for the first time. The rest of us and Mike’s team will watch the preaches and then talk personally with those who stop and listen. Please pray for good weather so everyone has a chance to give it a go. It’s pretty nerve wracking the first time! In the past, these first timers have done well and even seen people make first time commitments to the Lord on their first time out. It just shows it’s much less about being slick and more about God’s mercy and kindness, and us just letting Him work through us – sometimes nerves help that to happen.
The day is encouraging for Mike and his team too as they get to work with a large team.
Mike and his team provide the lunch, which is normally very nice too! We will discuss the day and the presentations over lunch after the outreach and pray for the contacts.
Looking forward to a good day.
Steve G
Seven people came on our first day of training last Saturday. One guy broke down on the way with a major fault with his engine but aims to be coming next time.
Everybody seemed to gel together well. After a short worship time and introductions we covered the subjects of What is the Gospel and Why preach the Gospel. When I got home I realised I forgot to explain the workings of OAC Nationally and Internationally but never mind I’ll have to cover that in the future. (It’s good to know a litttle bit about the organisation as a whole)
In the afternoon we introduced the sketch board and everyone began practicing the lettering.
JB and Sue gave us plenty of tea and coffee to keep everyone awake.
This year we thought it would be a good idea to learn a few verses from the book of Romans each month so by the end we have six verses we can use off the top of our heads to explain how someone can become a Christian.
We are using John Chapman’s, ‘Know and Tell the Gospel’ Its a good book with plenty of helpful pointers from a person who has been an active evangelist for many years.
One of the students came because he had met Mike in Chatham. One of our past students who does open-airs down there. Very encouraging for us and Mike.
I am looking forward to meeting up again next month.
Steve