An update from June as we went out onto the streets in Battersea to chat to people, pray for them and talk about the Gospel. Here are some individual encounters:
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We spoke to a lady who jokingly said she was trying to avoid us! She shared that she had lost her mother a few years back but felt very angry about it. She described the feeling of wearing a heavy rucksack and of feeling burdened. We spoke about being able to give that to Jesus, to be able to release her heavy feelings and in place have joy and peace. We spoke about feeling welcomed at churches and her not feeling dressed smart enough and how we should come as we are. We told her we all wear trainers to church which she couldn’t believe! She was open about her past and we had a great time of sharing about Jesus and praying, ending in big hug.
I had a long conversation with an elderly man. Who has been living in Battersea since 1960, he had been to a church a few times in the past. He did have faith in God but wasn’t sure about Jesus. I prayed for him, that Jesus would reveal himself to him, his love or him and that he is real. And then after the prayers he said, I’m not sure about the resurrection. I said that’s interesting and very important and asked if I could share about what I thought about it. I encouraged him to think about it. And then he said well it’s a bit like believing in something if you’ve experienced it. He spoke about the spiritual world. It starting drawing to a natural close and so I invited him to our Living Life group before he left.
Then I saw this beautiful African family coming across the grass. I had met one of the women a few months ago. She remembered me and as I speak French we all spoke in French together. I met all her family and we had a chat and I explained what we were doing, they very warmly received me and we all held hands and prayed together. They were very touched to be prayed for.
We met a gentleman who has dialysis and he had a faith and asked for prayer for his health. We prayed for him.
We bumped into a man who was doing work on the road who wanted a prayer for good weather and happy residents. We thanked him for the hard work his does and gave him an imaginary box of chocolates! He said he gets some residents who shout at him and some who bring him chocolates so he now had another one…
I bumped into a grandmother of a young boy I teach, I forgot that she doesn’t speak much English and I forgot I don’t speak much Spanish, after our attempt to have a conversation, it didn’t really end up working so I gave her a big hug and said see you later!
We spoke to three Lithuania workers who had been working on one of the local buildings. They had just left their job, not having had a good conversation with management, it sounded like they had not been treated very well so we prayed that they would quickly find new employment so that they could support themselves and their families and where they would find a new job that management would treat them well and fairly. On the way out, Didi blew them a kiss which was very much appreciated and they caught it!
We then moved on and met a gentleman who had some belief in God and we had a really good conversation. We heard his views, and we picked up on a couple of them. He said he was a bit like a scientist. He shared his sister had died and I shared a bit of my testimony about how I came to know Jesus. We talked about religion and relationship and we had a good connection.
We met a lady on the way to hospital and we asked if we could pray for her and she said I’m actually listening to UCB radio and she said thank you thank you, I believe, next time!
We went into a local shop and spoke to the owner who always receives us well and said we could pray for anything. So we prayed for his family and business.
I met a man who I engaged well with but wouldn’t let me pray for him.
We met a lady who was very open for prayer, believed and was about to meet up with a friend that could be a difficult meeting. She wanted us to pray for her friend she was meeting. She didn’t want us to pray there and then but as we left her we saw her meeting up with her friend so were able to pray for them as we walked.
I met a young guy who said that recently an ex-girlfriend of his had died so we prayed for that and for God to comfort him and her family and he was open to receive that. It felt very safe and that he was open, I asked if I could put my hand on his heart and he said yeah please do.
I went up to the corner and this young guy came by and the Lord had a word for me that he was from a Christian family but that he had fallen away. And he said yes, it is what it is. I said can I pray. He said he was going to a meeting. I said well can I just pray and he let me. It felt like a very powerful connection, spiritually it felt very powerful to pray for God to bring him back home and he was open to the prayer.
We met a man who asked for prayer for his family so prayed for this before he went on his way.
We had a brief encounter with a woman who asked us to pray for her health, she didn’t going into anymore detail.
We met quite a few people who said that’s very kind and received prayer but didn’t go into any detail and asked us to pray for general well being and for the world or country.
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We like to share not just the great stories but also the reality of approaching strangers and talking to them! We often get people declining to talk and those that just ignore us. We saw a talk recently about rejection and how the more you get it the less of a deal it becomes and the fear of being rejected diminishes. You will read some of these stories and find abrupt endings or very short encounters which we want to share to show the reality of street ministry.
