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“search the scriptures” John 5:39
At the end of April, Daniel Rudge, together with the saints at Bracknell, held a series of gospel meetings. Fifty unsaved, twenty of which were adults, came along to a family lunch on the first Sunday. The children listened well to a Bible story while the gospel was preached to the adults. It seemed to be an effective introduction to the subsequent meetings which ran from Monday to Thursday. During these, nine different unsaved people attended the afternoon and evening sessions, where some fundamental questions, such as, ‘Does God exist?’ and ‘Can I trust the Bible?’, were considered.
Daniel is also engaged in weekly tract distribution around the Bracknell area. 40,000 Seed Sowers have been given out.
The assembly at Upper Hill Street Gospel Hall, Coventry, are most grateful to the Lord for blessing and answered prayer in respect to the Bible Exhibition and two weeks’ gospel effort held there. The local saints have been much encouraged in the work and especially give thanks to God for the profession of faith of a 24-year-old man.
The Bible Exhibition: (c/o the Hildenborough Gospel Hall Trust, Kent, UK) continued from Monday, 29th June, through to Friday, 10th July, from 9:30am to 6pm, except Sundays. It was staffed by evangelist Bobbie Eadie and his wife Ruby, with support from local saints. A total of 404 people signed the Visitor’s Book, including sixty school-children and four teachers. Only eight of the 404 were known to be from local assemblies. The attendee range of nationalities, creeds, religions, and characters was simply vast – thank God for the gospel of the ‘whosoever’!
The exhibition provided an excellent gospel resource: an overview from Genesis to Revelation with supporting artefacts and exhibits, providing ample opportunity to present Christ and the message of the gospel. More details of the content can be found at www.the-bible-exhibition.co.uk.
The Gospel Hall is located on a pedestrian thoroughfare close to the city centre. The majority of visitors came in as a result of personal invitations from the saints, as they gave out exhibition and gospel meeting invitation flyers outside the Hall. A total of 650 leaflets were distributed in this manner, plus 4,650 leaflets in advance in several local housing estates.
The assembly would also like to thank the Hildenborough Assembly, who, as custodians of the exhibition, gave of their own time to deliver, erect, disassemble and collect, as well as maintain the exhibition, and the Cardiff brethren who compiled the exhibition in past years.
Gospel Meetings: These were conducted by Bobby Eadie, with the help of some local brethren, from Sunday, 28th June, through to Sunday, 12th July, except Saturdays. Twenty-five visitors attended the gospel meeting over the eleven nights, including twenty-one new people who had been contacted through the Bible exhibition. After five attendances, a young man volunteered a clear profession of faith in Christ, based on the messages received, and, latterly, his consideration of John chapter 3 verses 16 and 36. He had no prior contact with the gospel, but has immediately attached himself to the saints, and is showing evidence of conversion. Please pray for his spiritual growth. He needs keeping ‘by the power of God’, 1 Peter 1. 5.
During the months of September and October a number of venues in England and Wales have hosted matches as part of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Exercised by this opportunity for evangelism, Andrew Bennett (Kirkby) and Stephen Buckeridge (Datchet) co-ordinated the printing and distribution of 164,000 tracts to be given to those attending the various matches.
Initially, the desire was to involve as many young believers as possible. Hence, in the writing of the tract, the design of the tract, and the design and development of the accompanying website, a number of younger believers were involved. As the matches involved teams from across the world, the tract contained a message in English and French, or English and Welsh, with John 3 verse 16 in English, Welsh, French, Italian, and Spanish on the back. The help of those fluent in the relevant languages was appreciated.
As well as the production of the tract, a specific website was created for the outreach, and that was featured on the back of the tract as a web address or a QR code. Stephen Baker (Liverpool) kindly provided a video gospel message specific to the event, which can be watched on the site.
The matches in Twickenham, Wembley, and the Olympic Stadium, London, together with those in Cardiff, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, and Newcastle formed the main focus of the work, but with believers elsewhere also using the tract in their area. Some assemblies are using the local matches to hold gospel meetings in their halls. However, those who receive the tract were pointed to the website, www.ultimateconversion.co.uk, as a means of follow-up to the initial message.
The interest amongst the Lord’s people in supporting this outreach was most encouraging and prayer would be valued that the seed sown might be blessed.
For two weeks in July, the Northfield tent meetings, which have been running since 1987, were held. The first week comprises ministry in the morning and gospel in the evening, with the gospel meetings continuing for the second week. At the same time, meetings are held for children and take place on a caravan park nearby. Each morning around 500-700 attended the ministry meetings and up to 1,200 attended the evening gospel meetings. The attendees comprised local people and many from throughout N. Ireland, supplemented by regular visitors from Eire, England, Scotland and Wales. The Lord has richly blessed the meetings over the years and many souls have been saved and saints taught and encouraged. The speakers were Alan Parkes in the gospel, Paul Young in the ministry, and Colin Sheldon in the children’s work. The Lord moved in the salvation of quite a number of people. The conveners from the Newcastle and Ballywillwill assemblies welcome visitors all year, but especially at these special meetings.
A three-day retreat in Jujuy, Argentina´s most northerly province, was attended by ninety elders and their wives from thirty assemblies. Meetings began at 9 am and carried on throughout the day until 10 pm. Over the three days there were ten sessions on assembly principles and practice, which Jim Burnett shared with a German missionary brother.
In February this year, a national worker, along with his wife and family, took up residence in Bella Vista in the Province of Corrientes, where there is no assembly. From 20-26th July a group of young people, with the commendation of their respective assemblies, spent their winter holidays there, assisting in an evangelistic effort. The whole town was visited with literature and invitations. They also had outreach activities for young teens and children. Some help with foodstuffs was given to the most vulnerable. A doctor on the team did medical tests. Another brother, an eye specialist, checked over 200 people for eye health; in some cases he prescribed spectacles. The prescriptions are being sent to a ‘Bank’ in Buenos Aires and they will try to match and send help to these people. The evangelistic effort culminated in a meeting held on the last Saturday evening in a sports hall. They were delighted that the town Provost accepted an invitation to come. Corrientes is the province with the least assembly witness in all Argentina. Please pray for the work and workers there and also for the seed sown last week.
Alexandre, Serginho, and John Axford recently visited isolated believers located in the central inland wilderness area of the north east state of Ceará. The climate there is rough, dry and desert like – hot during the day and cold at night. The local culture is lawless and dangerous. Motorbikes flourish. Youngsters drive without a licence. Crash helmets are almost non-existent. Police were out of sight.
The gospel reached Ramadinha through Francisco, who had travelled south in search of work. While working in the sugar cane fields near Leme, Sao Paulo, he heard the gospel, which, with a Bible, he took back to Ramadinha. Soon after his return, he trusted the Lord, as did his mother, wife, and sister. Francisco is a keen evangelist, makes friends easily, and several men from nearby farms also came to know the Lord. These all now gather simply to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The assembly functions regularly, meeting in a small hall on the side of Francisco’s mother’s home.
During the visit, meetings were held every night and with profitable conversations during the mornings in the home. The brethren had many questions on doctrine, which required biblical answers. Evangelistic visits were made during the afternoons in two nearby towns, Pedra Branca and Nova Independência, to contacts that Francisco had previously made. Many children were also contacted, both on the streets and in various homes. Alexander had prepared the first set of Postal Bible School papers. They also had great pleasure in taking the gospel to an isolated community in the farming hills. As the track leading there was not suitable for a car, they travelled on motorbikes. Whole families gathered to hear the word of God read and the gospel preached. Some returned for the meeting in the evening. The hall was full and several men openly declared themselves to be close to salvation. Please pray that they will trust the Lord without delay.
Charles Davidson, from Northern Ireland, conducted gospel meetings in Gangtok. On the first night the hall was packed to capacity and the believers who were initially seated in the hall moved out to the adjoining anterooms. In the audience there were three Christian girls, college mates of a new believer, Sagarika, who stays with Jiwan and Rachel. One of the girls thanked Sagarika for inviting them. She was confused before the meeting but that night she was assured of her salvation. ‘I had never understood it that way before’, she said.
On the second night, a girl called Pushpa was saved. Pushpa comes from a Hindu family from Nepal. Her sister Manju, who had cancer, is a believer from Gangtok. She had been hearing the gospel for two years and came to Gangtok at Manju’s invitation. She came with a load of tension about her family, who have no interest in the gospel whatsoever. She did know the truth but felt that family was more important than the gospel. On the first night, her mind changed. She felt troubled and torn. And on the second night, she left all her thoughts about her family to God and trusted the Saviour. ‘It is only after I get saved that I can tell them about God and the gospel’, she thought to herself. It was just between God and her. She knew that the Lord Jesus died for her, and simply put her faith in Him. ‘Now I trust and pray that my husband will believe in the gospel’, she said. She is now the third sister among four to have trusted the Lord. Of her two brothers, one, Bikram, also trusted the Lord a few years ago. Their parents are very disappointed about such developments in their family. Manju has reported that she was singing away till late in the night and has started reading her Bible.
Sujata, a dentist who was saved in February, is doing well. She is setting up her own clinic, which is under construction. She has decided to employ two assembly girls in her clinic. It means a lot of extra effort as she has to train them as technicians. She is ready to do that for the love of the Lord. It will be a huge financial help for these two girls, who desperately needed jobs.
Sujata’s brother, Pravash has been coming to the meetings. He has a lot of strange questions and says that he will not become a Christian just because people tell him to. He says, ‘I want God Himself to tell me to become one’.
The assembly in Giurgiu rented the Art Gallery in an excellent position in the town for two days in April. During the two days, over 350 people attended, of which at least 95% were unbelievers. The first day in particular, there were good numbers of young people. A lot of gospel literature and John’s Gospels were distributed. In the city of Iasi a Bible Exhibition was set up in a Gospel Hall, and four very profitable days were spent with a Christian school with 420 pupils. It was also used in a large shopping mall for three days, and forty-five believers from five assemblies were a great help. Over 1,500 people visited the exhibition, including students from North African countries studying in Iasi. Many contacts were made and young believers were greatly encouraged.
Gospel tent work commenced in April near the capital, Bucharest, in the village of Draganeasca and, despite some poor weather, fifty-five children attended the afternoon tent meeting and, during the weekend, over twenty unsaved adults heard the gospel preached clearly. Prayer is valued for the small assembly in Draganeasca and the ongoing work of the gospel.
In the County of Alba, meetings were held with Paul Williams as follows:
At Câlnic, nine believers were baptized, including five young people from Câlnic, a believer from Miercurea Sibiului, and three believers from Dobârca. These three believers from Dobârca all heard the gospel for the first time in tent meetings during the last two summers, one of whom was saved last August.
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