Filming in Central London

The Avanti Team had a very productive day in Central London filming various one-to-one techniques of sharing the Gospel using different tracts, survey approaches, evangelism tools as well as the good old fashioned way of simply speaking the message out! The evangelism team consisted of Faye Porter, George Osborn, Naomi Spurgeon, Peter Ruck, Lily Morgan, Clive Anuyah, Cindy Sauvain and Tony Anthony – and the camera crew included Tim Raggett and David Elcock. We centred our filming in Covent Garden, China Town and Trafalgar Square in Central London. See below the devotional that was shared amongst the team before setting out ‘fishing for souls’!

The two fold objective for the day was to reach as many lost souls as we could, as well as capture as much video footage as possible to use in the training seminars that Avanti Ministries runs. Our tick list of evangelism techniques included:

(1) Dropping Tracts Secretly

Secretly dropping tracts without people noticing – the purpose of this method is to help Christians find practical ways in spreading the Gospel without having to necessarily engage in a conversation, especially if they are the type of person that gets nervous in speaking to people. This method is also helpful for the type of person that is afraid of making a mistake and perhaps not very confident to speak out the message to another person. Tim and David did a great job filming the team doing this activity, as well as capturing on film people from the general public picking up the tracts, carefully reading them – which was great to disprove the myth that tracts do not work! So many people today read our tracts, allowing us to sow the seed of the Gospel into their lives. A highly effective and fun method indeed!!!!!!!

(2) Dropping Tracts in clear view

Dropping tracts in clear view without having to engage in conversation – the purpose of this method is to enable Christians to distribute the Christian message without necessarily needing to engage in a conversation – and yet people may spot you doing this activity. This method is George Osborn’s favourite method of all. For example there may be someone sitting on a park bench. George will typically walk up to the bench and, in clear view to the person, he will place a good quality tract beside that person and calmly walk off. The Avanti £20 tracts nearly always get people’s attention, and people inevitably pick them up and read the Gospel message written on the other side of them. Job done! George has successfully sowed the seed of the Gospel into a persons life, and it was done without even having to enter a conversation. Once again, this type of method is a lot more digestible for many people that find conversations difficult, whether the conversation would be about the weather or a persons eternal salvation. Please note that our team only use resources that clearly present the Gospel, and ones that are made to a high standard. For further details on good quality tracts, please visit our Avanti resource center.

(3) Giving Tracts

As a Christian builds up their boldness and courage in meeting strangers and engaging in conversation, we still find that many Christians remain very afraid and reluctant to verbally proclaim the Gospel for all sorts of reasons. So, we have found that a great way to share the Gospel with people is by first making a natural connection with a person, for example Tony walked up to a lady serving at a fresh fruit stall in Covent Garden. He kindly asked the lady for a small bag of oranges, to which she kindly responded to. As soon as he paid the lady for the bag of fruit, and they exchanged thank you’s, he simply said, “Thank you for helping me today, I would like to give to you one of these terrific little booklets. It has a rather interesting message inside that I hope you enjoy. It is a present for you. Have a nice day! Good bye!” The lady was very grateful, and began reading it as soon as it was given to her! This is one of Tony’s favourite methods, as it does not involve any awkward conversations and he didn’t even have to explain what it was about as he was simply polite and non-threatening. We saw the lady read the entire booklet, which means that she read the entire Gospel message. Once again, job done! Throughout the day the team were giving out tracts and booklts in coffee shops, book shops, Tesco, street traders to name but a few – and the large majority of people gladly received the gifts. We must pray that these precious people will receive a conviction from God to surrender their lives to him.

(4) Survey Approach

The basic survey is a great way to reach people with the simple objective of taking people through a short number of survey questions to then give to them a free booklet as a gift at the end. The answers are collated for genuine stats that keep us up to speed with cultural changes that help us gain a much better understanding of where people are coming from. The approach was delivered in Trafalgar Square, where a delegate with a clip board would approach a passer by with a simple “Hello! Do you have time to help me with a very short survey?” Of course if the person says “No!” the delegate will say “No problem, you can still have the free gift…” and kindly hands the booklet over. Job done! The person carries away the Gospel message that they may hopefully read later. If the person says “Yes!”, then typical questions could include some of the following:

1. What is your first name?
2. Are you visiting or do you live in the local area?
3. Do you do most of your shopping and use the local amenities in your locality?
4. Do you have a local place of worship in your locality (church / mosque / pub / etc)?
5. What are the 3 most important things to you in this life?
6. What are the 3 major problems with the world that we live in today?
7. Have you received one of these free booklets before?

Questions may vary from place to place, but it is as simple as that. We often find that these simple surveys lead into fantastic conversations, where more confident missionaries can get an opportunity to share the Gospel / pray for a persons areas of need / and so on. However, the very least that can be accomplished is that the person that you have spoken to gets to take the Gospel home with them once again.

(5) Advanced Survey

This method is not for the faint hearted, as the objective is to take a person through a number of basic survey questions to then verbally take them step by step through the Gospel message. This technique only requires the message to be read out to someone from a particular tool that Avanti Ministries produce, called the “HEAVEN” booklet. The missionary will approach a passer-by and say something like, “Hello, can you help me? I am working with main stream churches, and we are just conducting this basic survey that sets out to measure how good people are. I would like to ask you 10 general questions, and you get to score yourself (0=never; 3=sometimes; 5=always), and the survey will calculate for you whether you are struggling, good, saintly or angelic. Once we’ve worked that out then I would like to give to you the best definition you’ve ever heard of the meaning of life. Can you help me?”. If the person says “No!”, then don’t worry about it – you can send them on their way with a free booklet. Over the years, we have actually taken hundreds of thousands of people through this tool to some success – and we have found a great many people willing to stop to eagerly find out their morality score! Here is an idea of the list of questions that we tend to ask:

1. I give to charities
2. I pray
3. I help strangers in need
4. I read the Bible
5. I forgive people when they hurt me
6. I love and help family members
7. I am loyal with my friendships
8. I put other people first when they need me
9. I am totally honest in the things I say and do
10. I see the best in people

Now most people typically come up with a score that classes them as either GOOD, SAINTLY or ANGELIC! The missionary then takes them through the remaining pages of the book that carefully outlines the Gospel message. In Trafalgar Square today, Tony had the honour of leading a friendly man called Alan through the Gospel, and at the end he made a personal invitation for the man to say the prayer of salvation. Tony was able to pray for the man’s salvation, as well as his health, as the man was in a wheel chair. It was great to catch the whole conversation on camera, and although Tony is fully conversant with the message itself – anyone could actually have shared this same message with Alan, as it just needs to be read out from the book by those less familiar with explaining the message! Job done!!!!

(6) Proclaiming the message

The Avanti Team spent the whole day finding many opportunities to share the Gospel “one-to-one” and “one-to-a group”. Using a variety of techniques and explanations is very helpful. It was essential to be equipped with a vast array of different tracts in different languages so as not to miss opportunities. One of the team approached a group of young people all of which came from France. It was unfortunate that the two French speaking members of the team were not close at hand to assist, however the missionary was able to get by on the basic English that the young people spoke. It was of course brilliant to reach into the rucksack to pull out French tracts for each of the group to take away with them! Always remember, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail!” Today’s team carried quality resources in Chinese, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French, English to name but a few.

If you would like to learn more ways of doing effective evangelism, then please attend one of our PASSION CONFERENCES. For further details, please contact the Avanti office: info@avantiministries.com / +44 1702 333 319.

DEVOTIONAL

Here is the devotional that was shared with the team before setting out “Fishing for Souls”:

Psalm 123

“1 I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. 2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. 3 Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt. 4 We have endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant, of contempt from the proud.”

As you may have noted in verse 4, the psalmist here was fed up with “the contempt of the proud” Perhaps you are too. People that you may encounter in your life and throughout today may be scornful of your faith and determination to follow Jesus, and share Jesus. The saying goes ” Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words never hurt me”, but on the contrary “Sticks and stones do break our bones, but words normally can wound us far more deeply.

You see we have two possible ways of reacting to people today:

(1) We can fend off the jeers of the proud by becoming like them – I think that we are all experts at that approach;

(2) or, we can view their attempt to humiliate us as a badge of honour. We can rejoice that we’ve been “counted worthy to suffer shame for [Jesus’] name” (Acts 5:41). Better to bear shame for a short time than to endure “everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).

We must not be like the mockers by mocking them in turn (… and the term mocking is not restricted to a comment that we may be tempted to say, but it could be an attitude or a look, etc…), but instead we must strive to bless those who persecute us. “Bless and do not curse,” Paul reminds us in Romans 12:14 – “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” Please note that the terms ‘mocking’ and ‘cursing’ are not restricted to a comment that we may be tempted to say, but it could even be an attitude, a look, or a thought, etc…

You see, if we can do that today, then God may even be able to draw these people into faith and repentance, and turn our moments of shame into eternal glory.

Finally, as the psalmist counsels us, we must “look to the Lord our God” (123:2). He understands as no other, for He too has endured reproach. He will show compassion to us according to His infinite mercy. That is why it is vital throughout the day that we show infinite mercy to others, to each other!

It was Charles Spurgeon that said:

“When persecution comes your way and people mock your Lord, remember what’s in store for those who love and trust His Word.”

Come what may, if anything or anyone gets you down today, do not forget to look up to Jesus.

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