Engaging Wood Green with the Gospel - GBC Bulletin Column #49

Last week (24-27 April) we were greatly blessed to have a team of 10 people from local churches working through Anchored in Truth Ministries helping us engage the people of Wood Green with the gospel.  Let me give a quick recap of what was done.

Thursday – the team travelled down from Edinburgh, where they had been assisting Ali McLachlan and Grace Church West Edinburgh. The plan for the day had to be pushed back several hours after their plane was cancelled, but once in London the team hit the ground running and put in a good few hours of solid work before enjoying a meal together at the local Nando’s and returning to their accommodation.

Friday – Beginning with a team-led devotional encouraging us to patience, we headed into a full day of gospel engagement joined by members of the church in Wood Green, Alister King from Grace Baptist Church in Edlesborough, along with Bruce Massop and a young man from the church plant in Grays, Essex. What we began Thursday we continued to do on Friday: street evangelism using a literature table as a hub and conversation starter, door-to-door work across Noel Park Ward, and follow-up door-to-door on the Sky City estate after the previous day’s leafleting. Good contacts were made, challenging conversations were had, and many people heard the gospel. The first of three church-based events scheduled over the weekend was held Friday night. Pastor Brett Beasley of Second Baptist Church in West Frankfurt, Illinois preached a gospel message from John 12:20-33 and afterwards Pastor Ryan spoke at length with an Iranian man who has been attending church meetings and is inquiring about baptism.

Saturday – We were joined by Sonny and Sarita Simak from the church plant in Southall and focussed on door to door work and street evangelism in the morning. A few people took a birthday cake to a man that we’d met on Sky City and helped prepare for the second event of the weekend – a community BBQ. The goal of this was visibility in the community and personal evangelism. 46 people came, 25 of whom were visitors from the local community, all but one of whom had never been to a service at the church before. A wide variety of religious backgrounds and worldviews were represented, and people were engaged with the gospel in conversation with church and team members.

Sunday – Steve McAlister, Pastor of Missions and Outreach at Grace Life Church of the Shoals, challenged the congregation from John 15, at the third and final event. The passage does not command us to bear fruit, it commands us to abide in Christ and promises those who do that they will bear fruit. After the service, the congregation enjoyed lunch with the team and visitors from the area before saying goodbye to the team, who returned to the United States on Monday morning.

Wood Green is in many ways a harsh environment populated by people who seem quite complacent to the gospel, distracted from Christ by all manner of erroneous beliefs, worldviews, preconceived notions, and unhelpful lifestyles. I believe that God is at work though and that we are seeing the stagnant waters stirred by the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot let the momentum we are building die down, nor can we let ourselves be exhausted as opportunities grow. “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).


This was printed in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) on 04 May 2014.