“Nice people”!
As we think about Easter and all that goes along with it I was challenged by an article in the Daily Telegraph this past week. The report was talking about Christ, Christianity and the TV show "Rev". The heading caught my attention. It said:
“Sorry, Rev, but Christianity isn't just about being nice to people”.
This led me to ask myself the question. “Why do we have Street Chaplains”?
My answer was to reach those who don't yet know the love of God and to tell them of a Saviour who died for them.
Since Christmas we have been “nice people” on the streets of Dundee and Broughtyferry. We have chatted to people, helped people into taxies, broken up fights, and talked to door staff. However our aim has and is always to share the gospel with them.
In February we gave out five hundred pancakes on Pancake Tuesday and we had many great in-depth conversations about the Lord Jesus.
St Patricks day was a big outreach for Street Chaplains as we teamed up with Dundee University Christian Union and gave out green lollies. Once again we had many deep discussions about the true meaning of life and the way of salvation.
Street Chaplains have been on the streets of Dundee city centre weekly since Christmas in all weathers (and thank God for the lack of snow and really cold nights this winter!) sharing the good news of the gospel with people and workers in the night-time economy.
In the middle of January one of our Street Chaplains was going to the church office in Broughtyferry to meet up with other Street Chaplains - on the way they came across a lady who was in the last moments of throwing herself off a railway bridge. Thankfully our Street Chaplain talked with her and persuaded her to come of the bridge. They contacted her family and got the lady to safety. We continue to pray for her that God will touch her troubled life and bring her to Himself.
We could go on, but what of the future. Over the page is our prayer vision of all we hope to do in Gods will in the coming summer. Please pray for us - thank you once again for supporting us in this ministry.
I finish with another quote for the Daily Telegraph article:
“Helping the poor or the sick is not simply an act of humanity, it’s an act of faith. It’s also an act of witness – a way of showing the world the reality of Christ’s love in the hope that more people will accept him as their Saviour."
Have a blessed Easter...
Yours in Christ.
Andy Burns