Christy and I had the
pleasure of taking a group from the current Discipleship Training School (DTS)
for a weekend of outreach with a church in Brighton. We headed down on the
Friday and returned late on the Sunday. We started by spending the Friday
evening prayer walking around the centre of Brighton, as this is what we felt
God asked us to start with. The Saturday was then spent in the same area
talking to people about Jesus and praying with people. Then we had a time of
worship in the evening. The Sunday was spent helping to prepare and lead the
service in the church we worked with.
It was a really
significant time for all involved; everyone had to step out of their comfort
zones. We got to have quite a number of significant conversations with people,
as well as a number of very short ones. A good number of people wanted prayer
after we had had conversations with them. One of the people we got to talk to
started by saying that “He was not the right person to talk to, he was not
interested”, the conversation ended up being about 30 minutes and he gave us
his phone number and asked to be called later after he had finished work to
talk more.
The last person I got
to chat with was a guy from Majorca, it was a shorter conversation than some of
others in the day, but it was a very significant one. I really felt that God
simply wanted him to know the depth of Love that He has for him. When I shared
this with him tears started to well up in his eyes, I did not get to have much
more time with him as the person he had been waiting for arrived and they
needed to go. It showed me how much just sharing the love of God can mean to
people.
Our time of worship in
the evening was probably one of the deepest times we have had so far during
this school. God seemed much more real to everyone that evening. When you have
been out speaking to others about Jesus and what he has done in our lives, when
you come back to a place of worship after this, it helps to focus the reason
for worshiping, and the depth you go to with God.
Everyone who came grew
so much and really enjoyed their time. It certainly challenged them to step out
and talk to people about Jesus, but it is something that we all need to become confident
to do to see the kingdom of God grow.
