Today was our day off so we thought we would do something different here.
Throughout the week we have had the chance to go door-knocking around Lithgow, Wang and Portland. We invited households to Sunday services and events, and offered to pray for them. Here are some of our stories.
Scott:
Your first door knocking experience is just as memorable as your first kiss. So what happens when the two combine? No, no, it’s not like that, especially when a 74-year-old man called Sid opens the door but something just as crazy. When Sid learnt that Andrew Leslie and I were inviting Lithgow locals to church, he himself announced he was a Christian and invited us inside his home to meet his wife Margaret. Finding out that I’d lived in Lithgow as a child, the couple asked my surname. ‘Are you Geoff’s son?’ Sid asked. ‘Yes,’ I answered, amazed he’d recalled Dad’s name from over 33 years ago. ‘Was he the bank manager?’ Again, I said: ‘Yes’. ‘Do you know you used to come over here as a boy?’ ‘No.’ Margaret then turned to me and said: ‘Do you remember Alison?’ Suddenly, the blood drained from my face. I was in a lot of trouble. There had only ever been one Alison in my life. ‘Are you Alison’s parents?’ I asked, to which Margaret smiled and said they were. ‘You do know that I kissed your daughter when we were five years old?’ To which she said excitedly: ‘Yes we do!’ As everyone broke out laughing, I looked over to Sid and wondered if he was smirking or ready to thump me for touching his daughter all those years ago.
Andrew H:
“Beware of the dog” hung on the gate, but no sign of the dog, so nervously we ventured in. Knock knock knock. Off goes the barking, and the screen door swings open to release a ball of muscle and snarling fangs. Claws or teeth sink into my leg; then it stands back to bark and bark and bark. Over the noise, Daz calmly invites the lady to church. “Have you been to Lithgow Anglican before?” I’m worried that if the dog comes in for another nibble, I might not be able to control my reflexes. Kicking their dog seems counter-productive… Daz calmly carried on the conversation and there seems like a good chance she might come to church. Both dog and doorknockers were unharmed, in the end.
Mike T:
I went door knocking with a man named Peter from Lithgow Anglican. After several rejections we chatted to a mother (Jane) and a daughter ( Lilly). The daughter quoted from Satan’s bible whilst the mother shared various objections about Christianity. After a long discussion of answering their questions and pointing them back to the significance of the Resurrection we invited them to a dialogue dinner we were holding that night. We were taken partly by surprise when the daughter turned up by herself to the dialogue dinner! It must have been quite scary for her to rock up to a stranger’s house with other strangers to chat about Jesus. So thank God he brought her in spite of these potential barriers. She asked really good questions about heaven and hell, Adam and Eve, and the Resurrection. She said that our responses answered her questions. Our encouragement to her was to open up a bible and start reading the gospels and to test anything she heard about Christianity against the scriptures. Please pray for her and her mum that they will read the scriptures, get connected into church, repent of their sins and trust in Christ for their salvation! And please pray that Peter would be emboldened and encouraged by the power of the gospel to keep going out and proclaiming the gospel with his neighbours and others in town.
Kat:
I haven’t yet been door knocking this week, but here is a limerick
“There was a young team from Moore,
Who knew the Bible’s message core,
They went to Lithgow,
To share what they know,
About how to live by grace, not law.”
The end
On other news, here are a few happy snaps from our day off
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