Wow, what a week! Last Friday we had not one, not two but THREE evangelistic events where people came to enjoy music, fun and the gospel!
Happening in Teesside and Lincoln here in the UK, as well as Hanover Park in Cape Town (South Africa), hundreds of people got to hear the hope of Jesus on Friday and over 130 responded!
Last week, NXT CHAPTR were in Lincoln sharing lessons from our new Still Standing tour all about wellbeing and resilience, from a Christian perspective. As they headed into schools across the city, they got to encourage and equip the young people as well as invite them along to the end-of-week gig.
One young person they met in school was Rosie who shared that she was being bullied. It had got to the point where she felt self-conscious and like she didn’t have anything to believe in. She told NXT CHAPTR that her life at home was hard too because her mum was often in and out of hospital, and everything that was happening had made her feel like she’d lost all hope and had tried taking her life.
After talking with her more, the team encouraged Rosie to reach out to her school’s safeguarding and pastoral team and she’s now getting the support she needs. They also invited her along to the end-of-week gig where she could hear more about the hope and peace that Jesus gives and gave her a free ticket.
She came along to the gig on the Friday along with 350 other young people. That evening, 80 responded to the gospel and 200 Bibles were given out. Rosie was so excited when she got hers! After the gig, lots of young people, including Rosie, got in touch with the band to say how much they enjoyed it. One told NXT CHAPTR, ‘I had a really great night tonight! You’ve made so many people feel welcome and appreciate themselves and let them be who they are! I really enjoyed it’ and another said, ‘Thank you for giving me the best time of my life’. How amazing.
And that’s not all. Over in Teesside, mission team OTC supported our North East hub with different mission activities in the run up to Festival Teesside including helping at two youth groups in the week and sharing their personal testimonies of what God’s done for them, and encouraging the young people in their faith – and they saw 12 of them accept Jesus into their lives.
OTC also partnered with The Moses Project in Teesside, who provide support for ex-offenders and those struggling with addiction, getting to share Jesus’ love with them through words and actions. On Friday, OTC were able to serve the community there, sharing their gospel-packed music and their stories at an evangelistic event. As the band shared the gospel and what Jesus has done for them, 13 people responded and accepted God into their lives!
One of these was Malik who was a Muslim. He was so impacted by James’ testimony of how he’d found Jesus and given his life to him, that Malik needed to find out more. As he chatted with James, he felt something stirring in his heart and decided to become a Christian there and then! So, Malik and James prayed together and James got to give him a Bible and get him plugged into discipleship groups.
Please do be praying for all those who heard the gospel through our mission events last week and we can’t wait to share more stories with you.
