Air show ministry
Oulton Broad Free Presbyterian Church (OBFPC) prepared for its fourth annual witness at the Lowestoft Sea Front Air Festival, on 12-13 August, by considering the Lord’s words to Paul in Acts 18:9-10.
These read, ‘Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city’.
With that in mind, the church prayed specifically that they might have more conversations this year, in order to point people to the Saviour, as well as for their own encouragement.
In spite of intermittent rain, an estimated 333,000 people attended this show and the church was able to give out, among other pieces of literature, 5000 pocket calendars. These had a picture of the Red Arrows on the front, with their red, white and blue vapour trails, alongside the words of Psalm 19:1: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God’, and other gospel texts on the back.
Many people said that they had been using last year’s calendar and were happy to receive the new one. In total, 425 children also came into OBFPC’s ‘good news’ gazebos to play a fishing game, and each was given an appropriate gospel tract.
Many profitable conversations took place, including one with a searching Roman Catholic man; and a father and son who, though still opposed to the truth, now return every year for friendly debate. Among a group of teenagers, one gladly took away a New Testament.
Some visiting Christians stopped to chat too. Matthew Pickhaver from OBFPC said, ‘As we pray for God’s Holy Spirit to bless the Scripture verses that have been taken home this time, or memories of a spoken word, we also praise the Lord for the smooth running of the stall, the edifying fellowship enjoyed by those prepared to be “workers together with him” and the positive atmosphere that continues to characterise this outreach’.
