Pub crawl evangelism

Incoming President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain Chris Duffet has some simple ideas for sharing the faith with others this Christmas

Just humour me for a few minutes. Imagine going on a pub crawl in your local town or city. However, this pub visit extravaganza has a difference: Take a moment to picture what kind of reaction you would receive from each and every single one of your local pubs if you were to open the doors wide open and shout: “I’ve come to bring good news!” What kind of responses do you think you would receive? Is this the craziest idea you have come across or what!? Yet, believe it or not, that is exactly what I did last year, the only difference was that I had an angel costume on and it was Christmas time. Granted I did look like a right idiot with my large wings, accompanied by a local Baptist minister who was also dressed up, albeit in a slightly less wacky way as a shepherd. Yet, it worked.

Furthermore, not only did we proclaim that we had good news to share, with the permission of the pub manager we went from table to table and offered a free Christmas gift of a candle in a glass holder that simply declared: ‘you are loved.’ People thanked us for the gifts and groups of party-goers even welcomed us to sit with them at their tables. On hearing we were from one of the local churches some people reached for their wallets ready to make a donation. They were surprised to hear that we weren’t collecting money and that the attractive gifts were free. A few people we spoke to simply wept as we mentioned what we believed to be at the heart of the Christmas story: God loved them so much that he gave his only Son for them. Many hadn’t heard this news before. Over two evenings we gave out 200 free gifts and spoke to many people. My shepherd friend and I even enjoyed talking with two guys by the pool table for a long time as they asked us question after question about what we believed and why.

Christmas is by far the best time in the year to share the good news of Jesus, and what’s more there are plenty of people willing to hear and experience it. Last year over 70 churches up and down the country took part in ‘Get in the picture’. Literally hundreds of members of the public donned fancy-dress nativity clothes and posed for a picture in a stable scene. Pictures were then uploaded onto a web site (www.getinthepicture.org.uk) and from there they could Facebook it, e-card, or simply download it. This year we are expecting more churches to take part, it is such an easy way to connect the old story in a fresh way.

How are you taking the opportunities that Christmas brings to share what you have as a Christian? One of the things I love to do is ‘get all arty!’ I enjoy doing street art in busy shopping centres. You see, the story of God becoming a man and making his dwelling amongst us (John 1.14) is a story that the majority of people in the UK have yet to hear or connect with. So, over the past few years I have carefully placed piles of rubbish around a manger with a baby doll wrapper in swaddling clothes. People have questioned what my ‘rubbish sculpture’ is all about. Some notice that on close examination amongst the rubbish there is a sign: ‘God became a man.’ Many have been fascinated by the sculpture which serves as a wonderful illustration for connecting the story of the incarnation.