Evangelists bring God's Word to London tourists

A ministry outreach initiative of London City Mission and Open Air Campaigners is taking the Gospel to some of the capital's major tourist hotspots.

Tell-A-Tourist enlists full time evangelists and volunteer team members of different ages and nationalities to speak to the millions of tourists that flock to London each summer.

OAC London Director Peter Kennelly explains, "The core of the mission is sketchboard evangelism, where the preacher paints a few words and simple illustrations on the board and preaches at the same time.

"This technique has many advantages. First of all, the whole presentation seems friendlier and more relaxed and, therefore, people seem more willing to stop and gather to listen.

"Secondly, the few words on the board help make the message more memorable. It's easier to understand and follow, particularly for people for whom English is not their first language."

The training aspect of Tell-A-Tourist is very much 'on the job' with every member trained, helped and encouraged to try preaching during the course of the outreach. An important aim is to give them the tools so that they return to their churches better equipped to evangelise where they live.

The subject of the Gospel is central to each message and after the preaching has finished, team members begin a spiritual conversation with members of the crowd.

The teams focus on the attractions with the highest number of tourists, including Piccadilly Circus, the Tower of London and the South Bank.

They still make sure they conduct outreach in other areas, however.

OAC evangelist Hamish Leighton says, "Working with London City Mission and local churches in the Ealing area proved a great experience for me during last year's Tell-A-Tourist.

"Because many Polish people live here, we met a number of them. Also, there were interesting conversations with people of other faith backgrounds and I was able to home in on the authenticity of Scripture."

One team member sums up, "Being on the team is a great blessing as Christians who were strangers to one another at the start of the mission eat, live, work, pray, serve, learn, laugh and get exhausted together!"

For more information, go to www.oacgb.org.uk or www.lcm.org.uk