Discovering Jesus on the Streets of London
Each Spring, members of our team serve at a local, church-run night shelter. After sharing a meal, night shelter guests are invited to read a story from the Bible together and spend some time reflecting on three simple questions:
‘What does this passage tell us about God?’
‘What does this passage tell us about humans?’
‘If this story is true, how should it change how we live?’
Simple questions that require no faith or previous knowledge of God’s Word.
It’s our hope that through participation in these Discovery Bible Studies, relationships will grow between us that will continue through the summer (once the night shelter has closed its doors until the Autumn). We often meet together as a group in a local fried chicken shop or local park. There is always food, and guests are encouraged to contribute to the meal if they are able. This is not a ‘service’ we are providing, but an invitation to meet with friends and consider becoming a disciple of Jesus. Each time we meet, we read the Bible together, discuss its meaning for our lives, and then send each other out to share that same message with those we meet during the following week.
To be honest, the first few weeks can be pretty awkward as the groups are often made up of people for whom English is not their first language (from North Africa, Bangladesh, the Middle East, etc.) This was certainly true of a group that was made up of men who were predominantly from Eastern Europe. They’d been living on the streets together for some time, picking up casual construction work where they could to buy food. In the first few weeks of meeting together (outside the safety of the night shelter), there seemed to be significant apathy or distraction as we discussed some of the stories of Jesus. But they came back each week . . . probably just for the food!
Then one evening, about a month after we started meeting together, each person began sharing what they were thankful for (as we do each time we meet, as an act of worship). It started with the usual lack-lustre input of “I liked the sunshine today” and “I liked the food tonight”. That was until a Latvian man called Alec* spoke. He looked me straight in the eye and, in his limited English, said:
“3 weeks ago, I met Jesus, and now nothing is the same. I was drinking a lot and broke my relationship with many women. But then I met Jesus, and now everything is better. Nothing can be bad anymore, as I have his strength.”
Alec spoke very little English, but regularly shared the Gospel stories we read together with those he met on the streets. He’d not been formally ‘trained,’ but was simply following the model he’d learnt through our time together reading stories about Jesus. And he’d become a disciple who makes disciples in the process!
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
A couple of weeks later, Daniel*, a Lithuanian man who was developing into quite a leader within the group, also found new faith as a disciple of Jesus. He regularly brought along new people to the group that he felt needed to hear the stories of healing, forgiveness, and prodigal sons returning to their heavenly father. We were given many new opportunities to introduce people to Jesus and allow them to wrestle with their own spirituality.
The majority of the group remained sleeping on the streets. This greatly challenged me when we prayed for each other’s needs at the end of evenings together. I find it relatively easy to ask friends and neighbours if they have needs we can pray for (as their answers are usually within reach!). But with these men, I often felt embarrassed to ask about their needs because I felt powerless to help. For instance, when Alec had all of his worldly possessions stolen (everything other than the clothes he wore), or when Morris* said he needed God to stop the rain so that he didn’t wake up in a puddle again. “God, these stories need to be REAL for us tonight,” was often my faltering prayer on my walk home on a Monday evening. It felt like these men couldn’t afford for the stories of Jesus to simply be ‘encouraging’; they needed to be life-transforming.
It was a good reminder that giving the gospel is not enough on its own; giving them a Bible in their own language does not keep them warm and dry! However, I have also seen the change that having a new hope has made to these men who now feel that they have a new strength and peace to better cope with what life throws at them. They don’t have much, but they feel they have the truth.
We encouraged the Russian speakers to start their own Discovery Bible Study group and simply provided them with the support they needed. Overtime (as is usually the case with this community) the initial group of men slowly dispersed and we lost contact, as they lost or changed their phones. Our hope is that as they move on, or even return home, they continue to make disciples who make disciples who change the homeless community, Eastern Europe, and beyond!
*Names have been changed to protect privacy.
