Going Out on the Streets

Those of you who have met me have probably gone away with an impression of a fairly outgoing, confident, gobby loquacious person. The kind of woman who can talk to anyone, is never lost for words and who is rarely silent. And to a certain extent, that’s true. I don’t know if I was born extroverted, but my childhood and teenage years made me into a shy, reserved, unsure introvert. It was only when I ran away at eighteen and started living my own life that the beginnings of the Ruth you know today started to fight their way out. 

It was quite a few years ago that I started realising that God wanted me to evangelise and that He was giving me the tools to do it. From my baptism in the mid-90s onwards, I obeyed Him and found myself able to chat to people about faith. 

I’ve done all kinds of things in the church since I became a Christian thirty years ago. One of my all time favourites was being a youth leader at Buckhurst Hill Baptist Church in Essex. As a team, we worked incredibly well together and nearly all of our youth have gone on to work in churches or faith environments. One of them, Lauren, founded Kingdom Living Ministries, training and equipping people to walk more closely with God. Based in a church in Enfield, they do amazing things in their community and beyond. 

I hadn’t seen Lauren for years, although we stayed in touch on Facebook. Meeting up again earlier this year at the funeral of a lady we’d been at BHBC with, we chatted as if not a minute had gone by. I’m so proud of her. I’ve known her since she was five and have seen her grow into an incredible woman of God. 

I was delighted when she invited me to come and give a talk to the KLM team. Whenever this happens, my natural optimism comes to the fore and I over-pack with books. Clutching my suitcase, I boarded the train from Ipswich to London with every intention of doing some work. God had other plans. I sat next to a lady who’d just moved from London to Suffolk and we talked all the way to Liverpool Street. At every point on the journey, I found myself having unexpected conversations and chatting to strangers on the street. I reached KLM HQ, pulling my book-loaded suitcase behind me. I don’t quite know what I’d expected, but it wasn’t this. 

Lauren: “Ruth! Hi! How are you?”

Me: “Great thanks! So good to see you. I just need to pop to the loo.”

Lauren: “OK, dump your suitcase in the main hall and then we’ll go out and do some street evangelising.” 

After the briefest of visits to the said loo, I found myself trotting down the road with Lauren and Hosanna, one of the team. As a long-established believer and the former youth leader of KLM’s founder, naturally, I should have been aglow with excitement and ready to importune anyone who crossed my path. Instead, unsure of what I was going to have to do, I visualised squads of us handing out tracts and engaging dubious passers-by in deep spiritual conversations.

I should have known better. Once a month, KLM stand in the very centre of Enfield Town and encourage people to walk along between them while they clap and cheer. It’s all about celebrating people for who they are, whatever that might be. I wasn’t sure how much good I was going to be, but it wasn’t long before I was clapping and cheering and beaming at everyone who ran or walked through our two lines. Bus drivers waved, police cars slowed down to give us a smile and a beep, and young mums with prams, school children, elderly couples, ladies with shopping trolleys, delivery drivers and postmen smiled and laughed as they walked between the two lines of clapping KLM-ers. 

We carried on for about an hour and just as we stopped, two ladies came up to us and asked if we could reform for one final round of applause. We walked back to the church, palms sore from clapping and Lauren and Hosanna told me that for the two weeks after each visit, the mood in the town centre is lifted and the feeling completely different. God is at work. 

Back at the ranch, I laid out my books and got ready for my talk. I hadn’t written a single word, or made a note, or even thought about what I would say. I’ve done enough talks to know when God has a plan. This was one of those days. Sure enough, after some earnest praying in the loo, I stood up and marvelled as just the right words came out, not mine, but His. It was wonderful to be able to speak so honestly about faith and leading and how God has worked in my life. Afterwards, every author’s dream came true as the team came up and bought books until I had only two left in my suitcase. 

Praise the Lord. I don’t say it often enough and I am so guilty of doing things in my own strength. God meant me to spend that day in Enfield with a group of people passionate about Him and fully using all their gifts. I was there as a writer but I have to say, I enjoyed my first foray into street evangelism. Something tells me it won’t be my last. 

If you’d like to find out more about KLM, you can visit their website: https://kingdomlivingministries.co.uk/

Images by Pixabay

Ruth is a novelist and freelance writer, the author of “The Diary of Isabella M Smugge”, “The Trials of Isabella M Smugge” and “The Continued Times of Isabella M Smugge”. She writes for a number of businesses and charities and blogs at ruthleighwrites.co.uk. She has abnormally narrow sinuses and a morbid fear of raw tomatoes, but has decided not to let this get in the way of a meaningful life. You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter at ruthleighwrites and at her website, www.ruthleighwrites.co.uk.