Some weeks back we were glad to tell of the recommencement of our open-air witness in Ashton-under-Lyne and to take our place at our old preaching spot in front of the NatWest Bank – Warrington St, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 6JL.

That was 6 weeks ago now and we have been able to carry out our plan to visit the local towns each Saturday since then, exceptions being 10th and 17th August due to sickness and lack of manpower due to other commitments.  Following that 1st open-air we went to Dukinfield then to Hyde and  to Stalybridge.  You can read a brief report of each visit by going back through the events calendar.

This Saturday, the 24th, we plan to be back in Ashton God willing – so join us if you can!

We acknowledge all our arrangements subject according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: Eph.1:11

We believe – The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Luke 10:2

Following the above notice we can report the following ;-

Today, Saturday 24,^th at Ashton was a good day and mainly dry in spite of the forecast. We were able to preach the gospel and to sing and say God’s praise in the Psalm 111.

Two men, T… and Pe…, we met at our previous Open-air came and spoke to us again at length while we were setting up.

T… said he had an interest in the ‘Book of Ruth’ and had been listening to an explanation of it on the internet.  We were able to point him to 22 wonderful sermons on ‘Ruth at –https://brynseion.online/ruth

Pe… returned later to listen to the preaching and sat nearby throughout before talking to us again at length. We, and he, were encouraged by the hopeful things we both spoke of.

A young family of three came right up to us during the preaching and we stopped to speak with them.  It turned out they were Christians from Eritrea.  The husband and father A….., the wife and mother F…. and the baby in a trolley L …. They are attending a church in Saford but are living in Tameside.  They were very pleased that we were out preaching the gospel in the open-air and we talked for a short while about them and told them something of TFCC. A… and F…. said they would pray for the church and the preaching and there was that wonderful witness of the Spirit while we talked.

Two more men, Pa…. and D…. also approached to chat about other issues than we were there for but we were able to include the LORD’s goodness and man’s need for salvation into our conversation.

Christians Al…and his wife of 50 yrs B…. known to us and who attend local churches, chatted and encouraged us as we decamped.

One other chap Da…., who spoke to us in a forceful way about a very definite agenda, went away disappointed at our God given response to his enquiry.  This may seem to be a negative part of Open-air work, but we testify that our response was the LORD’s wisdom and given to us for him at that (due) time.  Although we may never know the outcome we can be sure, knowing  that the LORD has purpose in all things, that this intervention will have an intended end,  and we can pray for Da…. and hope for a goodly outcome.

Resources given out –

1.Polish N.T. (Trinitarian Bible Society);

2. Business cards x 4 with Church details for both https://brynseion.online/ and for https://tfcchurch.co.uk/

3. WSC – Westminster Shorter Catechism

Note – no Bibles or Gospels were given out although available and on display.  Please pray that this will change for the better.

______________________________

We thank God for this blessed opportunity to serve him and trust to be back in Ashton in about 4 weeks’ time.  Please look out for the details which will be posted on this website nearer the time in the events calendar.