Reverend Jonathan Crane is our guest preacher tonight, but he's also going to come now and bring a report about the Consider Christ outreach. It's something that we've taken an interest in here in Kidnaby, and some of our young people and others out of our congregation have been involved in some of those outreaches on a Saturday. So we're very glad to have him along with us, and we're going to ask him now to bring that report to us at this stage of the service, please. Thank you very much, Reverend McLone, for the words of welcome to Newton Abbey this evening. And folks, it's a blessing and a privilege to be here and to speak at your annual Soul Winners Convention and to bring to you the need of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Consider Christ campaign in the south of Ireland. And we're thankful for this opportunity. to come to you for the invitation and for the interest that has been shown not only by the Reverend Maclellan but also by the congregation here in Newton Abbey. I know you have an interest in the Consider Christ Outreach and I know your minister has a great interest in it. We are aware of his busy schedule here in the congregation. and conducting meetings and so on, and his diary is pretty full. But nevertheless, the Reverend Maclellan has shown tremendous interest in this work. He's a member of the Plough and Outreach team as well, and he has come down on a number of occasions to preach at the various venues where the meetings have taken place down south. here in Utnavi for your prayerful and practical support also. There are those from the congregation who come on a regular basis and are involved in the team and others have given practically and spent time in prayer for this needy cause. We're grateful too to the Free Church family right across our denomination. Because without the help and the support of our denomination, well then, folks, this work would be parked up. That's the reality. And there's a multitude of people involved in it. Many people, when the emails are sent out and the advertising's given out where the next venue is, they phone up and they reply and say, well, you put my name down. I would like to go. The very first outreach took place in April 2012, and it was to the little town of New Ross in County Wexford. The reason for that was, that year, it was the venue for the Ploughin Championships. The National Ploughin Championships held in various places down south on an annual basis. The Ploughin team decided that they would do something new that year, And we would go down in the months beforehand to make ourselves known to the people of New Ross, tell them we're coming and what we're about and to invite them to a gospel meeting. Reverend McClung was there on outreach with us. And we had a blessed time, folks. There were only 26 people on the first outreach to New Ross. And we were trying to scratch our heads wondering, well, who could we get to come on a Saturday? Who would be free to come on a Saturday? And we got 26 people together, and I remember folks going down on the Monday for the follow-up meeting, and the minibus broke down. And we thought, well, this is a bit of a disaster. It hasn't got off to a great start. And we limped our way into New Ross. We had an area of the town to finish an outreach and we didn't really get it done because of the condition of the bus. Nevertheless, we went ahead with the meeting in the Brandon House Hotel. And as we say folks, this had never been done before, so we didn't know what to expect. And I remember to our great surprise, there was 23 people at the first meeting. What a marvellous And we were taught a lesson on that occasion that the Lord does have his people everywhere. And when you look down south, you see maybe only two churches in our denomination and some people of the opinion, well, there's not many other witnesses down there. Yes, folks, there might be few, but they are there. And the Lord does have his people and they have come along to our meetings. And it was then decided that the Consider Christ outreach that had taken place here in Northern Ireland, a postal drop into every home, and then the follow up outreach to that, the five border counties along the border of Northern Ireland, Donegal, Monaghan, Calvin, Leithrim and Louth, would all be covered as well in a non-post drop with gospel tracts into every home. And after that, there had been money left over in the kitty. And the applying team were approached to take on this work and to organise outreaches for those in our denomination. And we came up with the town of Mullingar next, to go on outreach to the Ann Brook House Hotel. And there was only three. Three outsiders came to the first meeting. And we decided, well, we'll move on into another town in County Westmeath. Athlone. And that was done, folks, in November on 2012. And this time there were 80 people on outreach. And the follow up meeting, there were 27 souls under the sound of God's word. We were sitting down at the back and I have to say, folks, perhaps it's the most disruptive meeting I've ever been in. There were some people at that service who had no concept at all of what a gospel meeting is. And indeed, whenever people had come along that responded to the invitation, that said in the invitation that there would be free refreshments, they thought there'd be free food at this meeting. And there was a table at the back and there was just empty glasses and there was water sitting there. We had brought biscuits with us for refreshments afterwards and it was people just getting up out of their seat during the meeting and walking down to the back and having a wee yarn at the back and filling their glass and coming back to the pew or the seat and sitting down. And Reverend McClung here, he was the preacher that night. I remember Williams walking up round the organ and putting in the wires and so on. And we thought, this just isn't going to work. You know, folks, there were two people after that meeting who were cancelled. One for salvation, another lady who was a backslider, came back to the Lord. We were greatly surprised that night in November 2012 in Athlone. And folks, since that meeting in Athlone, We have been going back on a regular basis, maybe every four to six weeks for a further gospel service. And in the year after that effort that was made in Athlone, the attendances varied and they dropped down to four. And we decided that we would give Athlone another push and organise another outreach to the whole town. And folks, God greatly intervened. We now have 32 people from Athlone on the mailing list for the meeting. Started out with nothing. Here there's 32 people that are contacted on a regular basis to come to the services. Athlone, folks, of all the venues we have been to, is the only meeting that has kept going to date. There are good people. In the town of Athlone, there's a hunger and an appetite for the truth of God's word. For every meeting, we bring down a little team. A team, maybe about 12 to 14 of us. And it's a little congregation to bring with you. When the numbers had gone down to four, well, it takes the bare look off it, doesn't it, of a stranger come in. And we bring the team down to help with the singing because Folks down there, they're unaware and they're unfamiliar with the hymns that we sing in our hymn book. And the tunes are alien to them. You announce a hymn that would be familiar to us and they've never heard it before. We'll bring the little congregation down to help with the singing and also the conversations afterwards, because it's not possible for those who are taking part to do all the talking to every individual. When the meeting is over, we bring down supplies for a book table and that book table has been on display from the very first service. Also the local radio station Athlone Community Radio has been there on four or five occasions and a little wee woman who runs the program called Faith on a Sunday afternoon, her name is Ursula, and she has been there to record the meetings and to do interviews with some of us when the meeting is over. She's interviewed the Reverend Larry Power, and just after Christmas she gave me an interview. And to break up the interview, she says that maybe you have a favourite hymn. And we thought, well, why not go for Rock of Ages? We had been to Somerset last year on our holidays, and we had been to the site of Blagdon Combe. there where Rock of Ages, the inspiration for it had come from. And she says, well, maybe I'll sing the first line of it. And folks, we just walked straight into it. Well, Ursula has come to the meetings and she sat during the carol service. We had a tremendous carol service last Christmas. Ursula was there for it all and she was taking part in it, folks. She would be a nominal Roman Catholic, I suppose. She wouldn't attend Mass very regularly, but she has come to record. Just back in February, we had her brother Gerald Marley from the Protestant Truth Society down with us to testify. He's a converted trainee priest from Maynooth. He was reared outside Dundalk in County Louth. And Ursula came And she interviewed Garrow when the meeting was over. And that was a blessed experience, folks. And there the truth of God's word was laid before her for broadcast in the Athlone area. We don't have to do anything with it. There's free advertising. There's the free word, the word of God going out freely. There's people that have come to the meetings and have never missed from the very first service we've had. I think of Kerber, and his wife, she's of Indian origin, and they've never missed a meeting. They're very faithful, they're saved folk, they have a Methodist background, and they have a tremendous desire to see something develop in Athlone. It's them that wants it. I can remember Ursula speaking to Trevor and she says to him, are you a free Presbyterian? The boy says no, but when these boys come down here I will be. That was his attitude. Another man and his wife Jim and Janice, they're retired workers of the CF, have been in Athlone for about 35 years doing God's work. They're very regular in their attendance and as a result of the second push that we gave to Athlone, we've had new faces in. a man named Mick, Mick Dowd and Danny. Both of them came and those two men folks are open air preachers in the streets of Athlone. We didn't know that. And they came to the service to go to one of the Baptist churches in Athlone and they're a great encouragement to us. And they have taken a lot of literature from the table to give out on their outreach in the streets of Athlone. There's another lady, the name of Josephine. And Josephine was restored that night of the disruptive meeting, the very first meeting we had. And Josephine would be a wee bit superstitious. You would, with your chair, you would pull into the filling station, you would get topped up, and that would do you till the next time you need a fill. Well folks, that's the way she treats the meeting. She would come to a meeting and you might not see her for four or five months and she'll come to the next one and she'll say, I need a blessing tonight and she'll wait behind for you to pray with her and she'll tell you her troubles. She does have a tremendous amount of troubles, folks, in her family. There's no doubt about that. Her son, her son Patrick, is in jail. They're from a gypsy background. And he's in the open prison in Belcou on the Cavern for Man of Border. And the January meeting that we had just passed, Josephine was at the service. And when the meeting was over, she got onto her mobile phone and she phoned up her son and she says, here, would you talk to him? Just like that. And we had a wonderful conversation with Patrick. and a very troubled background. Got in trouble with the Garda, involved in crime and so on. And he was sentenced to six and a half years. And we started to tell him about John Hutton. We had several tracts about John Hutton on the table. And he says, well, maybe you'll give them to my mum and she can pass them on to me. took a copy of the scriptures and various other things as well. And that has been a tremendous opening to folks. And I'd like you to pray for that young man in jail. That the Lord will have mercy upon him. And the Lord will save him. Everywhere we go down south, we've come across believers who are involved in Pentecostalism. And there's a desire for the meat of the word. People are fed up with this happy, clappy style of meeting and living on fresh air, if you like. And there is a desire, there's a hunger for the preaching of God's word. In our meetings, we organize a speaker, someone to lead, someone to sing or testify, and an organist of late. We have brought down an individual to do a full testimony meeting. and that has went down very well with the folks. Other venues that we've been to is Sligo. We have had four meetings in Sligo. Ashbourne in Cowdeymeath. There were two meetings in Ashbourne. We found Ashbourne to be a very affluent area. It would be a commuter town to Dublin. And of the two meetings we had, there were three at the first one and one at the second one. We went to Portlaoise. on four occasions. The effort that was made to the two towns of Westport and Castlebar, we had one meeting there with four or five at the service. I remember one fellow in particular came in with a red hoodie on him and written across it was Our Lady's School of Evangelism in Knock. He listened to what had taken place in the meeting, but He was only there for an argument, folks. We couldn't get anything out of him, where he had come from and so on, but we suspect that he was a trainee priest. And the Reverend Larry Power was testifying that night. And he went up to him afterwards and he told him of a controversy with some of the things he said. And we were chatting to him for maybe 40, 50 minutes when the meeting was over. Couldn't get rid of him. But nevertheless, He was persuaded to take some literature with him. His name is Danny. Maybe you'll remember that man in your prayers from Knock, County Mayo, that the Lord would puncture his drum. And the Lord said to him, we've been to Navon. Navon, we had two meetings in Navon. One in Nace, we had two in Tralee. a way down in the kingdom of Kerry, folks. It was an overnight stay for the team that went. We stayed in Limerick the night before in the travel lodge and we left early the next morning to head down to Tralee. And at the first meeting we had in Tralee, there were 18 under the sound of God's word. And who would have thought it, folks? There's a little fellowship in the town of Tralee. There's an American fellow who's been pastoring in Tralee for 15 or 16 years now. And these people would go to his wee work. It was a blessing to come in contact with those folks. We've been to Galway on four occasions. And just last Saturday, just a week ago, we were in Waterford, way down in the sunny South East as they call it. On outreach, there was about six or seven minibus load would come down. Various churches would lend their minibus. And all in all, there could be anything between 90, 100, 110, 115 people coming on outreach. There's a tremendous response, folks, from those across our denomination. And Dr. Lindsay Wilson would organise where those people's pick-up points are and so on, and how they're getting down. We would plan the year ahead. Maybe in October, November time, we will get together and we'll plan the various venues for the following year. And we generally plan to go to a town of 20 to 25,000 of a population. And depending on the response from those in our denomination who come, it's mostly knocking doors. On the odd occasion, it's just letterboxing. And it has to be done, folks, in a systematic manner. Brother Stephen Hogg from our church in Castle Daird, we're grateful to him for his efforts behind the scenes. There's no point, folks, for example, of heading to the town of Portlaoise with 100, 110 people and sending them out with the literature. And before you know it, three or four minibuses will have overlapped and done the same area. There's no point just landing down, picking a town and heading down and say, well, off you go. We'll see you at dinnertime, lunchtime, whatever it is. It has to be organised. And Stephen would, in the week beforehand, he would say, for example, Portlaoise, he would divide the town up into sections and get the maps and so on ready. and put various points on it that are pre-programmed into a sat-nav. And so when that minibus comes down, they meet up at a meeting point. Each minibus is given a series of maps of various areas of the town of Portlaoise. They're given their sat-nav, and they're given their mobile phone. And all they do is tap into the sat-nav, and that'll take them to Section A, and way go, you cover it. And when you've that done, your mobile phone, you phone through to Lindsay and they'll send you on to Section K. And that's the way the town is done. It's done systematically. And the whole town, folks, the size of Portlaoise and Athlone can be done in the space of maybe four to six hours. Otherwise, it would be chaos, as you can appreciate. It has to be done in an orderly manner. We were in Galway. on four occasions. We had four meetings there. It's a sizable city and it took three outreaches to cover the city. And we went back for a meeting after it was all over. The first meeting took place in the Clitton Hotel and the other three took place in the Harbour Hotel in the city centre. Attendances were poor, I have to admit that. We had an eight, two nines and a ten. in the four meetings that were there. But why do we highlight Galway? Well, folks, we do so from the point of view that those are the meetings from which the greatest amount of literature from the table has been taken. At the fourth meeting, we had 50 Bibles and 96 New Testaments were taken. We came home with no Bibles and New Testaments. And over the four meetings, 131 Bibles were gone and 227 New Testaments, along with a lot of CDs and literature that we brought down. There's a street evangelist who has a Christian book table in the city centre in Galway. And he came to three of those meetings and he took that literature with him. He's from Lurgan. He goes to Lurgan Baptist and he has a little fellowship in the city of Galway. It was a blessing to meet our brother and he took all that literature for giving out to the folks of the city. We're grateful to each church in our denomination that lends their minibus to bring the people down. It was very much appreciated folks. And we're grateful to everyone who comes on outreach. This is a very effective way of covering an area. 90 to 100 people can cover a town of 25,000 or so in the space of four to six hours. You compare that to one missionary on the ground. covering an area of that size systematically, doing it themselves. It could take maybe 10, 11 months for that one individual to cover the area. You think of their wages over that period of time, their overnight stays, their keep, their fuel and so on. Folks, this is a very effective way of getting the gospel out. It works well. It's a worthwhile effort. And this is something that God has blessed. It costs roughly £1,500 to £2,000 to do one outreach. That depends on the costs that the hotel will charge for giving all the workers a meal and also for the hire of a room for the follow-up meeting. The follow-up meeting could cost between £200 and £250 sterling, again, varies from hotel to hotel. And folks, there's a need for us, as we close this report, to launch the vote and keep it launched, and to take the gospel to the people down south. There are folks down there who see it, and they need sound teaching. They need to be encouraged They need to be helped, and there are sinners down there who have come to every meeting. They need to hear the truth of God's Word. I wonder, will you come down? You know, you could be a missionary for one day. You could be a door-to-door worker for one day. Doesn't the Scriptures tell us to do the work of an evangelist? In John Blanchard's little book called Gathered Gold, A book of quotations, various Puritans and preachers in it, and you can throw in a quote into a sermon and people will say, boy, would you look what he's reading? But he's only got it from the book of quotes. And folks, there's one quote that says evangelism is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread. And that's what it's about. We're just beggars. Saved by grace, telling beggars down south where they can get bread, the bread of life. William Free, he said, The word of God is not just for domestic consumption. It is also for export. I think, folks, that's a very effective quote. The word of God is not just for domestic consumption. It is also for export and for you and I who have it and who have been reared and have been blessed with it for many, many years in the free church. It is a shameful thing for us to keep it to ourselves. We need to export it. We can do that down south. There's a tremendous openness for the word of God down south and if time permits, when we are on outreach, we will also do an open air meeting. We've had open air meetings of Strigo and Port Vichasse, Lone Castle Bar, Westport and various other places too. You don't have to contact the yard and tell them you're coming. You just land there, set up your microphone and away you go. And perhaps you have more freedom down there to do it than you do up here. There's a need to export the gospel. Now folks, that's our task. And you can be involved in it. You can get involved. It's not hard to do the job of a postman, sure it's not. Go up and just post the folded leaflets through the letterbox. Let the printed word do the talking. If you're not that confident at talking, you can let the little printed page do the talking for you. You're dropping seeds of the word of God. Behold, a sower will force a stow. That could be you. Exporting the truth of God's word. Folks, let's pray that God will build his church in the Irish Republic. God has been pleased to bless and to sustain the Consider Christ outreach. And we pray that God will continue to use it for his glory and for his honour and for the finding of his lost sheep. We thank you for listening to the report and we trust that you'll take these things on board. And remember to pray. We need God to open the windows of heaven and to bless what has taken place for His glory and for the furtherance of His cause. The boat has been launched, folks. How sad if that boat had to be called in and remain in port. We need to export the gospel. May we do so for His name's sake. Amen.