What do we do?
Evangelism in Covent Garden and Soho
Children's work has been an important means of reaching out with the good news. Surprisingly there are a number of children living in the area. Our four clubs, for different age groups, have around seventy members altogether. At each club we include a talk from the Bible to show how God's word is relevant for us today. Working with the children enables us to make links with their parents too.
We also regularly go out into the area and visit people door to door. Although this is an increasingly hard form of evangelism it is still very effective in building relationships with people. A number of very worth while contacts have been developed over the years.
In Soho, the council has provided us with the temporary use of a shop at 102 Berwick Street. During the day Fair Share shows practical Christian love for people in the developing world through the sale of fair trade products.
But Fair Share also provides us with other opportunities. On Tuesday evenings we put out a book table, with free evangelistic literature, while we offer leaflets to passers by. Each week we valuable conversations with all sorts of people, from Muslims on their way to prayer to drug users waiting for a deal and clients of the sex trade, as well as neighbours, tourists and those simply going for a drink after work. Once a month, we also use Fair Share for a Sunday evening evangelistic talk.
Then there is open air preaching in Covent Garden. James Street, which runs from the tube station to the Market, is said to have the highest footfall per metre of anywhere in the world. You can expect to meet people from all nations here. Predictably many do not want to listen to the preaching, yet there are always those who do stop and listen. Much literature is given away, in English and many other languages. Every week we are able to thank God for the seeds that have been sown.