Talk with strangers on streets
Josh Dye
Public relations intern
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
Its name is its motto: I Will Share Jesus. And it is spreading.
The movement’s first gathering: Sydney, March 24. A group of Avondale College of Higher Education students and staff members join other Seventh-day Adventists—most are young adults—to spread the gospel with strangers on the streets of Circular Quay. More than 100 don red T-shirts before distributing about 2000 items of Christian literature, such as the book, Steps to Christ, and the magazine, Signs of the Times.
Bachelor of Business student Kyle Morrison is part of the group who initiated I Will Share Jesus. His highlight of the Sydney event: seeing others share their faith and “plant seeds.”
“The best way to make your faith real is to have an encounter and an experience with it—to share it,” says Kyle. “Otherwise, if we never test our faith, how will it grow?”
Josh Wood, a Graduate Diploma of Ministry and Theology student, experienced that growth. Initially, he did not want to go, but he changed his mind after challenging himself. “I did it specifically because I don’t like doing it. I’d never seen the purpose behind doing it, but I realised that just because it’s not for me doesn’t mean it’s not effective.”
Josh’s highlights: “Taking over a train carriage and just singing the whole way down to Sydney” and “chatting to a group of street artists about their views on spirituality and seeing how that related to their life.”
“While I didn’t preach,” says Josh, “being part of a greater ministry was spiritually uplifting, taking the gospel to the world rather than keeping it within the four walls of the church.”
I Will Share Jesus has now spread to Brisbane and to the Gold Coast with other events planned for Newcastle, Parramatta and Perth, perhaps even New Zealand.
Kyle is looking for leaders. “Resources are in place and there are people keen to participate, we just need someone to stand up and take charge. God can use anybody—whoever they are, wherever they’re at—all it takes is to heed His call.”
Buy a book online through the Adventist Book Centre in Cooranbong for I Will Share Jesus to distribute.