Our God performs amazing miracles but in our daily lives, we can forget He never stops working 'for the good of those who love him.’ Evangelists Mike Strange and Stevie Walker share experiences.

Mike and Su Strange

Mike and his wife Su attend a church plant, Meare Community Church in Somerset. When they began their ministry, they decided the strategy would be to get involved in village activities, rather than start up new ones of their own. Meare and the neighbouring village of Westhay, however, didn’t have an existing toddler group and the church soon discovered that a neighbour to the chapel, and a lady already attending the church, both have pre-school children. This gave them the impetus to set up a toddler group, as they could see there was an unmet need within the community.

MIKE’S STORIES

Taking school assemblies (leading Collective Worship) is a wonderful opportunity, but apart from the enjoyment and involvement of pupils and teachers, there is no way of knowing its spiritual impact. We must trust God as we: “Cast our bread upon the waters."
While waiting for our North Petherton carnival to start, my non-Christian neighbour sat next to me to tell me about a Christian colleague at work. She had been talking about a man who used to come to her school with his dog puppet.
"He lives next door to me," my neighbour said.
"Then please tell him that his assemblies are the reason I became a Christian and go to church."

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Last week Su was not feeling well and realised that she needed to see the doctor. Normally that involves phoning the surgery on the dot of eight in the morning knowing that all the appointments will be gone by five minutes past eight. At three in the afternoon, as she was doing the ironing, God suddenly spoke to her and told her to get down to the surgery that minute because there was a cancellation.

At first, she attempted to rationalise this. Was it really God speaking? Well, why not get down to the surgery and find out? Speaking to the surgery receptionist, Su thought she would first ask to see the nurse practitioner, as her appointments are usually easier to get. 

"Yes, you can have an appointment in three weeks."

"Could I get an appointment any sooner if I saw a doctor?"

"Let me look... Oh! There’s been a cancellation. You can go through to see the doctor right now!"

Stevie & Natalie Walker

Stevie and Natalie live in Paignton and have seven children. He works with churches in the South Devon area helping them to reach out and share Jesus. Stevie helps at coffee mornings in different churches. He is passionate about sharing the Good News through open-air preaching and door-to-door knocking. He continually seeks to help equip other people and churches to go out and share the Gospel in the local community.

STEVIE’S STORY

The one thing I enjoy doing is door-to-door work, although it can be very challenging at times, people are not interested in chatting about church or God in any way, and some people don't even want to talk and slam the door before we can introduce ourselves.

On other days, we can have great conversations with people and discuss their beliefs, we can share what the Bible says and the good news message of Jesus with people. 

About six months ago. I was knocking on doors In Paignton, with another guy, Vic, who attends Great Parks Chapel, along with me and my family. We got talking to a couple called Alec and Lesley. They met at an evangelical church in Stafford - where they married. Alec was a teacher, and Lesley worked as a school secretary. Lesley was a leader of the Campaigners, the evangelical equivalent of Scouts and Guides. They were successful in their careers, which took them to various parts of the country. Alec says:

"Our employment had obliged us to work furiously seven days a week, we found it impossible to fit in life at a church. Then, one day came a knock at the door. It was Vic and Stevie. It transpired that Vic had lived in Penkridge, a relatively obscure town near Stafford. We knew it well. This seemed to be too much of a coincidence. Result? Here we are six months later attending Great Parks Chapel regularly, where we are given a warm welcome. We feel very much at home."

We often look for encouragement to keep us going! Since their arrival, Alec and Lesley have helped us keep going even when we don't seem to see any results in our work.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9