On Sunday evening I headed to Holme Christian Community (HCC) where I got on the yellow bus, which we took down to the centre of Bradford, an outreach that is known as 'City Lights'. There we met around 90 homeless or otherwise-marginalised individuals and they were given coffee and a hot meal. It also provided a great opportunity to speak to the guys being served and find out how they were doing.
Having some small talk with a few people, my first in-depth conversation was with a gentleman who must have been in his 50s or 60s. He started by saying we were angels, doing an amazing thing, and how he thought Christianity was a great thing, that God had clearly sent us to do His work. He also said he thought that people coming over from other countries should leave England as it is, that Christianity is the religion of this country and that's that. It was interesting to find out he was a Muslim and he came over from Southern Asia when he was younger. It was even more interesting when I tried to explore what he meant by all these terms and phrases. He seemed to think that not only was Christ real but that He was God, and yet when I questioned whether that made him a Christian he didn't seem to think so. We kept chatting, and I really just tried to encourage him to think about it more, tried to get across that Christianity wasn't a religion so much as a matter of putting your faith in someone and following them. I'm not entirely sure how able he was to take it all in anyway, not through substance abuse or anything like that, but he just seemed like a very nice and simple man. Just how do you explain to people that not all these 'religions' are the same, and it's not just about being nice?! But if nothing else, it was very amusing just to hear Mr. Khan every few seconds saying "God Bless you" before exclaiming "gorgeous!" every time he took a mouthful of his meal.
There was another guy I spoke to, extremely friendly, willing to chat, and I got the impression well known to people around. He said he worked at the university (similarly Mr. Khan said he had lectured - not sure how true either of these claims were), and was very interested in things to do with electrolytes, ACT, and synchronicity. I didn't really have a clue what he was talking about, but it was something to do with metaphysics I guess. When pushed he described himself as a universalist, believing that there was a God and that Jesus was "a top bloke, no doubt about it, a top bloke". I said that if I do move to Bradford in September it'd be great to continue the conversation further.
Finally, one other guy and I chatted for a fair while, and I asked him whether he had a faith, with him replying that he was a Catholic when he grew up (it seems to me that everyone was a Catholic when they grew up - or maybe that's just the homeless population). He described how his father used to beat his mum and that really meant it was impossible for him to believe. I told Him how God was just and didn't think what his Dad did was right either, and explained how we all do wrong and need a saviour, but that God has provided that saviour Himself. He seemed fairly interested and though his mates wanted to go and drink he didn't seem in a hurry, but when I pushed the point, he said himself that he just didn't feel like he hadn't done anything wrong. I guess that's how a lot of people feel. I tried to explain that all of us have done wrong, and so it wasn't just me pointing the finger at him, and I think he may have started to get it, so it's my prayer that his eyes will be opened in days to come.
It was generally just great to see the ministry that is provided, a valuable ministry I am sure, both in terms of physical nourishment and in terms of building relationships and telling people the good news. It reminded me of the urgency of telling people this news as some people just haven't heard it before. They've heard about Christianity, God, or some particular denomination, but never what it's actually all about. It's my prayer that this ministry will help to break down those barriers and let these people know how they can be set free for everlasting life.
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