Expect the unexpected

Evangelist Marilyn Harry shares four surprising encounters – from Wales to Australia – where unexpected phone calls and café chats led people to faith

Persistence pays

Marilyn got a call from Lisa out of the blue one Sunday afternoon. “I want to get hold of a Bible,” Lisa told her. “I’ve already rung 30 churches but I didn’t get a response from any of them.”

Marilyn’s organisation, Love Wales, had just started meeting on Sundays at its base in Ebbw Vale, so she invited Lisa to come straight away to collect one. After this encounter, she went on to find real faith in God. “She’s been coming to discipleship classes and got baptised in the first week of July,” says Marilyn.

“I asked how she got my number and it was on the internet. She’d left answerphone messages with all the other churches and nobody had got back to her. I just happened to answer.”

Lisa is one of 17 people who have come to know God at Love Wales in the past ten months, and one of seven who’ve just been baptised. Lisa’s story has to be a wake-up call though – have you checked your church’s answerphone recently?!

Adelaide calling

In the same week that Lisa rang, Marilyn received another call – and this one was even more unusual.

“A lady rang me, again out of the blue, and her accent stood out so I asked where she was. She was in Adelaide, Australia. She was feeling very low and was phoning from the back seat of her car,” Marilyn says.

“I chatted with her and befriended her because she was very downhearted. She obviously had a faith so I spoke to her about the Lord and encouraged her.

“I asked if she had family nearby and she did.

“I said, ‘I want you to drive to your sister’s and knock on her door.’”

With the time being 4am in Australia the lady suspected her sister might be a bit upset about that.

“She’ll be more upset if she knew you weren’t OK and didn’t Marilyn and a group of those involved in Love Wales ask for help,” Marilyn told her. She has no idea how the lady came to call her, although she suspects that, like Lisa, she might have been searching online for churches.

“I had to smile afterwards because I was thinking, ‘Gosh, everyone has my number,’ Marilyn says, “but I don’t want people to think I always answer my phone!”

Café connections

People are coming to know God through conversations at Love Wales’s café too.

“One beautiful young lady Georgia has learning difficulties and couldn’t speak until she was four. But she met Jesus as a baby,” Marilyn says.

“She came to us after plaguing her uncle Matthew to bring her. She’s just got baptised, and her uncle found the Lord and got baptised too.”

Then there is Jordan and his nan, Mary.

“Jordan is 28 and was born with a serious heart condition so he’s very ill, but he’s the loveliest young man and his relatives bring him along to the café.”

His nan had been to church before but never came to faith and had a lot of questions.

“We said, ‘We’re doing an Alpha course Mary, would you like to come?’

“On the second week she found the Lord and has just been baptised too.

“People like Jordan are full of Jesus and are a real wake-up call – I sometimes think they’re closer to the Lord than me,” says Marilyn.

Parking police

Love Wales regularly hosts family fun days, but the first time they held one Marilyn thought she was in trouble with the local bobbies.

“An officer came over and I thought he was going to tell me off because there were cars all over the road.

“I went to apologise but he told us he hadn’t had a single complaint. In fact, he thanked us for what we were doing.

“It was funny because he looked around and saw the bouncy castle and the ladies doing face painting and what have you. He said: ‘Excuse me for saying this but it doesn’t look much like a church to me!’ After that we became friends and he found the Lord.”

This month, the organisation will hold two more family fun days and Marilyn is looking forward to more opportunities to share the gospel at them.

“The mums will come for a couple of hours, then after that they’re shattered. What we do then is serve strawberries and ice cream and bring the gospel while they’re eating. We’re always reaching out!”

Marilyn yearns to see Love Wales making an impact on its community. “We’re trying to make inroads and it’s very encouraging to see that these new believers are all local, from our little area in the Valleys in the back of beyond,” she says.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.