Loving Across the Divides – Interview with Jason Roach

Jason Roach
October 16, 2024

Adam: I know that you are a lifelong Londoner, but you didn’t always believe in Jesus. How was the gospel shared with you?

Jason: Much of what I remember about coming to know Jesus was very ordinary. A fellow university student called Kazumi invited me to share a meal with her mates. While we were eating, she shared the gospel as well. What was extraordinary was that, despite a number of differences between us, she was willing to cross cultural barriers and share Christ. I’m thankful for lots of other ordinary, sometimes awkward conversations with Christians during those years. As I look back, it is clear that these Christians loved me and believed the gospel strongly enough to talk about it repeatedly. Whatever I communicated to them on the outside, I think I was curious on the inside. 

Adam: You’ve ministered on estates for over a decade. What has that taught you about evangelism?

Jason: The main lesson is that God works despite our weakness. I’m particularly thinking of situations when we are not sure what to say or how to handle an evangelistic encounter. For example, my wife Rachel leads a food pantry at The Bridge (in Battersea) and in the last couple of weeks has had to deal with someone needing an ambulance, fights breaking out and various people in tears – all around an evangelistic Bible study! Cornhill’s Bible courses don’t train you for that. It’s often not clear how best to address every issue. But the amazing thing is that as we serve, God is clearly at work. I’m blown away by how, in the midst of the chaos, the whole team persists in speaking of Christ in language that people can understand. People are shown love, reconciled, get their questions answered and keep coming back to hear more about Jesus.  

So what generally encourages me is that when we share something of our faith with those around us, God uses our efforts – even when we aren’t sure what to say or how to say it. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep striving to work out how to do things better and more appropriately in the context. That’s really important. But God’s sovereignty is not limited by our ability. Every year at The Bridge people have given their lives to Christ, and often they have turned up or grown in their faith despite our best laid plans. It’s as if God keeps reminding us not to forget him and to persist in prayer. 

The other thing I’d say is that evangelism takes a team. For example, Tom, our pastor at The Bridge, is a fearless evangelist. Others in church are fearless tea-makers. Some are shy but so committed to reaching people that they will methodically visit neighbours week by week, alongside others, to let them know what our church is up to. I think we make life harder for ourselves when we expect everyone to be wired the same way and play exactly the same role in evangelism. Again, I don’t think that lets us off the hook when it comes to growing in our personal gospel witness, but there is much encouragement, strength and biblical wisdom in remembering that God has made the church a body with many parts. There is a reason that Jesus sent his disciples out two by two.

Adam: In your wider role at London City Mission, what encouragements are you seeing in evangelism? 

Jason: London is changing in exciting ways. First, people are more hungry for Jesus. For example, figures suggest that young people are praying more. They are more likely to believe in heaven and hell than their parents, even though they don’t go to church. They are looking for answers. What a great time to be holding out God’s word! 

Second, London is becoming more diverse. 46% of Londoners selected a non-white ethnic category in the 2021 census and a lot of this is connected with migration. Whatever you think Britain’s social policy should look like, migration is a key way that God grows his church. Think of Abraham moving from Iraq, Joseph being taken by force to Egypt and Moses leading people out to the promised land. Or consider the scattering of New Testament Christians and the missionary travels of Paul. Migration and mission go hand in hand in the Bible. 

Today, migration continues to have an incredible impact on mission. Christians from other parts of the world often bring their zeal to share Christ. I remember recently meeting a student at a conference who was in tears. He couldn’t understand why so many Christians in the UK didn’t seem to care enough about Jesus to make him known. But wonderfully his enthusiasm wasn’t just causing him frustration; it was awakening the imagination of those around him. Some began to reach out with the gospel more as a result.  

Some people travel to London from countries like Iran where it’s hard to profess faith in Christ. Many are hearing the gospel for the first time and becoming Christians. I’ve been privileged to attend quite a few baptisms for such individuals. It’s really exciting! It all means that God is helping us in many ways as we seek to evangelise London.

 Adam: What things are making evangelism challenging?

Jason: Sometimes I think that we can unwittingly allow ourselves to be influenced too much by public opinion about people who are different to us. For example, I heard the actor Toby Jones say recently that we talk about stopping the boats of migrants crossing the English Channel because that’s easier than talking about the people – people with the same hopes and dreams as us. I’m not trying to be political here – it’s just on example. There are a lot of voices out there that can subtly impact us. That means when we meet people who are different to us, we all have stereotypical ideas in our minds about what might happen if we interact with them. We can’t help this. Nor does the messaging around us always challenge those stories and stereotypes, or remind us that we are all made in the image of God. In an increasingly multiethnic, multicultural melting pot, we need to engage with people who are different. 

Adam: How can we overcome that? 

Jason: Perhaps one powerful and practical way is recovering hospitality. We’re commanded time and again in Scripture to welcome the stranger. Jesus encourages us that when we engage with people who are different from us, we can expect him to turn up in unexpected and surprising ways. In Matthew 25, Jesus says that – in some mysterious way – to welcome the stranger is to welcome him.

 By this I don’t just mean preparing a meal and sitting down at a table – as good as that is. Welcoming others starts way before that. It begins by having the awareness of the Good Samaritan: seeing the people that we normally fail to really see. Maybe, for example, that’s the cleaner in our office. We must also be more open to interruption, perhaps when our atheist colleague has a query. Similarly, it involves being willing to listen well and interrupt less when with our extended families. It requires too being vulnerable enough to share our personal stories as well as our possessions with those we come alongside. All this is welcoming others just as Christ has welcomed us. 

I can genuinely say that as the Lord has been challenging me to do this more, I’ve known his strength, experienced more blessing and had more gospel opportunities than ever before. So my experience has absolutely resonated with Matthew 25. It really has been a way of encountering more of Jesus. If we ask for his help and take one small step, who knows what the Lord might do?!

The Bridge Battersea

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