A church plant on an urban housing estate will this month celebrate its first anniversary and its success in building a congregation that represents around a dozen nationalities.
While Hope Church Vauxhall’s first year has brought some challenges, including the death of one of its young couples, Senior Pastor Sam Gibb says he is seeing tremendous gospel progress.
Gibb was asked in January 2018 by The Globe Church, an FIEC church in London, to lead a plant in the Thames-side area of the capital. The initiative was the result of a partnership between FIEC, London City Mission (LCM) and the Co-Mission family of churches.
Gibb said: ‘Since leaving Bible college in 2017, I’d been buzzing with excitement and expectation. God gave me a passion to see the gospel transform and unite divided urban communities around Jesus.
‘Once renowned for its industry, Vauxhall has a multi-cultural population and large swathes of social housing, so I was thrilled to accept the invitation to lead a church there.’
In March 2018, Gibb and his wife, Charlie, moved to the area. Helped by LCM Vauxhall Team Leader, Kevin Croft, they then spent the following few months assembling a team.
Gibb said: ‘By summer 2018, the core team had grown to around 20, and we all worked hard to get to know our neighbours.
‘As we opened the Bible together, we started to flesh out our planting plan by considering what a Vauxhall-specific expression of local church could look like.’
The team was keen to build on work started on the Vauxhall Gardens Estate 50 years earlier by London City Mission. A church established there in the mid-2000s came to an end in 2017, and it was then that The Globe Church was asked by FIEC, LCM and Co-Mission to find a leader for a new plant.
Hope Church Vauxhall was launched to the public last September, by which time the core team had grown to more than 40.
Gibb said: ‘We have since seen some people come to know Jesus, but others walk away. We’ve seen local Christians without a church find a home with us, and we are joined every week by many who don’t yet know Jesus.’
Tragically, a week before Easter, one of the couples at the heart of the plant died while on holiday. Teachers Toby and Milly Savill, who were in their twenties, were well-loved in the community.
Gibb said: ‘Though we mourned, our mourning was different. We didn’t stop preaching Christ crucified, and, as we’ve walked with friends, we have held out the hope of the resurrection.’
One of Hope Church Vauxhall’s ambitions during its first year has been to build a diverse congregation to reflect the area’s population. Gibb said: ‘We’re thrilled that, already, our ‘family’ includes people with roots in South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Ecuador, Peru, the USA and Eritrea. Our congregation crosses classes and cultures because the gospel crosses classes and cultures. Together, we’re bringing the message of hope to Vauxhall.’
