Wednesday 6 November saw the inaugur-al ‘Pray for London’ event hosted by the London Gospel Partnership.
Over 100 church leaders and church workers, along with many other believers, gathered together at East London Tabernacle for a time of dedicated prayer for God’s saving grace to be seen powerfully throughout London.
The event is designed to be an annual fixture reflecting our dependency on God and focussed on praying for God’s mercy in saving the people of London. Further, it is seeking God’s power to enable a diversity of gospel ministries across London, and for God’s peace and co-operative generosity between our various churches and ministries.
The afternoon began with Yannick Christos-Wahab (pastor of Stockwell Baptist Church) reminding us all, from Colossians 4, why prayer is foundational to mission. It was a fitting start to a time of prayer for London, that such a representative group of church leaders was urged to keep watch in prayer, to pray for opportunity and pray for courage in proclaiming the message of Christ.
More than 15 leaders presented their London-based churches or ministries, including Christ Church Crouch End, Enfield Town Community Church, Cranford Baptist Church, St Helen’s Bishopsgate, All Souls Langham Place, Iranian Christian Fellowship, Stockwell Baptist Church, Hope Church Vauxhall, Bridge Church Peckham, Crossway Church Stratford, Inter-Londres, Inspire Church, Friends International, UCCF, FIEC, Co-Mission and London City Mission. Each presentation was a reminder of the exciting breadth of ministry which, by God’s grace, is happening across London. They helpfully raised our eyes beyond our own patch, which so often gets nearly all of our attention, to the work that God is doing in His city.
The presenters were organised into five categories; larger churches, plants, revitalisations, para-church organisations, and churches working amongst diaspora communities. In a city of nearly 9 million people (according to the Office of National Statistics) with an estimated 270 nationalities and 300 languages, it was both encouraging and humbling to see the variety of nationalities and ethnicities represented. Each one reminding us of the multitude of many tongues, tribes and nations, praising God and the Lamb in the Apostle John’s wonderful vision. After each set of presentations there was significant time to pray in small groups for the various prayer needs which had been shared.
What a joy to spend the afternoon among a diverse fellowship of believers, being encouraged to a renewed commitment and dedication to celebrating what God is doing across our sprawling and dynamic city and to praying to the Lord of the harvest field for the lost of our city.
God is very much at work across London bringing many to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ… but the mission field is still large and so we pray on!
‘Pray for London’ 2020 will be held on Wednesday 25 November. Please consider joining us.
