Church planting in West London
Statistics suggest that 95%–98.5% of people in London do not know Christ. New church plants have been shown to be a hugely effective way of reaching new people with the gospel. And reaching London can impact the world: the Evening Standard newspaper reported that there are 270 nationalities and 300 languages here! Church planter David Seckington, who is supported by Union Mission, reflects on this amazing gospel opportunity.
God brought Malcolm and Karis Riley to London, one of the most diverse and influential cities in the world, with a heart to start a new church right in the centre, out of the harvest. They spent one year meeting new people and preparing (I was the first person they saw come to faith!). They then launched Trinity Church Central London (or TC as we call it) in September 2014 with 7 people in a living room. It was hard work to start building a church family, healthy culture and maturity from scratch. As an example, even after 3 years of meeting, we had just 2 people turn up one summer Sunday!
However, year upon year, God has continued to provide and ‘build the house’. We recently analysed some figures - we believe we have seen over 80 clear baptisms/professions of faith and currently have 121 people who call TC their church from 17 different nations. We have also had a hugely fruitful Farsi language ministry for Middle Eastern asylum seekers.
Whilst we don’t think it is all about numbers, we do think it is right to rejoice over this fruit!
Not only has God grown us in breadth, but also in depth. We have seen many disciples take huge steps in maturity in Christ. Many of our members are now making disciples, evangelising colleagues and friends, overseeing ministries at TC, and making major life decisions for Christ. We are seeing lives truly transformed by the gospel.
During these years, God has also grown me from a new convert to a Pastor. I became an apprentice at TC in 2016, studying at the Cornhill Training Course in London. I then grew from Minister-in-training to Associate Pastor over the next 4 years.
Over these 6 years I have gained a huge amount of experience as a Pastor - regular preaching, discipling believers in 1-1s and groups, evangelism, directing music, directing our midweek ministry, directing our student ministry, training new leaders, pastoral leadership, counselling, seeker groups and much more.
The new story
In 2019, my wife Anna and I married and moved to Shepherd’s Bush in West London. Over the past 5 years, God has grown a real heart within us for the area and we have been so struck by the huge ethnic and socio-economic diversity. According to the recent census, there are 183,200 people living in our borough. It is the sixth most densely populated borough in the entire UK, with over 11,000 residents per square kilometre! Yet, within those numbers, we estimate that less than 1% are following Jesus. In the 1 kilometre around our house, we believe there are only around 150 Christians trying to reach over 50,000 residents. These numbers are daunting, but it is thrilling to think what God could do here. We are hungry to see new people reached with the gospel and lives transformed.
With that in mind, we have just planted a new church in West London - Shepherd’s Church - because Shepherd’s Bush needs its Shepherd. You can follow us more by visiting our website!
We are currently focussing on the following things:
Building a core team, defining the vision and goals of the church plant, and praying together
Outreach to the area and meeting with non-Christians
Running weekly bible study groups, and a Sunday service every 2 weeks.
Please pray for us as we embark on this work in West London, that God will keep providing more core team members, the finances to support the work, and for His blessing on what He’s calling us to do. We would love to see a flourishing church of mature disciples from all nations and backgrounds bringing glory to our amazing Lord Jesus! We praise God for all that He has done and we trust Him with whatever He wants to do today, tomorrow and beyond.
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