Comments (0) Our homelessness day centre in Waterloo, Webber Street, turns 50 today! To mark this significant anniversary we’ve made a short 3 minute film about Webber Street, its work and the guests it serves. We hope you like it.
You can find more information here: www.webberstreet.org/hope
One of our supporters, Keith Fern, wrote to us about our headquarters building on Tower Bridge Road. He had recently received a book called *Lost London 1870-1945*, which had ‘a photo of the burned-out shell of St John’s Church, Horsleydown, Bermondsey, after it was hit by an incendiary bomb in 1940. The description goes on to say that the church had a weathervane in the shape of a comet but that, unfortunately, when viewed from the ground it appeared like a louse. Apparently the church was popularly known as “The Louse Church”! However, it adds that the shell of the church was finally demolished in 1972 for the construction of London City Mission HQ.’
If you are interested (and how can you not be?!) you can read more about the history of our HQ location on our website here (with further fascinating links), and see photos here. In fact the weathervane can still be seen, fastened to the wall in our reception area!
The Comet Weathervane
Keith added a thoughtful and encouraging reflection on his reading: ‘I could not but recognise that something which in 1940 must have appeared as terrible destruction could, under the providence of God, provide for the great service which LCM performs today. It encouraged me to recognise the need to press on with mission even though, in many areas of church life, numbers of people and other factors may seem to be a shadow of the past.’
On Saturday the 21st April, thanks to the generosity of HSBC, seven seafarers together with Paul Cave, Tilbury based Port Chaplain of the Lighthouse Seafarers Mission (a ministry of the London City Mission) were treated to a VIP experience at Fulham Football Club. The seafarers from Honduras, India, Philippines and the Ukraine, some of whom had not previously visited London, drove in past Docklands to Tower Bridge, then enjoyed a walk along the Embankment before catching the train to Putney, followed by a stroll through the park to Craven Cottage. There they were met by Kevin Meredith of HSBC, who was their host for the day, and the party were ushered into their private suite overlooking the pitch.
A wonderful lunch was provided served by a most charming and attentive hostess. When wined and dined, the party adjourned outside to view the match as Fulham took on Wigan Athletic. Nothing too exciting in the first half, but after a break Wigan came out fighting and scored a goal which set the match alight. Our multinational group were soon leaping to their feet and cheering as Fulham fought back and eventually deservedly won the match 2 -1.
Even the weather was kind throughout and everybody agreed that this had been a most memorable day. The seafarers came from the ships ‘Valentine’ and ‘Gemini’ at Tilbury. The crew of the Gemini wrote: “we wanna say thank you in the name of all crew of the MV GEMINI. We got a lot of pleasure out visiting the stadium and the match was exciting. We enjoy a lot everything, the food, the tour, the match and the weather was very good. For us was a great day Mr. Paul!!! God Bless You and the Mission too.”
Paul Cave said: “Because of their long absences from home seafarers often suffer from loneliness and isolation so you can imagine what a treat Saturday’s excursion was for them. I would like to express our thanks and appreciation to HSBC for hosting us at this event.”
Two of the team sharing their faith
This year we Tell-A-Tourist was held over Easter because of the Olympics this summer.
We spent most of the time in Piccadilly Circus as there were thousands of visitors around. There were also opportunities to witness in Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Tower Hill and Oxford Circus. We were able to speak to people from 27 different countries including Romania and Saudi Arabia.
The good thing about staging Tell-A-Tourist at Easter (3-6th April) is the focus on the death and resurrection of our Lord. One of the team started the conversation with “Did you know that Jesus is alive?” The answer was “Jesus was a spaceman!” At the end of the conversation the person said “I’m really glad we talked, you made me think”.
It was such a privilege to enable people to think about their lives without Jesus and the difference he can make in our lives.
The 2012 Tell-A-Tourist Team
Thank you to all who prayed for us during the week. Thanks to the team who encouraged one another to give a reason for the hope that is within them. Please pray that the seeds we sowed during the week will have fallen on good soil.
Steve Frost
Tell-A-Tourist is run by both London City Mission and Open Air Campaigners
Patrick at the Post Office
Why am I here, a chaplain to Royal Mail staff? Isn’t a workplace where few people have accepted God’s word – a very pressurised place where I have on average just a few minutes to speak to any individual – one of the most difficult situations to bring the gospel of Jesus to people?
Well, there are two key issues here. Firstly, when we start asking the question ‘Why am I here?’ from our own perspective alone we can begin to doubt and limit what God can do through us. ‘Nothing is impossible with God’ (Luke 1:37). God delights when we trust him to change and surprise, even in the most difficult or impossible situations. Secondly, there is the most excellent way in which God has called us to bring the kingdom into people’s lives: that way is love (1 Corinthians 13). Love, compassion and faith, and allowing the Spirit of God to flow through us, are key to reaching people with the gospel, and can open up vast opportunities for God to use us.
Here are some examples of how the Lord has put me in the right place at the right time and has answered my prayers in the lives of Royal Mail staff.
During break time in a delivery office I met a young Asian man who had a good knowledge of the New Testament. After a discussion about God’s promises to Abraham and how they were fulfilled in Jesus, I was able to pray a prayer of repentance with him and brought him to the Lord. I encouraged him to read the Bible and to find a church near where he lived.
I was talking to a postman from Africa who told me that he used to go to church with his mum but stopped because she pushed it upon him so much. I felt God say to me that he had had an encounter with God but had walked away, and the man told me that it was so. I told him what I had seen God do in my life and my family.
We talked further, and after a prayer of repentance he gave his life to the Lord. The first thing he did was to tell his brother, and the next time I met him God had reunited his family. Answers to prayer are also encouraging. For example, a postwoman was about to be made homeless and asked me to pray for her situation; the next time I saw her she said that she had been able to find a flat for her and her daughter to live in. A young man asked me to pray for his marriage, where there was tension within his family and with his in-laws. I gave some advice, and said I would pray. I prayed for the relationships to be reconciled, and when I met him again he remarked to me that he knew I had been praying for him, because within three weeks the situation had completely changed (and it is still good today).
A young postman’s personal circumstances were causing stress and health problems which threatened his job. When I said I would pray for him, he said it was a new experience for him to have someone who would care to pray for his situation. The next time I saw him he told me that his personal situation had been resolved, and that his managers had spoken up on his behalf and his job was safe. I thanked his managers, telling them that I had been praying for the situation and that the Lord had used them to answer prayers.
Patrick Coleman
P.s. Please pray for Patrick in the breadth of his role as chaplain, and praise God for the particular spiritual opportunities he has within that work.
You may recall from our recent magazine that we have joined up with Giveacar (www.giveacar.co.uk) who take unwanted vehicles and pass any money received from their sale or scrap on to the charity of the donor’s choice. In the few months we’ve been working with Giveacar we’ve already received over £600 which is a fantastic start!
Giveacar contacted us and asked if they could visit us and see us and something of our work. Although the ‘behind the scenes’ admin team here at HQ form a vital part of our work, it doesn’t make for the most interesting discussion, so I thought perhaps the best thing would be to let them experience something of our work first hand, so I arranged to meet them over at our community arts centre and café departure at Limehouse to have a chat over lunch and enjoy one of their famous curries.
Charlotte and Joe from Giveacar outside departure
Lynn Hornett, Assistant Manager at departure, joined us and told Charlotte and Joe from Giveacar a little of the work that they do there, and we spoke at length about LCM, the work we are involved in, and the wide variety of ministries currently undertaken, all with the same basic aim of ‘sharing Jesus Christ with all London’. It was also good to hear more of the history and the work of Giveacar, and their involvement with over 840 charities and good causes all around the country.
Alex Harvey, Manager at Giveacar, said “We are so proud to support London City Mission in this new way. LCM’s supporters have shown great generosity and we hope to see many more cars donated for the work they do. We love fundraising with London City Mission, they are a pleasure to work with”.
Charlotte with a departure curry!
I can’t promise to treat you to a curry if you donate your car – although of course you’re more than welcome to visit departure or one of our other café ministries if you’re in London – but if you or someone at your church has an old car gathering rust that needs disposing of, why not contact Giveacar a call on 020 0011 1664 and nominate London City Mission as the beneficiary? A small act on your part could raise £100 for our work which would enable us to give up to 200 homeless people a cooked breakfast at our outreach centre at Waterloo, for example, amongst the many ministry opportunities we have all around London..
Andrew Down, Supporter Relations (Churches)
From last week there has been a new art exhibition in our arts café in Limehouse. Two artists from Berlin City Mission are displaying their work for the next couple of weeks.
A talented young photographer Kerstin Müller is displaying a series of pictures from a recent trip to Poland which held particular meaning for her. Her photos document her trip, the places she visited and the people she met. This exhibit contains many powerful and atmospheric shots.
Kerstin writes this about her work:
“Moja Podroz is a project about getting to know a country that is so close but seems to be so far away at the same time. Poland is Germany’s direct neighbour, but I have to admit that I didn’t know too much about it. My father’s side family is from Masuria, and I was thinking about going there and finding out what that place would be like for a while. It was interesting to travel through the country. There was no expectation, no ideas, no imaginations about what that place would be like. What happened was a great experience of how beautiful the country is and friendly and accommodating people are. It was my personal journey to a place so foreign and familiar at the same time.”
Debora Harder has a number of her paintings on display. She currently works with Berlin City Mission assisting refugees and aslyum seekers. One that I found particularly moving depicted Jesus on the Cross (left). She explained her exhibit to me like this:
“My work is about death and life, social justice and belief. I paint people because I think a gesture, a gaze has the power to interact with the viewer.
“Every single picture tells something about me; the questions I had and still have, doubts, dreams and experiences. I want to make the viewer think, but at the same time I want to be awake myself. I´m only the creator of my work, I´m interested what the pictures tell you.”
Please visit http://departure14.com/ for more information on departure and future exhibits there.
Jamie Stewart chatting to a London Undergroud worker
I’ve been with the Mission since 2000, but only moved into workplace ministry last year, working as chaplain to London Underground and British Transport Police staff.
As a chaplain, as soon as you arrive at work you are straight into engaging with people: it can be a whole day of opportunities to get alongside people and talk with them about the Lord. When I visit a station or depot and introduce myself to someone, I can explain why I’m there: as a support to staff, whatever their background or religion, and to give spiritual guidance to those interested or with questions about faith. People see you as you visit systematically, get to know you, and open up.
People will open up to the chaplain in conversation on both personal issues and spiritual issues. There are moments in the day, as in any workplace, when staff do have time to talk – those on the ticket barriers when it’s not rush hour, for example. As a workplace chaplain you meet people who don’t have any contact with church; you can have a positive effect on them and their colleagues, and people do come to faith.
I’m meeting someone tomorrow who I met two weeks ago; he opened up about his own life, the problems he’d been through and his desire to go to church; we kept the contact up by text, and now I’m meeting him on his day off to give him a Bible that he asked for and to spend some time with him.
People appreciate knowing a chaplain’s around, and contact us for advice or if they are going through something. Management also see great value in us being there, and for example when there have been crises in workers’ lives they’ve called on us on their behalf.
Some of my visiting I do alongside Steve Nichols, our other chaplain on the Underground. Here are two stories from such visits.
While visiting one station, Steve and I asked if we could eat our lunch in their canteen. When we walked in it was a small room full of staff. We spoke to them and said who we were. While we were sitting at the table talking with them, one young man asked what our religious background was. I told him, gently and with tact, that we were born again Bible-believing Christians. He then asked, ‘How do you become born again?’ What a great question! We spoke with him for about half an hour on that, and gave him a copy of the Gospel of Mark, and some further information about knowing God. As we spoke with him there were others present, quietly listening to our conversation; one of them, a Muslim, joined in. We spoke with him for a further half-hour, with others joining in as shifts changed, on the difference between working for salvation and simply receiving it as a free gift from God through the Lord Jesus, and on the seriousness of sin, which no action or work of ours could ever atone for. The whole atmosphere was very positive.
At another station we spoke with a young Muslim man at the barriers, who Steve knew. Within a minute or two we were discussing spiritual things. He took us to meet a colleague who, he said, had ‘his own ideas’. We spent about an hour and a half talking with them both. On a number of things the Muslim agreed with us, and he supported us as we spoke to his colleague about God. He was keen to develop a more theological discussion between himself and us and said, ‘There is a lot that we agree on; can we discuss some theological points which we differ on?’ I said, ‘Sure! An important point for us as Christians is how our sins are forgiven.’ We talked about original sin, Jesus, his death, resurrection and the Trinity. This was a really polite young man who was zealous for God, but a zeal based on works and on being a good Muslim, and we had a lengthy and meaningful discussion together.
Jamie Stewart
P.s. Please pray for Jamie and Steve in all the very positive opportunities and encounters they have on the Underground network.
Will Thorburn chatting to a Cabby
I work as chaplain to London’s taxi drivers. There are 21,000 black cabs in London, with 25,000 drivers (some cabs are shared). With these numbers it’s incredibly unlikely in central London to see the same driver again without making an arrangement. It’s still important to visit the big taxi ranks at the major stations like Victoria and Waterloo, however: I go along the ranks, chat through the window and give out tracts which carry information about the Christian Cab Union, which I chair, and my contact details. It’s vital that I get to as many people as possible and let them know we’re here, so that they can make contact. The other day I got a call from someone asking to meet up; we did, and talked about his life and the challenges he faces. He wants to come to the Christian Union meeting, which is open to all.
I also try to visit smaller ranks in central London, and places where cabbies park up for their breaks, because you get more chance to talk there and then, and to get to know more of them individually. I do also go to taxi ranks further out in London, particularly at stations. Visiting the smaller ranks, and those further out, is quite productive, because you do see people you’ve seen before! It’s like church pews: cabbies have their favourite places to stop, their favourite stations and cafes.
But having said all that, I have had wonderful times at the big central ranks. Where you can’t build up a relationship it’s all about taking the one-off opportunity, there and then, because you may never see them again.
I spoke in Victoria with a lad in his thirties. We spoke about why I was there, and he told me a bit about his family and his life, how he was struggling with the work situation, with making ends meet, how there wasn’t enough work for everyone – ‘So you’ll have to pray I win the lottery, chaplain!’. I said, ‘I won’t exactly pray for that! But there is a wonderful passage in Proverbs which says, “Neither give me wealth that I become conceited nor poverty that I should steal and be in difficulty, Lord, just give me what I need to survive”.’ (This is from Proverbs 30:8-9.) ‘My prayer for you and all taxi drivers is that you will be sustained, that you have enough to make ends meet; you have to work hard for it, but that you will see provision being made.’ So we talked about why that was the better way to go, which led on to a discussion about prayer. He said, ‘All these things don’t work when you ask for them.’ I said, ‘This is why: because you have to pray not for what you want but what you need; and your greatest need is to be right with God. We ask God for what we want, but do we ever ask what he wants? When you’re in times of happiness and splendour, do you give him thanks?’ It opened the conversation right out into our attitude towards God. Even though he was slightly kidding about praying for the lottery win, it gave us the opportunity to discuss our attitude towards God and his will. I told him that the better attitude is, ‘God, do for me what you will. What can I do for you?’ I may never seen him again.
Will Thorburn
P.s. Please pray for Will, building relationships and taking one-off opportunities with taxi drivers – and with people at Café Eterno, where he also works.
Alick speaking to a Bus Mechanic
I visit staff in bus garages in the south of London (my colleague David McAdam visits those in the north). Here are just a few stories to give you a flavour of my work.
I attended the funeral of a long-serving engineer. He had been a Christian, and it was a beautiful service. In the church were people from bus garages from all over London – it’s a real community. As soon as I spoke to D I knew I was there for a reason. He talked, and I listened. He spoke about his situation, which involved a serious problem with a former colleague. I was able to give a sympathetic ear, and introduce a bit of the Lord’s love into it; we talked about how God understands all that we are going through. Afterwards I saw D shaking hands with someone; he came and told me, ‘I’ve just made peace with the guy who I had the hassle with’. We spoke about the forgiveness of God and how he makes peace with us. I bumped into D the next week at a garage where he had just got a job; he told me that his supervisor was a Christian. It was a tremendous joy for me, because I could see God taking D under his wing.
I was on my way out from a visit to a garage when I met a group of drivers who had just come in. They made me feel very welcome: ‘We really need you’, they said. As people moved away, one remained. He told me about the break-up of his marriage, and how much his boys meant to him. He had a philosophy very much in line with Christian teaching but didn’t mention God or Jesus. I said this to him, and that he didn’t take hold of Jesus in his views. He said, ‘Only God can judge me.’ I said, ‘Yes, but only God can save you.’ He said, ‘I want to talk to you again.’
I give thanks to God for the tremendous welcome I get. Almost everybody welcomes us – there is hardly any hostility, though there is quite a lot of indifference. On one occasion someone asked how you love your enemies: I said you treat them like you’d want to be treated yourself, and do no harm to them, and he was writing this down. Someone else started blaspheming God and got very angry. People were looking to see how I would react. I said I wanted to give thanks about the wonderful way we are received in the garage, despite what this man had said.
London City Mission has had a relationship with London’s transport services since horse-drawn days – it’s established and tested. Managers are very happy to have chaplains, as a rule. I have often sat with N in his office and had great gospel conversations, able to talk about what Christ is and what he has done. He seems to be in tune in some ways, yet seems distant from it. I’ve given J, in another garage, a Bible; he has a lot of respect for the gospel, and is very open for me to pray with him and look at the Bible with him.
B was a nice guy, bit of a character, always winding me up but keeping his distance. Unexpectedly, he told me he had spent a night in a hotel and read about salvation and Christ in the Bible. It was clear to me that he knew a lot about the Bible, the human condition and salvation that he was just keeping in all this time, and that indeed he had been converted, for which I gave thanks to God. He had known the two chaplains before me also.
Alick Stewart
P.s. Please pray for Alick and David in their bus chaplaincy role. Pray for continued good relationships with management and staff, and continued open doors.
