The Plan

With over 90% of the city of London not trusting in Christ as their savior, where do you start?

There are hundreds of great ways to start Saving London. The people of London are in desperate need of the gospel, but just giving them that will not be enough for the city. What London needs are churches.

Churches that preach the gospel, disciple Christians, and plant more churches. 

Leading someone to Christ will change them for eternity. Starting a biblical church will change families and communities for eternity. So my plan to be a part of Saving London is to establish churches that serve God beyond my lifetime.

1. Our primary goal in London is to start new churches or restart dying churches that will be bright lights for Christ in the dark neighbourhoods of London.

2. Secondly, we plan to help existing churches become brighter lights for Christ in their neighbourhoods.

I want to not just be in London but start one church and leave. I want to be a part of multiple churches coming to life. I want to see thousands of people accept Christ. I want a city to turn to God and watch a revival spread like fire. I know God can save London, and I pray He does it. 

Moving to London

In September 2014, I was approved as a BBFI church planter to the city of London (after getting married in June 2018, we switched our missions agency to CMC). Over the following two years, I raised prayer and financial support from churches across the United States. Here is a quick summary of my travels:

I arrived in London on February 11th, 2017. I am currently working with veteran missionaries Tarl and Adrienne Reeves at ReachingLondon.com. Choosing to partner with the Reeves has not only allowed me to get started in ministry quicker but has also helped me learn how to do ministry in the culture of London.

Our Ministry

FIRST-YEAR

My first year in London was the Reeves’ first year back in the country after a furlough year in America. Since Tarl had turned over all his previous works, we spent our first year helping as many churches as possible. We were privileged to fill pulpits, start youth ministries, help with camps, lead 2 Holiday Bible Clubs (VBS), teach evangelism, and so much more.

In 2017, we had 3 salvations!

We spent a good amount of this year visiting over 50 struggling churches in hopes of finding a place to come alongside to pastor. Thankfully, almost exactly a year later, we moved to our first church together to begin a church revitalisation.

Our First Church

In February 2018, Tarl and I began talking with a dying church about joining them as pastors to start a church revitalisation. The church of 12 members faithfully met despite closing their building and only having eight people in attendance on average. In March, we reopened the building and had a kid’s church for the first time in over 20 years.

We started work straight away on remodelling the main hall, and in June, we had the church’s grand reopening Sunday. Our first outreach that summer brought 81 people to the church!!! It was exciting to see a church spark back to life that was ready to close its doors for good.

In 2018, we had 5 salvations and 3 baptisms! We also witnessed God growing the Sunday attendance from 8 to 50!

By 2019 we had added another missionary family to our team, Joshua & Ashley Bell, BridgingLondon.org. With their help and many new fantastic church members, we increased our ministries in 2019. We added three new Sunday classes for babies, toddlers, and teens to go with our kid’s church. In addition, we started a new Friday night kids and teens club. We had six summer outreaches where there were 300 first-time guests! We were also blessed to have a new first-time guest almost every Sunday.

In 2019, we had 11 salvations and 12 baptisms! We also witnessed God growing the Sunday attendance from 50 to 100!

in 2020, we had 9 salvations and 9 baptisms! Despite only meeting in person for less than half the year due to THE lockdown, we have seen many new families visit the church.

In April 2021, we were very excited to have the Bells move to another church in Southeast London to pastor there. The Bells joined our church revitalisation for nearly three years and were a massive help to our ministry. The church they are moving to has been without a pastor for a couple of years and they are very excited to be able to have Joshua come and lead them.

IN 2021, WE HAD 8 SALVATIONS AND 12 BAPTISMS! we were so thankful to be able to have every sunday IN PERSON after being closed FOR half of 2020. This year we were also able to add our first staff person to our church in London!

Growing into a HEALTHY church

In 2022, we began taking significant steps towards becoming a healthy church. We have seen attendance soar to averaging 150 per week. The launch of our Young Adult service, on the first Sunday of every month, reaches twenty-year-olds from churches all around us. We added our second full-time staff member and had our first British interns.

IN 2022, WE HAD 7 SALVATIONS AND 4 BAPTISMS!

Becoming the lead pastor

In 2023, our church went through some big transitions as it seeks to be a healthy church. We established our first deacons since the beginning of our church revitalisation. Our long-time partners, the Reeves family, left the church for a furlough and their next church-planting adventure. Justin also became the church's lead pastor and began seeking to bring in local church staff. This year also saw our first church camp, where we took 30 and saw 10 accept Christ as their Saviour.

IN 2023, WE HAD 11 SALVATIONS AND 21 BAPTISMS!

Next Steps

In 2024, we pray for God to continue allowing us to see salvations and baptisms. We hope to continue disciplining and training others to take the gospel to more places in London and around the UK.

We are trying our best to be a part of Saving London, but we are just a tiny part of what it will take to turn a city to Christ. London is an extraordinarily influential and diverse city. What if God's plan to get the gospel to the nations worldwide hinged on Saving London? 

What will you do to be a part of Saving London?