What a powerful weekend! This would be described as an intimate event in comparison to the large-scale rallies that LPA is known for. But it was the joy of God’s presence and the power of His love that characterised the room on both nights.
With so much excitement ahead of the King’s coronation, and the eyes of the world on London, we at LPA were keen to mark the occasion in a special way. This was done by joining together with the Circuit Riders and putting on a two-night outreach event to share hope where there is none and introduce the lost to Jesus. Award winning artist Guvna B and Elle Limebear headlined the evenings that also included powerful worship and passionate testimonies of the impact a relationship with Jesus can make in your life.
On the Friday night 400 people attended the event at City Gates in Ilford, but the crowd grew to 700 on the Saturday evening.
It was quite a vibrant crowd of youth groups, church groups, families of all ages, as well as individuals with friends, all having been invited along by others to hear about the transformation that Jesus can bring.
A large contingent was a buzzing group of millennials - backpacks, and skateboards in hand - who had come from across the UK, Europe, and even the US. They were greeting each other like old friends, excited for the opportunity to share Jesus in London. These were part of the Circuit Riders.
Andrew and Wendy both give their all when sharing the Gospel message on stage. On this occasion, using their own experiences and the Bible, they explained God’s love and sensitively spoke into individual’s lives. Acknowledging each person’s disappointment, loss, and confusion, they offered God’s hope, purpose, and abundant love in exchange.
It is always exciting and humbling to witness people encounter God for the first, and over the course of the weekend we saw 74 people give their lives to Jesus, and many more coming forward to be ministered to by our team. It was a powerful time.
“My sister gave her life to Jesus on Friday and my cousin reaffirmed her faith yesterday! It was beautiful to see them hyping each other up for making this amazing decision. They were really touched by the sermons and absolutely loved the worship! I am so grateful!”
In fact, the weekend concluded with the commissioning of hundreds of young evangelists about to start a week of mission on the streets of London, proclaiming Jesus with the people they meet. They were fired up!
These are just a couple of stories that we received overnight after the commissioning service. Both happened on the way home from the event:
“3 teenagers just gave their lives to the Lord. They were swearing and smoking as I walked over but the Lord instantly cut through with love and compassion and they were gripped by the gospel and ready to turn from their lives of sin and give everything to him. Praise God!”
“We are currently in a kebab shop getting late night food, and my friend just led a guy to Jesus outside! As the Gospel was being shared, he said he’d never been given the opportunity to hear or respond to the gospel before and gave his life to Jesus on the spot!”
There was such engagement in worship
right from the outset that you would have thought there could be no one in the room who needed to come forward to be saved, but there were many! And the blessing
of God’s presence and call on each life is evident already. More are being saved as a result right now. We must continue to pray for God’s outpouring this week on the streets of London.
