BRIEF REPORT ON KAIROS TRIP TO KICC

On Sunday 10 February 2008, 17 fellas from St. Thomas’ set off at 7am from Fair Oak to Walthamstow in London to worship with a black-majority churc,h known as Kingsway International Christian Centre. (KICC).

The intention in doing so was to respond to what we believe is a powerful move of the Holy Spirit in the UK through the black majority churches in UK cities.  We hoped that we would be able to appreciate first hand what the Lord is doing and bring back any lessons learnt to St. Tom’s.

Well, we were not disappointed!  We found a vibrant church community in the middle of Walthamstow High Street with a newly-refurbished building, which was a temporary home following departure from a site in Watenden Road, due to compulsory purchase for the ODA to develop and construct the Olympic Village for 2012.  We learnt, through the introductory pack we received as we arrived, of incredible plans for a massive 4,000 seat Worship Centre and Conference Complex in the Borough of Havering at Brown Reach, which is currently going through planning. 

The first service on Sunday mornings starts at 7.30am and, given some delay on the way into London, 5 of our number attended the 9.30am service and the rest of us attended the 11.30am service.  There was also a 1pm service, a 3pm – 5pm youth service and 7pm evening service planned for that day!  Approximately 12,000 people worship at KICC and therefore approximately 2,000 people were present at each of the services we attended!

The building is relatively small for that number and the comfortable seating and very warm heating made us feel really at home!  At the 11.30am service, we were all greeted very warmly as we stood and found ourselves, apart from 2 other people, to be the only white faces amongst 2,000 of our black brethren!

We were impacted by the following aspects of the worship service:

a)    A continual giving of thanks and praise prior to the service beginning was a powerful reminder of just why such meetings are attended by God’s presence.  The giving of thanks so continuously was a powerful blessing.

b)    As we had expected, the worship music was powerful, uplifting and very professionally delivered.  A choir of some 40 people and a very proficient and professional group of musicians led us in a structured and ad-lib way to meet with the Lord.  A powerful presentation of prophetic mime was also very moving and communicated the life of God in joy and praise to all our hearts.

c)    The Teaching

Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo talked on the subject of Breaking Barriers to Destiny and was a powerful applicatory message based on the account of Blind Bartimeaus in Mark Chapter 6, whereby:

(1) we needed vision from God alone and we were blind without it;

(2) others would tell us to shut up, but we had to cry out even louder to God for our vision of our life to be His will;

(3) God was faithful and could be relied upon to give vision.

He then looked at the practical barriers of discouragement and ‘the notion of being tied to your past’ which he successfully demolished in a very powerful and emotive delivery which lasted over 1 hour!  None of us felt that he had gone on too long, even though he ran into the 1pm service!

We learnt from the very clear teaching on giving at the end of the service, where those who are tithing give into envelopes and then stand to affirm the tithe and then those that were giving free-will offerings were encouraged to do so under 5 or 6 different projects being carried out by the church that were listed on the same envelope. This was particularly helpful for us at St. Tom’s at the present time as we move towards our Thanksgiving Sunday on 16 March.

If you would like to check out KICC for yourself, please click on www.kicc.org.uk and enjoy!

Anything To Bring Back To St. Tom’s?

Yes!  We are now even more convinced that there is a move of God in this country amongst the black majority churches where the vibrancy of our faith, the joy of a life guided by God and Bible-teaching which changes lives is presently growing in force amongst our black brethren.  Both African and Afro-Caribbean black majority churches are also, from what we can gather, reaching out into their communities in a structural and partnership way, just as we have learnt locally, to be God’s will for these days.

We are hoping that we can inject some of the life that we have received from our Brothers and Sisters into our ongoing discipleship here at St. Tom’s.  We will be praying for opportunities that the Lord may give us to draw on the experiences of our black brethren and seek, where possible in our community, to introduce the blessing of this movement into our Parish life.

We may introduce more energetic prayer and models of thanksgiving and gratitude and see how the Lord responds!

The greatest gift we bring back from our trip is that all of us have been greatly motivated to our higher calling and personal destiny in God by what we have seen and heard. 

Be encouraged – the church in this country is being equipped for a powerful move of the Holy Spirit – let’s be part of it by affirming the beginning of that move of God amongst our black brethren.

Thank you again to Paul Kelly and Duncan Haig, the leaders of Kairos, for helping the men at St. Tom’s get their spiritual act together in these days!

Danny Stupple