God's Heart is in East London
*Prayer Request: Please pray that we will find a new place to live in the area we feel called to be. We hope that God will open a door and allow us to find a good and spacious house with affordable price. Please read the rest of the article to learn details.
People are asking me, "What are you going to do?"
My answer has been "I know what God has put in my heart, but I don't know how it's going to happen."
There are two major factors that contributed to my decision to resign and start anew. I shared the first one awhile ago about the importance of working as a family, not alone. We want to do a ministry where my children are included.
Another big factor comes from a series of events that took awhile ago. It was more than 3 years ago when we were at the time thinking of buying a new house in London. We began our house search, of course, in Oakridge (or West) area or North of London. Our church was in Oakridge area, so it was natural to look for a house in that area. Or Grace had Leo in her womb, so we wanted to move in an area known for safe and good neighbourhood for children, like West or North of London.
We had a Real estate agent helping us find a house, but for some reason we just could not find a house we wanted. Then, one day, I had a funny dream and my wife had an impression during prayer. Both were about God's desire for us to move into the east side of London. In fact, God gave us specific streets and landmarks to draw a rectangle on the London map. We were very perflexed by these and we decided to go and pray in this area.
While we were driving around this neighbourhood and praying, we felt God was telling us something powerful. For a long time, we have been praying for a revival in London, not just a small and nice revival of a church, but a huge revival that can sweep the whole city. That day, when we were praying, God made us aware that his heart is first for the poor and troubed in this area; then and only then we should seek a revival in London.
After a long time of discernment, we made a decision that we would serve this area and the people here. I began connecting with the ministries in this area, most notably Ark Aid Mission. This place is an amazing place, serving meals every evening to the people in this area, close to 100 people everyday. I've been visiting this place once a month with our church youth group. I'm planning to visit them more often personally.
Another important step we are making is that we are going to move ourselves into this neighbourhood. We are going to live amongst the people there. We believe there is something profoundly powerful spiritually when we live in the place where we minister. We hope to use our space for a place of worship, prayer and ministry.
We've been searching a house for rent, but we are surprised that there is not many options available in this neighbourhood. There are not many houses for rent in market at this time and there has been a sharp increase of rents for the kind of house we are looking for in a last few months.
So, we are looking for a house to rent in the neighbourhoods known as Old East Village and East London, roughly between Adelaide and Highbury and between Oxford and Dundas. We are willing to stretch a few more blocks in any direction. We want a spacious house, not apartment, because we want to use our space for worship, prayer and ministry to people. We want to have a weekly prayer meeting at our home. We want to run marriage course and Alpha at our home. We want to record worship, music or teachings at our home. I hope to use one room as my office/den. If possible, we want to have a large nursery space for children to come and hang out.
Please pray for us, as we hope to move into this neighbourhood as soon as we can. And don't hesitate to inform us if you have any good information about the houses in this neighbourhood.
In Christ,
John