Diaspora Churches in London
One of the works I have been very busy with lately is related to my service as a board member of Christian Churches Network of London (CCNL). CCNL is a team of Christian leaders connecting Church leadership for the flourishing of the community of London. We have the local church pastors and Christian ministry leaders in London to fellowship together and come together for learning and working together for common purposes.
One of 5 visions CCNL seeks to fulfill for the next three years is to actively engage more diversity in CCNL. Londoners have noticed the great influx of ethnically diverse population in our city through immigration and refugee sponsorship, and the church in London today is also now becoming diverse in culture, language and demographics. We want this to be celebrated at CCNL.
I was given an opportunity to lead an event with Barry Slauenwhite, the president of Compassion Canada, and Pastor Junior Sorzano (Church of the Nazarene) on Thursday, March 21, 11am to 1pm to gather all pastors and Christian leaders, from all backgrounds, Western and non-Western, to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity we have in the body of Christ in London. To make the event more epic, we are going to meet at London Chinese Alliance Church (76 Jacqueline St.).
I'm very excited about this event, not just for having an event, but because I believe this can be the true beginning of what I have always dreamed to see in London, the unity of church! This is what I'm hoping to accomplish at this event:
Church pastors and Christian ministry leaders acknowledge and celebrate each other's ministry.
They have an opportunity to hear the stories of churches and ministries in other cultures.
They are encouraged to build trust fellowship with each other and pray for each other.
If you are reading this, can you do me a favour?
Spread this news. Can you share this with your pastor? As I said, we are not just bringing ethnic/language specific church pastors and ministry leaders. We are inviting all to celebrate together the cultural diversity in London. An event description and registration are available on ccnl.org (Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/diaspora-churches-in-london-tickets-54933904788). If they fail to register, they can still come on Thursday. It just helps us know how much food we need to prepare.
Pray for church pastors and Christian ministry leaders in London. Pray that they will seek unity and build the church stronger together by praying for each other, working with each other and seeking God's Kingdom together.
Lastly, I just want to let you know your prayer and encouragement have been so helpful and I have been to various churches to speak on Sunday mornings and they all have been powerfully spirit-led. I am planning to upload my sermons when I receive their recordings from the churches I spoke.
In Christ,
John