Trinity Church London is a fairly new church which has been planted right in the heart of the capital. It’s not just a new church in terms of being ‘not having been there long’, but also new in that there are a lot of new Christians there. Trinity is also representative of London because the church is youthful, vibrant and incredibly diverse, in languages, cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities.
Andy Bannister and Stefan Gustavsson came across Trinity through contacts at the European Leadership Forum, and so were invited to visit the church in London, for a couple of days of ministry.
The aim of all the events and services which took place was to enable the Christians there to grow in the confidence and ability to their faith effectively, engage with culture, and answer the tough questions that people are asking today. Andy Bannister commented, “I was really impressed with the people I met there, across all kinds of trades and professions who are actively seeking to represent Jesus in secular workplaces across the city”.
Andy kicked the training day off with his talk, “How to share your faith at work without getting fired or cancelled”, which is Solas’ traditional starting point for all things “conversational evangelism!” After that Andy tag-teamed with Stefan as they worked their way through a whole range of key issues which Christian face today. They looked at the reliability of scripture, the uniqueness of Jesus, sexuality and identity too! That, perhaps unsurprisingly led into a very lively Q&A at the end!
During the afternoon the church had their worship services too. Stefan addressed the English speaking congregation, but Andy was invited to speak to the Iranian group, his words being translated into Farsi by Mehran, their pastor. This was a real highlight for Andy, as he was able to explore some of the main themes of his book “Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?” with an audience packed full of people who had grown up immersed in Islamic thinking. Andy was hugely encouraged by the incredibly enthusiastic response with which his message about the uniqueness of Christ was
Andy and Stefan were back at Trinity the following day too. This time however, they were not addressing the whole congregations that make up the church, but spent time with the leadership. They looked together at ‘apologetics and the life of the church’ and ‘equipping church members to deal with tough questions.’
Trinity is a very missional church, which is really serious about helping people outside their membership to see Jesus and the answers he provides to the questions of life and eternity. In fact, the words “sceptics welcome” is one of the first things you will see if you visit their website. Week by week they engage with many people, through leafleting, coffee wagons in Trafalga Square and many other ways of reaching out. They result is that they have become a church that looks like the diversity of the city in which they serve – and wonderful place for Andy and Stefan to serve for the weekend.
