Discovering Hope
We hope you enjoy a lovely testimony from one of our Tower Hamlets Church young adults…
Imagine this. It’s a random Saturday, you’re on your way on a train to somewhere new and the sun is just about rising, the sky a golden glow over Blackfriars. It’s been 8 years since you had any desire to think about God or were even open to something bigger than yourself. But that rising sun, that golden glow over glass towers and the glittering water of the Thames sparks something so you google churches near Whitechapel. You decide to take a chance…
The world feels so much darker than it did 8 years ago. I’ve just moved to the area and was looking for a little bit of hope and maybe a sprinkling of family so on a whim decided to rock up to the steps of a beautiful old Baroque style church, greeted with smiles and warm laughter. And it felt like stepping home again, chatting and singing and getting to know something that felt a little bit lost to me.
And then suddenly I’m invited to an evening meal the next day in the Rectory at 7pm, aptly named ‘The Angels’, a weekly bible study for the ladies of the church. So the next day after work off I popped to Waterstones to pick out a Bible and rocked up that evening to help light candles and bring in a beautiful homemade dahl. We spent the evening discussing God and Jesus and hope and grace and the meaning behind passages I’d not read in years. And I realised that this is definitely the start of something.
So when I had the chance, I went back, and back again, and realised that in the busyness of London there was a community waiting for me, welcoming me with open arms and warm smiles and prayers and I thought to myself, ‘what if I hadn’t been on that train, seeing that sun rise?’ and realised that while it’s been 8 years and what feels like many lifetimes, God was there waiting to welcome me back, to welcome me home. To welcome me in to a new family. And I couldn’t be more grateful that He showed me that sunrise.
Are you looking for a family here in London, somewhere to belong and be known, somewhere to explore faith and what it means to know and follow Jesus? We would love to connect with you!
