A central London church-plant

Welcome to GraceLife London

A new church being planted in Central London

just five minutes from Farringdon Tube station

For the sake of Premier Radio listeners who've just heard John MacArthur's kind commendation of our work, I'm re-visiting our first blog entry to introduce ourselves:

Who are we?

Tom & Donna Drion, with Carys

tom@gracelifelondon.org

Tom and his wife Donna came to Los Angeles from England in 2007 for Tom to train for the pastoral ministry at The Master’s Seminary. “We are just praising God for the way the Lord has been changing and equipping us, through both the formal aspects of training, and by the rich experiences that we’ve had through involvement in ministry here at Grace Community Church. Now that this training is coming to an end, we are so excited to see what the Lord seems to be doing in bringing together a wonderful team and providing such a key location for a new church plant in central London.” They’ve been married for 18 years, and consider themselves so blessed now to have a 2 year old daughter, Carys.

Ross & Lisa Orgill

ross@gracelifelondon.org

Ross & Lisa Orgill are also from England and have been thrilled by the opportunity of serving within Grace Community Church since 2007. During that time Ross has also undertaken studies at The Masters Seminary, graduating in December 2010. Ross & Lisa have been married for 12 years, and lived and worked around the UK. “Although we have loved our time here in the church and the ways our Lord has been blessing us so much spiritually, we and our children are really excited to be heading home and at the prospect of serving the Lord as part of this new work.”

What’s happening?

GraceLife London is a new work will take the timeless message of the Gospel to the people of London, evangelising the lost and building up believers.

God’s word has the answers... along with the enabling of the Holy Spirit, we have been given "all that we need for life and godliness..." That makes it a real joy to concentrate on expounding the whole counsel of God in order to feed His people and equip them for all that God has in store for them!

Where will it be?

GraceLife London will be meeting just five minutes from Farringdon Tube Station

When does it start?

Plans are for the team to move to the area in January 2011

How do I get involved?

You can begin to be involved right now! Please contact us and tell us of your desire to take part.

Follow our blog by entering your email address into the box provided, and keep up with us on twitter (see the links on the left).

Connect with us on Facebook

Please email us with any questions or comments: tom@gracelifelondon.org

How can I help?

You can support the work both in prayer and financially, again please contact us, we would love to hear from you and keep you informed of our prayer needs.

What we teach.

• Majoring on the Gospel
• Teaching the whole Bible to get the whole counsel of God
• Teaching the Bible systematically, working through the text in its context
• A more detailed description of what we teach.

Contact:

tom@gracelifelondon.org or ross@gracelifelondon.org

Is it all over for Old Blighty?

I was speaking with a friend from home (England) the other day. It was quite a conversation. While I'm busy making plans to come back home to labour in London... he was telling me how he'd leave Britain's shores tomorrow if he could! There was a note of pessimism in all that he said, which I am very familiar with. To many Brits it seems as though God is only really blessing elsewhere.

If you can bear with my illustration... it is almost as if Paul, if he was living today, would have to add another category of people to his description in Ephesians 2:12 (the Brits)! I can understand there are people who have no hope because they have no God, but why is it that 21st Century British Christians can have so little hope, despite believing in the God of the Bible?

Given over to judgment?

I know what people are asking... "What hope can there be for a generation that has turned its back on God as ours has?" Ours is certainly a country which once knew SO much blessing... and yet we are now is being 'given over' by God to reap the consequences of what we have sown. Does Romans 1:21-32 sound familiar as 2010 comes to an end? Well what hope is there for us? Is God done with us? Is it all judgement now?

A few facts give me real hope... a hope that will not be put down, and a hope that brings me home.

The first is a simple observation: All that stuff about God giving people over to their lusts (Rom 1:26) and giving them up to a debased mind (Rom 1:28)... all of that was written to a generation of people that saw the greatest spiritual awakening the world has ever known. Paul wrote those words to the Roman church... and yes, the Romans were the most debased people you could imagine. I had to read Suetonius for a NT History class at seminary, and I will never get over the realisation of just how wicked and immoral that generation was! It is NOT a pleasant read. But GET THIS... those very same Roman people to whom Paul was writing became the seeds of such an amazing christian awakening that the worst oppression the Roman Caesars could throw at it, could not put it down! Simple Fact 1 - it's been worse!

The second fact is the reality of God's promise. Isaiah 55:10-11 tells you and me that we can bank on God's word. I plan to take that promise to the bank.

I have no other hope for our generation. Prosperity has failed. Education has failed. Secularism has failed. Humanism has failed. Psychology has failed. Religion - and we have had plenty of that - has failed. But the word of God never fails.

Don't get me wrong... we can fail. We can fail to communicate the word of God effectively. We can fail by retreating into our churches and never actually communicating the word of God to our generation. We can fail because we are so busy in our church activities that we don't have time to sit with our neighbour and share the gospel with them. We can fail because we expect people to come to "church" to hear the gospel. We can fail because we live such inconsistent lives that no one will even give us a hearing. We can fail because we are too cowardly to risk disapproval from our family and neighbours who are on their way to hell. We can fail because we don't teach our people how to communicate the Word to the world. We can fail because we lose heart and no longer pray expecting God to actually do something. We can fail because we don't make a plan... but God's word never fails.

A third fact that gives me hope for once-great Britain... is that God's word actually does have all the answers. 2Peter 1:3 tells you and me that we have what we need. All we need! 2Timothy 3:16-17 says that the answers are there in the Bible... that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. I don't know all that was discouraging my friend... and I know that many of my friends and colleagues back home in Britain are facing very very difficult situations. But I do know this... the word of God is able to make them, and you... and me... competent to deal with whatever we face. We can be equipped for every good work.

The question is whether a generation of believers will turn back to the word with that confidence in the promise of God. Our lost generation needs an army of confident Christians, competent and equipped for a mission that seems impossible...

There is hope.

Tom

Are we motivated by Numbers?

When Israel were given the task of going forward into the promised land... they discovered that even when God has a promised blessing in store for you - you can only take that inheritance if you trust in his promises and depend on his strength! (The take-home message of the book of Numbers!) They failed the first test... and wandered for 40 years!

Please pray for GraceLife London leadership.... We have some remarkable promises! Jesus has promised that he will be with us, even to the end of the age... and he has commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations... (Matthew 28:19-20) So please pray that WE will be full of simple trust and dependance on Him, and know the boldness that comes from that!

In His grip..

Tom

What is a church about?

You can get the gist of what we think about the purpose of the church from the blurb at the top of the right column, but here's another thought on the topic of "fellowship":

Did you know that for almost the first three centuries of the history of the Church, there was no such thing as a church building? What was church then? A. The body of believers committed to Christ and to each other.

I'm just doing a study on the "one another"s of the Bible for our 20/30s retreat next month, and am overawed at the sheer number of commands in the New Testament in which Christians are taught how to relate to each other. Try hovering over these links to see for yourself! I think you'll be blessed as you do. Please pray for us too, that ours would be a church where the one another commands of the Bible are uppermost in our lives.

In His lovely Name

Tom

John 13:34-35; Rom 12:10; Rom 12:16; Rom 14:13; Rom 14:19; Rom 15:5; Rom 15:7; Rom 15:14; Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 11:33; 1 Cor 12:25; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; Gal 5:13; Eph 4:2; Eph 4:25; Eph 4:32; Eph 5:19; Eph 5:21; Phil 2:3; Col 3:9; Col 3:13; Col 3:16; 1 Th 4:18; 1 Th 5:11; 1 Th 5:13; 1 Th 5:15; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:24; Heb 10:25; Jas 4:11; Jas 5:9; Jas 5:16; 1 Pet 1:22; 1 Pet 4:8; 1 Pet 4:9; 1 Pet 4:10; 1 Pet 5:5; 1 Pet 5:14; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 3:11; 1 John 3:23; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 4:11; 1 John 4:12; 2 John 5

A cool way to subscribe...

Hi all

for those of you who regularly read blogs and know how to subscribe to our "RSS" feed - you'll find the link on the right.

For everyone who just realized they were reading a foreign language in the last sentence, here's a VERY cool link: http://www.tabbloid.com/

This site will allow you to put our blog address in and set yourself up a schedule of when you want to receive it as a document in your email - and for free :-)

Enjoy keeping connected :-)

In Him

Tom

Help spread the word

Hey guys...

Please help us spread the word by liking us on your facebook page, and pasting a link to this blog.

You can subscribe using the buttons on the right and get updates for prayer.

Thanks :-)

Tom

Two green lights...

Yesterday was a good day.

Just over three months ago, I sat in a coffe shop in London, talking to a man who'd been planting a church there over the last five years. I was keen on church planting, but I had so many questions... there were so many obstacles in my mind. Yet God had blessed their work. As we talked, an idea began to be fixed in my mind, and weigh on my heart. Finally my remaining questions had been answered, and every objection removed, and the realisation hit me: "This is really what is needed... and it is possible! We have to try!"

So the plan to attempt a church plant in the centre of London had be born, but it was a long road ahead before it might look like a plan that had wings!

Then there was one of those 'it-just-so-happened' meetings. A conversation with a pastor friend when I was preaching in London one day. An introduction to a second pastor with an interest in seeing a work started in central London. A walking tour of some central London churches... and then a meeting with the trustees of an available building who 'just so happened' to be there that day.

Ross Orgill and I had sat 'church planting' classes together at seminary, and groaned over the needs of our country. We dreamed together about how to best meet those needs, and were frequently drawn back to the idea of planting a church in London. There the plan had been conceived, but now it was taking on a life of its own, and suddenly we were talking to the trustees about our putting together a team and coming to plant a church right in the heart of that great city... and they weren't closed to the idea! But what would our own church say? Would they commend us to such a task? How would we find the funds? A hundred questions like that filled our minds... but then yesterday was a good day!

"You might not realize it, but you may have come to see us about this at just the right time!"

So said the missions pastor at our church when he heard about our desire to plant a new work in London. And so it turned out! A committee who had been meeting to discuss just this kind of scenario suddenly had two men and their families who were ready to go, if the church would commend them to the work. But would they? How would we preach unless we are sent?

Then just over a week ago the email arrived. "So, everyone is solidly behind you, but there is no sure source of funding yet." "I'm not worried about the funding..." I thought, "it's enough for now that we have the backing of our own church!" Assurances of their prayers and help and advice mean a good deal more than any talk of money at this stage! Surely if God is in it, He will provide! Suddenly a church plant seemed a lot more possible... but then what would the London trustees say? Such a great building, in such a key location... would the Lord really open that door too? Yesterday really was a good day!

This came in an email from the chairman of the trustees: "I am pleased to tell you that we will fully support your plans as you outlined them in your Church Planting Strategy paper and as further discussed (in our skype meeting). This green light from our end will enable you to press on with planning and raising support."

That was yesterday! Two green lights. Finally we have the decision of the trustees of this central London church, approving our proposal to plant a church there!

And so it begins. A team is being assembled. The work of planning in earnest is beginning.

Please join us in praising God for this great beginning.

Please also join us in praying:

• That God would graciously provide for this work
• That He would add the other key team members required
• That He would give courage and work opportunities to those willing to move to London with us and seek work there, so as to become lay-workers in the church-plant.
• That we would be able to do all that is necessary so that we can hit the ground running as early as January next year.

Thanks for your interest in this new work! Please subscribe to this blog, and follow with us the unfolding story of how the Lord will use this work to bring glory to His name!

In His lovely Name

Tom