ChristChurch London

Coordinates: 51°30′40.7″N 0°6′7.1″W / 51.511306°N 0.101972°W / 51.511306; -0.101972

ChristChurch London

Founded	3 October 2004
Founder	David Stroud
Focus	Evangelical Christianity
Location	London, UK
Area served	London, Worldwide[1]
Members	600 approx. (2013)[2]
Key people	Senior Pastor: David Stroud Leaders: Ross Bull Andy Tilsley
Employees	15 Full-time, 4 Part-time (2009)[3]
Slogan	"This City. This Nation. The Nations."[4]
Website	http://christchurchlondon.org
Registered Charity number: 1111950

ChristChurch London /ˈkraɪst.tʃɜrtʃ ˈlʌndən/ (also commonly known as ChristChurch; and shorthand CCL^[1]), founded 2004, is an evangelical Christian church located in the Mermaid Theatre, London, United Kingdom. It is part of the New Frontiers group of churches,^[5][6]

ChristChurch London's vision is to be " a church committed to making London a great place to live. We love this city and are working for its spiritual, social and cultural renewal. ".^[7] They have a strong focus on community, loving one another, evangelism and serving the city through social action.^[7]

ChristChurch believes in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone, by the grace of God. They believe in the importance of spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit and healing. They also believe in the believer's baptism by full immersion.

As part of their approach to evangelism and building community, ChristChurch holds a large number of social events throughout the year which allow people to invite friends into the church community. These include football, curry nights, picnics, live music nights and other outings.^[8]

ChristChurch is a multicultural community with attendees from over 19 different nations as of 2007.^[9]

History

ChristChurch London was founded in October 2004 by David Stroud, who moved from Birmingham to start the church, and recruited Adrian Holloway and Rhys Scott to be part of the church-planting team. The church officially launched in 2005 at the New Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden and has since relocated a number of times as the church has grown. They now meet at the Mermaid Conference Centre in Blackfriars and have expanded to hold two meetings.^[10]

Years	Venue	Location	Congregation
2004–2005	International Students House	Great Portland Street	30 approx.
2005–2006	New Connaught Rooms	Covent Garden	240 approx.
2006–2007	Vinopolis	South Bank	300 approx.[11]
2007–2010	Piccadilly Theatre	Piccadilly Circus	500 approx.[12]
2010 – present	Mermaid Theatre	Blackfriars	> 500[12]

On 5 September 2009, ChristChurch London re-branded its logo and launched its first bimonthly publication "Broadcast Magazine".^[13]

The 28 February 2010 saw the official launch of "ChristChurch London: On The City", a virtual social networking service created by Zondervan, aimed to enhance communication amongst the church community.^[14] ChristChurch London is the first church community in Europe to trial the website.

Sundays

ChristChurch currently holds two weekly Sunday services, from 11-12.30pm and from 16.00-17.30.^[15]

The service often begins with 35 minutes of worship using largely contemporary Christian music, including songs by artists such as Chris Tomlin and Hillsong, together with original songs written by members of the ChristChurch London Worship Team. This is then followed by approximately 35 minutes of preaching, by a church elder or guest speaker, with a sermon centred on a passage of Biblical scripture. At the end of the service, people are often given the opportunity to be prayed for and to stay for refreshments, or after church socials.

Special Sundays

ChristChurch holds a number of special Sunday meetings throughout the year, including three baptismal services, two dedication services, an anniversary Sunday in October, and a Christmas Carol Service. They also have around six guest speakers each year.

Connect Groups

ChristChurch London has around 20 Connect Groups each of about 20-35 members. They are groups where people can build community and use their skills and passions to contribute to the flourishing of London life.^[16] These groups gather around a common cause; a people, a place, or a passion. Some examples include groups for those in the workplace, groups for Students, a group for those involved in social justice, and a group for East End Creatives.

Alpha course

ChristChurch hosts a free Alpha course twice a year for non-Christians and Christians.^[17] The course runs on a Wednesday for nine consecutive weeks, including a weekend away.^[18] Since 2004, over 2000 people in total has attended the Alpha course at ChristChurch.^[18]

Notable Alpha launches

ChristChurch London hosts two or three launches per Alpha course, which are also held at Sway Bar in Covent Garden.

3 October 2007: Simon Thomas, former Blue Peter presenter.^[19]

5 October 2009: Patrick Dixon, chairman of Global Change Ltd and founder of the international AIDS charity, ACET.^[20]

7 October 2009: Alister McGrath, author of the The Dawkins Delusion?.^[21]

20 January 2010: Jo Enright, comedienne and actress, who has appeared in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights and I'm Alan Partridge.^[22]

21 January 2010: Andy Duncan, chief executive of Channel 4.^[23]

19 April 2010: Baroness Cox, founder and chief executive of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust.^[24]

4 October 2010: Dr Ard Louis, theoretical physicist at the University of Oxford.

Students' Ministry

Due to its location in the centre of London, ChristChurch attracts many students from the nearby universities, mainly from colleges of the University of London.^[25] In 2008, ChristChurch London held student launches at Imperial College London, University College London, University of the Arts London and the London School of Economics.

The Student Team vision is to equip all their students to take the lead in bringing the Kingdom of God onto London’s university campuses.^[26] New students are "built in" as active members by the Student Team by one-on-one coffees and social student lunches. Furthermore, the team organises one-on-one discipleship courses, prayer and praise evenings, apologetics training, Christian Union leaders Forums, student bible study and student weekends away.^[27]

List of teams at ChristChurch

At ChristChurch London, there are a large number of people who serve and help the running of the service every Sunday. In 2006, there were 220 people who were actively serving on at least one of the ChristChurch teams.^[28]

Teams at ChristChurch London include:^[29]

Welcome Team Worship Team Production Team Tech Team Prayer Team Alpha Team

Beta Team Crèche (0-2) Jumping Beans (2-3) Kids Club (4-11) Youth (11-18) Student Work

Everything Matters

ChristChurch London hold a number of forums and seminars each year aimed to equip members in specific aspects of daily living, including "Work Matters", "Leadership Matters" and "Money Matters".^[30] They also gather together people in similar sectors to network, pray and work together to make a difference in their world. This include groups focussed on law, business, politics, the arts and science.^[31]

They also believe in caring for the poor and vulnerable as part of their service to God^[32] and run a number of projects including "Goals to Glory" football project, "Food Bank" and Refugee Mentoring.

See also

• Churches which do not meet in traditional Church buildings

References

External links

• ChristChurch London official website
• The City, ChristChurch London social networking website
• ChristChurch London, Registered Charity no. 1111950 at the Charity Commission