I Am New Here

Are you looking for a new church in London, or even thinking about attending a church for the very first time?

If so the London International Church of Christ is the perfect choice and we encourage you to look around our website and can’t wait to meet you in person.

What to expect at the London Church of Christ?

Most people, whether they realise it or not, have a pre-conceived idea of what a church should be. Most non-Christians think of a building when they think of a church, with high ceilings, stained glassed windows and haunting organ music.

Some churches are indeed found in these places, whilst others are more modern and focus on personal Christianity rather than grand architecture and endless ceremonies. Some are lively and loud and filled with joyous worshipers, and others are quiet and focussed on personal reflection. Some are dominated by a certain ethnic group, whilst others are diverse places where communities gather together. There are a huge number of different churches that all choose to worship in different ways and attending a service can vary wildly in experience.

If you are new here, it is understandable that you might be thinking where exactly London church fits on this spectrum.

Well, we believe that a church is a community, not a building, which is why we rent our gathering places for Sunday services, rather than maintain a single building at great time and expense that could be better placed spreading the word of God and helping those in need.

We reflect the diversity of this great City, welcoming people from all walks of life, ethnicities, ages, and social backgrounds. The images you see on this page aren’t stock photos, they are real pictures of our wonderful church community gathering together to worship the Lord through Jesus Christ.

We have worked hard to avoid the cliquey nature of many churches, so don’t be surprised if many different people come up for a chat and introduce themselves when you attend one of our events. It won’t be long until you have a plethora of event invites coming your way.

Our definition of a Church

We believe that a church is what the Bible says it is. A community committed to spreading the word of God. There are a few different definitions of a church found in the Scripture that we feel reflect our church nicely in different aspects.

A Storytelling Community (Acts 11:19-26)

A church is a community of people who have themselves discovered the joys of the Good News about Jesus and are passionate about sharing is with others. By sharing the news, and building a community that depends on each other, the burdens of the individual are shared and become easier to bear. All our members have their own trials and tribulations but by being reconciled to God are always keen and eager to help others, both others in the church and outside the fellowship. Sharing stories, pressures, and problems and  dealing with them together makes the church a Storytelling community eager to share the story of how much God loves them and the power he has to help them.

In Greek, the word for church is ‘Eklesia’ meaning “assembly”, which in the book of Acts refers to an assembly of people who wish to follow God.

A Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

This is how the Apostle Paul describes his life’s work and is a valid description of what a church should be.

The Bible says that the human situation is opposed to God’s in that we have the power to choose our own right and wrongs, thus rejecting God’s, if we so choose. Rewarding ourselves with the things that we desire is something that is promoted in modern society, through advertisement and the media, and whilst this, in moderation, is fine, the scripture tells us that the heat is deceitful and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17:9). Following the heart can lead to jealousy, addiction, and a variety of other painful experiences. Jesus spent his life on Earth encouraging us to live the opposite kinds of life, leading by example, by putting the needs of others above his own.

Doing so brought great joy to those around him, and bringing joy to others through our actions is at the heart of what any good church should be.

2 Corinthians 5 tells us to be ambassadors for Christ and that is exactly what we strive to be as members of the London International Church of Christ, treating others with respect and sharing what we have, whether that be a nice dinner or by spreading the word of God.

A Hospital for Sinners (Matthew 9:10-13 & Luke 5:30-32)

When Jesus was on earth, he drew criticism from the religious teachers of the day for interacting with ‘sinners’ and for preaching the word of God to those from all different walks of life.

The Bible tells us that we are, in fact, all sinners, and that God, through Jesus is the route we all must take in order to be healed. Just as those in a hospital are slowly being healed of their injuries, those in the church are slowly finding their way to cure their spiritual illnesses and are at various stages along this process.

What does the London Church of Christ look like?

With congregations across the whole of London in a wide variety of different locations, each London Church service you attend will be slightly different. Whatever event or service you attend, however, you can expect:

• A focus on personal Christianity rather than the church as a building.
• A lively atmosphere filled with enthusiastic Christians excited to share the Word.
• A wide variety of different people of all ethnicities and ages. In the very first Churches (Acts 2) God gave people attending church with people from other nationalities the miraculous gift of speaking in each other’s languages so they could talk and worship together.
• Normal people doing God’s work. You won’t see ministers wearing flouncy roles and talking in long difficult to understand languages here. We talk about the Bible and the Holy spirit in a clear and understandable way and apply the lessons we learn to our own lives.
• An emphasis on small groups. As well as meeting as an entire congregation, we also believe that meeting in a more intimate setting with others in a similar situation to ourselves can help bring us closer to God and help us build each other up to tackle the problems in our own personal lives. Encouraging each other as individuals will help us become more like Him after all.
• Counselling that recognises we are all sinners and that empathy and compassion is at the heart of all good spiritual mentoring.

Hopefully you now have a bit of a better understanding of what you can expect when you attend a London Church of Christ and we would absolutely love to have you along for the ride. We are always looking to enlarge our population and spread the word as widely and loudly as possible and anyone who is passionate about doing the same or simply wants to come along and see what church is all about would be welcomed with open arms.

If all you want to do is sit at the back on of our Sunday services and listen, that’s great, but we have a feeling you’ll want to get involved and once you’ve been once, you will be excited to return again soon.