Many of you have asked for an update about our new project in West London.
So here goes.
A quick update on the building at Ealing. A total overhaul including decorate, fixtures and fitting, media install and revamp of the kitchen and toilets are ready to start when it gets released out of the Army system. Hopefully very soon. The building is presently an empty shell with nothing in it.
Our project in Hayes, which is a massive part of the project is progressing along nicely. The building in Hayes is awaiting the arrival of the new officer appointment to our team, Sylvia Overton, a cadet about to be commissioned as an officer in the summer, who will bring a dimension to the vision for the project due to her experience in Canada with the War college and later at Edmonton Crossroads working particularly with girls on the street in Downtown Edmonton. Hayes is a massively needy area close to Heathrow Airport, with very specific needs. Hayes will have the elements of the project base at Ealing but will also have specific ministries that Sylvia will develop and pioneer.
Ealing Charity shop which has been closed for a short period to realign staff and mission currently is being redecorated and reorganized. A new manager will be appointed in the very near future which we are excited about. Working alongside Chris Scott (community director DHQ) we have reset the mission of the shop to be in line with the prayer centre at Ealing and Hayes and a really exciting vision has surfaced and will be implemented when it reopened in the coming months.
Ealing is a very needy area too. Massively populated and one of the London boroughs, it has deep needs including homelessness, gang warfare and many other needs all mixed in with major regeneration and wealth, much like most areas of London. There is lots of prayer work to be done. Ealing prayer centre is now positioned for lift off, following months of research, prayer reconnaissance and drastic realignment of mission priorities. It will launch in the coming months as a major prayer centre. It will have a plethora of prayer rooms, including a prayer mission nerve centre, a creative prayer room, a number of quiet cells for personal reflection, a large prayer room for larger prayer groups, a gathering hall and a mission store, a top class hospitality facility, a prayer hatch out on to the Main Street and an administration area housed on the mezzanine floor. There will be four teams people can be mobilized into, intercession team, street prayer team, hospitality team, prayer ministry team. Dawn and I believe strongly in mobilizing everyone who comes on board and it's so exciting to have a list developing of people who want to come on board with us.
We will be shortly setting up our new Facebook page and Twitter update facility so please watch this space and friend us for further updates including launch dates.
This is a very brief and understated update there are so many exciting things developing and surfacing as God works his wonders. So I want to finish with a story that describes the simple hope of our prayer centre.
Attached to the Ealing Corps that was housed in Ealing hall before we had the necessary passing of the Old corps to usher in the new era, is a lady called Ruth. She is Indian and came to London in 1971, to work as a Carer. She is the daughter of former Salvation Army Officers in India. She's 80 but looks about 45! I'm not sure I've ever met a more passionate Jesus follower in my life. Her little flat in Ealing is like a prayer centre in itself. Every area of wall in her flat is covered in stuff dedicated to Jesus including a massive handwritten sign in the living room saying "God is in control!" Her whole life is dedicated to following Jesus, she prays like no one I've met, she speaks about Jesus to everyone she meets, no one is safe!!! But the overriding thing about Ruth is that she has the look of Jesus. She has his countenance. Her soft spirit draws you close to God as she speaks and engages with you. She shows his love in amazing practical ways. Especially to me. Since arriving in Ealing she has shown extreme kindness to Dawn and I. She heard that I like curry. So every couple of weeks she makes me a curry. Boxes it up and gets it to me somehow. She always writes in big letters across the top of the box "Captain Gary's Curry." I also have never tasted curry like it. It's fantastic to be honest. It's also a massive blessing on my life. Her kindness and love has sustained Dawn and I during a very difficult couple of months as you can imagine as we ended the corps as it was forever in readiness to raise up the new in Ealing.
And that love and kindness?
Is the essence of the mission.
Without that love?
Which is a direct reflection of the love of Jesus.
We are nothing.
This project will be nothing.
We can create the right structure for success of this project, we can build a nice environment, we can put an elaborate looking mission strategy down on paper.
But without love?
It will be nothing.
And that is the real essence of the work we are undertaking right now. The real hard work is prayer, love. Acceptance of anyone and compassion.
We are excited and positioned well now.
We ask if you could pray for this project. It has been put in place because nine Corps have closed in West London.
And.
It goes without saying.
God hasn't finished and will never finish his amazing work in this world.
His mission.
His love for us.
