Hope for Bermondsey

To City Hope Church in Drummond Road for the C4T ministers' lunch.

C4T stands for Christians for Transformation in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe and it links together a number of churches of different denominations, along with the Salmon Youth Centre and the London City Mission.

What unites us is belief in the transforming Gospel, the hope for Bermondsey & Rotherhithe and the hope for all the world.

Over lunch we shared with each other the challenges and encouragements of the last few months since we last met (before the summer holidays) and prayed for one another.

It was good to hear of new projects - a wonderful mission week on the estates led by Haddon Hall

Baptist Church with people coming to faith in Christ and being baptised in the open air in full view of their neighbours, of a food bank starting at City Hope, of the new spaces created through the re-ordering of St Mary's, of Paul, our very own new urban missioner, starting work next week.

I think it was American pastor, Bill Hybels, who said 'the local church is the hope for the world' and it struck me today that our local churches are a real sign of hope and in the Gospel have a real message of hope, one that is desperately needed in our community.

We need to get out there and share it and need the reviving, renewing power of the Holy Spirit to be there in our midst.

I like the words of this song which speaks of revival coming to the city, sang by Roger a couple of weeks ago in church, and appropriately enough to be sung again this Sunday when Paul is licensed. It makes a great prayer for parish and our city:

I hear the voice of one calling, prepare ye the way of the Lord.
And make His paths straight in the wilderness
And let your light shine in the darkness
And let your rain fall in the desert.

As sure as gold is precious and the honey sweet,
So you love this city and you love these streets.
Every child out playing by their own front door
Every baby laying on the bedroom floor.

Every dreamer dreaming in her dead-end job
Every driver driving through the rush hour mob
I feel it in my spirit, feel it in my bones
You're going to send revival, bring them all back home

I can hear that thunder in the distance
Like a train on the edge of town
I can feel the brooding of Your Spirit
"Lay your burdens down, Lay your burdens down".

From the Preacher preaching when the well is dry
To the lost soul reaching for a higher high
From the young man working through his hopes and fears
To the widow walking through the veil of tears

Every man and woman, every old and young
Every fathers daughter, every mothers son.
I feel it in my spirit, feel it in my bones
You're going to send revival, bring them all back home

I can hear that thunder in the distance
Like a train on the edge of town
I can feel the brooding of Your Spirit
"Lay your burdens down, Lay your burdens down".

Revive us, Revive us,
Revive us with your fire!