Around ten years ago a number of FIEC churches across London felt that God was leading them to plant an independent church in the heart of the city. Fast forward a few months, in the living room of a flat in London Bridge, and The Globe Church was started.
Since those early days our four (now five!) values have kept us seeking to be a church that is all about Jesus, made up of all sorts of people and involved in the greatest mission. We’ve gathered for worship in homes, lecture theatres, nightclubs, community centres, other churches and now a school hall in Elephant and Castle, where we’ve made a home for the last four years.
Now approaching our tenth birthday in September, these five values still define day-to-day life at Globe.
Dependent (our newest value!)
We want everything we do to come out of being connected to Jesus. As a church family we can’t go alone, so we want to grow in dependence on him. A heartbeat of church life at Globe is our monthly prayer gathering and our annual Week of Prayer. These times are precious moments of being dependent on our Heavenly Father. We need his help to live for him.
Relational
We love being a church in the heart of London. And while we might live in different parts of the city, we’re committed to living life as family – caring for each other, building relationships and helping each other live for Christ. A huge part of church life in the last ten years has been sharing meals together on a Sunday. I worked out that Globe has likely done over 600 Tesco orders in the last decade! But underneath the rotas and food orders, we have strived to embrace and overcome city obstacles to be family to one another.
Discipling
There are two things that we talk a lot about at The Globe Church: Christ and the Bible. We’re convinced that by going deeper into the Bible to discover who Christ is and what he’s done, we can grow together and be able to live for him. In recent years, we’ve started a series of training modules called Globe Equip, which enable anyone in our church family to be taught and trained in things like Bible handling, or to study topics such as prayer, foundational theology and hospitality. We long to see a generation of believers live all of life for Jesus.
Missional
God has involved us in the greatest mission of making the gospel known. Over the years at Globe we’ve done walk-up evangelism on the Southbank, meals for the homeless, international cafes, quizzes, meals with messages, art exhibitions and more to try to share Jesus with those he has put in our lives. We know this is an area we can grow in and we’re praying that we become increasingly confident in living to make Christ known to all people.
Generous
About 20% of Globe’s congregation leave each summer. We try to always say, ‘It’s good when people go’, but precious friends leaving to worship elsewhere can be hard. Yet, we want to be a church that is generous with our resources and our people – with a generosity that can only come from the Holy Spirit. Being a part of Co-Mission and the FIEC has also helped us with this, enabling us to plant Hope Church Vauxhall in 2018.
Globe has been a home for many and continues to serve around 220 adults (and a growing number of children). It’s our prayer that we keep loving and serving Jesus, being a church that keeps making Him known. That’s Globe in a nutshell. If you’re ever in the area, come and join us.
*If you have previously been a member of Globe or consider yourself a committed supporter, please visit linktr.ee/theglobechurch for more information about our tenth birthday celebrations.
