Multi-site outreach impacts London

<p>26 September 2016 | London, England [Andrew McChesney, AR/Natasha Mirilov, SEC/<em>ted</em>NEWS]</p> <p>A multi-location evangelistic outreach across London and the South East of England has resulted in 87 baptisms, hundreds more contacts, and even the conversion of a woman was preparing to be a high priestess for Satan.</p> <p>She hated Seventh-day Adventist evangelist John Lomacang.</p>

News September 26, 2016

26 September 2016 | London, England [Andrew McChesney, AR/Natasha Mirilov, SEC/tedNEWS]

A multi-location evangelistic outreach across London and the South East of England has resulted in 87 baptisms, hundreds more contacts, and even the conversion of a woman was preparing to be a high priestess for Satan.

She hated Seventh-day Adventist evangelist John Lomacang.

Richard Daly, left, pastor at the Croydon church, thanking John and Angie Lomacang on the final Sabbath. (3ABN)
Every time Lomacang appeared on 3ABN television in her home in South Africa, she asked her daughter to switch off the television or change the channel.

A few weeks back, she felt an urge to go to the Croydon Seventh-day Adventist Church in London, her new home. She didn’t realize that the church was one of 11 London sites holding a two-week evangelistic series organized by the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in partnership with 3ABN.

Candidates waiting for baptism at the Croydon Seventh-day Adventist Church in London last Sabbath. (3ABN)
“To her amazement, she saw Pastor Lomacang preaching on the power of prayer,” said Emmanuel Osei, acting SEC president. “Only God could’ve led her because this wasn’t planned.”

The woman, who was once deep in the occult, is among dozens of people whose lives have been affected through the 3 – 17 September evangelistic series titled, ‘The Right Time, The Right Message’, organisers said. With a total of 87 people baptized at the conclusion of the meetings, many more are now taking Bible studies in preparation for baptism.

3ABN evangelists during Testimony section. Left to right: Cory Jackson, John Dinzey, Yvonne Lewis, Danny Shelton, Kenny Shelton, Chris Shelton, Shelley Quinn, John Lomacang.
The evangelistic series, 3ABN’s first major international event in about a decade, might have yielded significantly more baptisms if it had been held in some other country, said Danny Shelton, president and CEO of 3ABN. But he and other 3ABN leaders said they believed that God had led them to London for a reason.

“God is not done with London yet,” said Lomacang, 3ABN’s director of world evangelism, who led the main evangelistic meeting at the Croydon church. “Seeds have been planted, and the wave of evangelism must not cease.”

The evangelistic meetings were well-attended at most of the 11 sites, although the crowds were sparser on several nights, said Osei, who visited all of the sites. He said the lower turnout might have been the result of some people deciding to watch from home after learning that the meetings were livestreamed online.

OneLife’s volunteer signers
“The number of visitors in some of our congregations was very encouraging,” he said. “This is because some churches made a concerted effort to do extensive preparatory work. This was coupled with the efforts of a Bible worker in each church.”

Local churches organised a series of health expos to reach out to their communities before the meetings began. Now church members are seeking to nurture and disciple those who were baptized and those who asked for Bible studies.

“Each church is engaging in follow-up to help consolidate those who have been recently baptized and to work with those who requested Bible studies,” Osei said. “Already baptismal dates have been set in some churches.”

Congregation
The final Sabbath of the OneLife series was a highpoint: a special Day of Fellowship held on 17 September at Ruach City Church, London.

Churches participating in the evangelistic series joined together for the evening programme, after holding their own baptisms in the morning. After a health seminar with Dr Ngwaba, the programme concluded with a Q&A session with all the 3ABN speakers, followed by a concert which featured several renowned artists including musical evangelist, Neville Peter.

OneLife music team; Praise team; Musician Neville Peter singing special item

“We were hearing the experiences of the pastors from the nine different sites and the testimonies that came out today were really inspiring. I’m hoping that this is something we can really build on for the future because some kind of momentum has been created here,” said Antonio Belgrave, SEC Strategic Planner.

SEC acting President Emmanuel Osei and SEC Health Ministries Director Dr Chidi Ngwaba discuss about health talks during the series
Also a first for the SEC were the ten live stream channels available each night on the evangelistic series’ website. SEC Media director, Vili Costescu enthused, “I didn’t think that a new website would have over 1,200 unique visitors in the first week.” This, he claimed, was a breakthrough for the department which experimented with various live streaming platforms, such as Facebook Live and Periscope for the first time.

Meanwhile Dr Osei stated that following the success of the 3ABN/SEC outreach programme, Conference directors would be setting aside time to evaluate the entire programme, identifying areas of strength and weakness that would be used to inform future decisions.

For more information on the OneLife series, visit the website (1life.org.uk), or watch the evening reports. For more stories of changed lives from the programme see the full Adventist Review article. [tedNEWS]


tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, director; Esti Pujic, editor

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