London Pastor Initiates Door-to-Door Evangelism Blitz

By Maria Mackay, Christian Today Reporter Tuesday, June 16, 2009

LONDON – Since Sunday, Pastor Jonathan Oloyede has led a team of 30 people from his church, City Chapel, in delivering gospel tracts to 4,200 homes in Beckton and prayer-walking the streets.

"Jesus told us to go. He didn't tell them to come. So we are taking the Gospel to where the people are," said Oloyede, who planted the multi-national City Chapel in January. "That's the spirit of Paul and the early apostles. That's what we're supposed to be doing."

The team includes two crew members from Operation Mobilization's new ministry ship, Logos Hope, which is currently docked in London's Canary Wharf.

Tracts have either been dropped through people's mailboxes or given at the door. Whenever the door was opened to them, members of the team took the opportunity to tell the residents about the love of Jesus for them and invite them to church.

"After Pentecost it was mission. Now that we've prayed, let's go on to the streets and preach the Gospel," said Oloyede, who helped mobilize 50,000 Christians to prayer on Pentecost Sunday in his role as convener of the Global Day of Prayer London.

Now that the tracts have been delivered, the team is planning to follow up with visits to the homes and sharing the Gospel with those who invite them in.

He hopes other churches will be inspired to take up door-to-door evangelism and reach even more of the capital's 7.5 million people.

"Even in London where church attendance is relatively high we are not yet scratching the surface," he said. Although 650,000 Christians attend church regularly in London, Oloyede said "it is not good enough."

"It means millions of people are not coming to our churches so we need to bring the Gospel of Jesus to the houses to the people where they are," he noted. "If 30 of us could do that in two hours how much more could 650,000 Christians do? So we can do it. We can take the city if we really try."

As part of its outreach, City Chapel has also begun to commit part of its tithes to people who are suffering financially in the recession. One seriously ill man in Newcastle recently received a check to help him buy an orthopedic bed, and a couple in London were helped with their mortgage payments.

"People need practical Christianity at this time," Oloyede said.