Message of Jesus Refound in London

By Vivian S. Park

LONDON -- The empty society of London is waiting to be filled with the message of Jesus as the communications director, Mark Elsdon-Dew, at Holy Trinity Brompton in London is introducing a special course as a solution to the crisis of Christian belief in the West.

According to BBC news, the Christian belief is fading away in the West. It referred to the sorrowful situation of Christianity that the Christian message has been written off by many as boring, untrue and irrelevant and at the same time, the goals of today’s culture, such as wealth and fame, are failing to satisfy the hearts of people. However the deep spiritual hunger and longing of the youth trying to explore the questions of life continue to exist.

In the midst of obscurity of Christian faith in Jesus, the Alpha course sponsored by Holy Trinity Brompton in London, is brining light onto the dark land of the West, emerging as a new vehicle for evangelism.

At first the course was designed to simply present the basic principles of the Christian faith to new Christians but later it was further developed by clergyman Nicky Gumbel to attract non-Christians as well. Amazingly over 1.6 million people, mostly young Christians, have now attended an Alpha Course in the UK alone.

Nicky Gumbel said, "It's all friendship-based. There's no knocking on doors, there's little advertising, but it's friends bringing friends."

In summer a big project ‘Soul in the City’ will be organized in London by Soul Survivor, a Christian youth organizaion, which is intended to mobilize tens of thousands of youth from across the UK to get involved in community and regeneration outreach.

Elsdon-Dew commented on the project by saying: “In this way, as the capital is influenced in a practical way for Jesus Christ, we hope that many will see something new, exciting and positive about the Christian message which they had never seen before,” he said.

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