Yesterday (Tuesday 22nd November), we gathered a group of important people to mark the official opening of our Foodbank. Run in conjunction with the Trussell Trust, the Foodbank will provide emergency food parcels to Westminster’s poorest families. You can read the press release we issued here.

Colin Barrow CBE

Our Foodbank is hosted in our church building, and is staffed entirely by volunteers from our membership base.

The Launch

Speaking at the launch, Councillor Colin Barrow, Leader of Westminster City Council, said, “It’s great to see our community pulling together as one to make a real difference to the lives of struggling families. We are constantly working to give Westminster residents that extra helping hand, and we know, with the winter months approaching, this Foodbank will play a pivotal role in providing for those most at risk.”

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We officially launch our Foodbank today at an evening event which will feature speeches from Colin Barrow, leader of Westminster Council, John Glen MP, Member of Parliament for Salisbury, and Greg Haslam, our Senior Pastor.

In the run-up to this, Greg appeared on BBC London’s breakfast news show to talk about the launch. You can listen to his radio interview via this link. (He is on at 2 hours 37 mins.)

Greg also appeared on Premier Christian Radio news bulletins throughout the day, and a story on our opening appeared in the Guardian’s Society Daily column (right at the bottom!).

We’re excited about the attention this new project is getting, and hopeful that it will make a real impact on our community!

This blog will be updated tomorrow morning with photos and comments from the launch.

There are some men whose grace and skill in debating sets them apart and makes you glad they’re on your team. One such man is William Lane Craig, though I know him more by reputation than personal experience.

He is somewhat of a legend in apologetics circles because of his gifting on the debating floor. In fact, he is such a formidable opponent that on numerous occasions atheists have either refused point-blank to engage him in public debate, or having accepted the invitation, turned it down at a later date with fairly lame excuses.

One example of a man who will not debate Craig is Professor Richard Dawkins.

I have never seen Craig debate, but I was excited to hear that he’s doing a tour here in the UK. There are a couple of events in London, including a training day held in our building. It would have been amazing to witness Stephen debating the religious authorities of his day, since “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10). Perhaps hearing Craig is the next best thing available today?

Intrigued? I certainly am.

There can be a kind of agony in figuring out what decisions to make in life, whilst desiring to walk in the will of God. You know you have limited time on this earth and you don’t want to mess up. That means that every major decision in life can make you break out into a cold sweat as you gnaw away at the pros and cons, hoping you get it right.

We’ve just launched a great new way for people to support our mission, called Give as you Live. You can download the Give as you Live shopping app to send, on average, 2.5% of every £1 you spend online to Westminster Chapel. This means you can turn every grocery delivery, every holiday and every pair of new shoes into a donation to us. Shops include: Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, HMV, John Lewis, lastminute.com, British Airways, iTunes and many more.

If you’re a Christian outside of London or the UK who uses our website and/or our podcast regularly we would appreciate your support to build upon the excellent foundations laid by respected bible teachers, such as Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones and Dr RT Kendall, to establish an Antioch church (see Acts 11 and 13) where every member plays their part to facilitate gospel mission across London and the world. To find out about more ways to give, click here.

Check out the video below to get a better understanding of how it works.