Launching a multicultural church plant in London
“God is for everyone”
Caleb and Adanesh started their mission many miles away in Ethiopia. Today, with the support of Counties, they lead a growing, multicultural church plant in Southwark, South London.
“I 100% felt a calling to serve from a young age, and I am so glad to serve God.”
Caleb has known that call since he was a teenager. At 19, he was already deep in church ministry in Ethiopia – training others in the Bible, preaching, and doing the work of an evangelist.
His father was a church minister, and had been praying that his son would follow him into it. When Caleb finished school, rather than choosing university and a career with church work on the side, he strongly felt he should go into full-time ministry. Political unrest in Ethiopia eventually decided the next chapter for him and his wife Adanesh: they came to the UK as refugees.
We found an Ethiopia in London
For six years, they settled into an Ethiopian Amharic language church in London. But it was another Ethiopian community, in the Lambeth and Southwark area of South London, that God laid on their hearts – people cut off from much of city life around them by language and culture. Caleb and Adanesh felt called to plant a church there.
It began with nothing: no team, no building, no funding, just the two of them talking to people on the street – getting to know them, offering help, inviting them to a Bible study. That Bible study, held in Amharic in their own flat, was the church in its earliest form. People started to come to faith.
Starting from scratch and working alone was hard going, until Caleb and Adanesh got in touch with CPI (the Church Planting Initiative), who introduced them to Counties. “Joining Counties made a huge contribution for us, we are so grateful,” says Caleb. Now they had like-minded people to talk to, a mentor, prayer and financial support, and access to more training.
Over time, the new church plant has changed shape. God, they reasoned, is for everyone and with 300 languages spoken across London, they wanted their doors open to anyone in the area, not just fellow Ethiopians. Today the congregation of The Message of the Cross Southwark (TMCS) is multicultural and mostly English-speaking. The couple also remain involved in the Amharic speaking church that first took them in.
Every Tuesday, TMCS runs a free meal for anyone in the area who needs one: the vulnerable, the lonely, the less fortunate. It draws a good crowd, and gives Caleb and Adanesh a natural way to get to know people and share the Gospel. Several who first came for the food are now serving in the church themselves.
From a chat on the street to a family restored
There are so many stories from the church plant, but one in particular stands out to Caleb. “One time, when we went out to chat with people on the street, we met a girl who was so hopeless. She told us later that she had been thinking about killing herself before we spoke to her. She came to Christ, and her life was completely transformed.”
Through her, Caleb and Adanesh reached her older sister, who was going through a miserable time of her own and she, too, came to Christ. The sisters’ mother was still living in Italy, so the family began praying for her together. One night, their mother had a dream; one that felt spiritual. She rang her daughter to talk it over, who put her mother on the phone to Caleb. He recognised the dream at once, tied as it was to things in the Bible, and told her that God wanted to speak to her, and wanted her to know Him. The mother gave her life to Christ right there on the call.
Caleb kept speaking with her by phone, week after week, until, at the age of 65, she decided she wanted to be baptised. Caleb travelled out to Italy and baptised her in the Mediterranean Sea. The ripples spread further still: her son and his wife have since become Christians too – a brother and sister who, before all this, had not been speaking to each other, were now reunited and united in Christ. And the girl who started it all, the one Caleb and Adanesh met hopeless on a Lambeth street? She is now happily married, with two children of her own.
Trust God and keep moving forward
“The Bible says we live by faith, not by sight,” Caleb reflects. “We trust God every time and move forward. It’s not easy — church planting demands everything. By the grace of God, we are here, planting the church. I don’t think I’m an amazing person, but I can see how God has used me for His Kingdom and for the sake of others. It fuels our faith, and helps us trust God more, when we step out in faith and see Him working.”
There is still plenty on Caleb and Adanesh’s hearts: keeping the Tuesday meal going, and more conversations on the street than they currently have workers for. Adanesh is also working at Iceland right now, but the couple are praying she may be able to join Caleb in serving the church and community full-time, where she is most needed.
“God is doing so much here and we need more helpers, even in the short term,” says Caleb. “Perhaps you could come and join us for a few months or a year?”
If you would like to speak to Caleb and Adanesh about joining their plant, you can contact them here: mathewosc@yahoo.com
Counties believe that every person, in every county should be within reach of a church that makes Jesus known to them. Contact us today about church planting by emailing planting@countiesuk.org