CLC THAMESMEAD: PAST & PRESENT

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Christian Life Centre Thamesmead held its first service on 11th January 1998 in what was then the Thamesmead Community College on Yarnton Way, South Thamesmead. It was started by our Senior Pastor, Reverend 'Yomi Olowoyo and his wife Eunice when they were released from their former church fellowship- Glory Bible Church in east London. CLC Thamesmead is a non-denominational church.

Although the congregation is largely black African, CLC Thamesmead has a vision to reach out to all ethnic groups in the community, especially the indigenous residents. This has shaped the focus our major outreaches. CLC started a football club for the young boys in the community - Thamesmead Arrows in 1998. The club was registered with the Bexley Football league for its first season in the 1998/99. The club ran for several seasons until the boys were 13/14 years old and did very well in the league table.

In April 2013, we started a Saturday morning Community Breakfast Fellowship which provides a free full English breakfast for anyone in the community who needs it. This has been a place for reaching out to those who would not normally attend our weekly church services. Each Saturday, we sing simple hymns or songs together and share a short gospel message before the meal is served. This has been very well received and we have seen those who accepted Christ and have been baptised. The breakfast fellowship reaches out to the lonely, the unemployed and many suffering from substance abuse. This has fostered good relationships with people in our community which has led to home and hospital visits, one to one counselling and so on at their request. We have had between 15-35 people coming in each Saturday for breakfast since we started. Each Christmas we hold a special Christmas Breakfast where hampers are distributed with the Council Mayor in attendance on one occasion. During the pandemic lockdown in 2020 & 2021, we continued to serve these people by delivering food parcels to their homes. The Community Breakfast Fellowship currently holds fortnightly.

CLC hosted a Food Bank from our premises for a short period in the early 2000's and just before the lockdown, hosted a Food Club. We work closely with other local churches on various outreaches- Easter, Christmas and Summer as part of the Churches Together in Thamesmead and Abbeywood.

CLC Thamesmead has church plants in Liverpool UK, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Botswana. CLC Thamesmead is part of the network of Churches In Community (CIC) which is an affiliate of Evangelical Alliance.

Since the lockdown, CLC now streams its Sunday service on Zoom, YouTube and Facebook.