The Cambridge Link by Eddie Stride

‘For I know the plans I have for you says the lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’ (Jeremiah 29:11)

The Roots:

First I’ll just set the background to this vision that God has placed on my heart and how the role that Cambridge had to play in my life was one that God had perfectly planned from the beginning. Cambridge has a great Christian spiritual heritage; from Tyndale & the Round church to the wave of Cambridge graduates becoming missionaries at the turn of the 19^th century. Particularly for this reason my mother put a lot of pressure on me to apply to the university, as she believed that this was where God was going to do a significant work in my life to move me from my comfortable place of living out a compromising Christian life, into a man hungry for God’s will in his life and really understanding what it meant to be living for Christ. She was right and God was definitely in it from the start with the first miracle being an acceptance letter to Fitzwilliam College despite a hilarious interview!

My first year proved to be a rather challenging one, particularly to my weak faith. Alongside my decision to live a compromising lifestyle involving drink & drugs, my mind was battered with opposing views to the Christian faith, from atheistic friends and very close friends of other beliefs, with three of my close mates being Jew, Muslim & Hindu and a very anti-God atmosphere throughout the whole academic syllabus. This combined attack to the heart and mind weakened me to the point where at the start of my second year I had come to the point where I believed & I truly did believe that all this Jesus nonsense was rubbish that I had been brainwashed with from a young age in a western “Christian” society. Within days my lifestyle went severely downhill as I desperately attempted to comfort and fulfil myself and my heart became very bitter towards Christians, the church, Christianity and most significantly towards Christ. Over the year that followed my experience of Cambridge was to be very different, with my life dominated by a lustful search for fulfilment in drink, drugs, women, popularity & success – a selfish lifestyle that masked the unhappiness, stress and desperation that held me, a life lacking any real peace, joy and most importantly hope as I actively rejected the love of Jesus in my life.

Summer 2001 God started to use the life of Stuart Bowtell, a friend who at the time was dying of terminal cancer but living wholeheartedly for Jesus, to speak truth into my hardened and saddened heart. A number of significant experiences occurred which led to me attending a service at City church Cambridge halfway through my first term of my third year. This was to be the start of an amazing and transformed new life, as the spirit of the Lord came upon me in such a powerful and real way. From that morning I realised the truth and reality of Jesus and my passion to serve and live for him, for my remaining time at Cambridge and beyond.

The rest of my final year was an exciting one, where the Lord powerfully moved throughout Cambridge and particularly through my college, Fitz, with the number of Christians truly living for Christ really getting stuck in to the calling that God had for them. The Christian Union and Fusion movement both developed and grew, by-passing most of the friction which had impinged other colleges and God blessed this overall unity, as we saw exciting things happening, especially in the hearts of those who knew Christ but had failed to really step into the exciting plans he had for their lives. My passion to be in Cambridge, sharing the truth about Jesus with fellow students, who were by nature very open, was strong and growing. However, back home in Tower Hamlets the lord was also moving at a time where things were very difficult for my local church, Tower Hamlets Community Church (THCC) and for a number of my Christian friends, as a close friend and committed member of our church went to Glory following much suffering with cancer. Alongside this the church had a hit a very ‘dry’ period spiritually and was without a Main leader, yet the congregation’s calling to be in the inner-city remained strong.

In February 2002, my life hit a crossroad as I lay torn between my future in Cambridge where God had transformed me and was using me in exciting ways and my desire to go back to the Eastend, a desire which the lord unexplainably was placing on my heart. After much prayer the Lord strongly revealed to me the place where he saw me after graduation. Living and serving Him in Tower Hamlets, but keeping a very strong link with Cambridge and the students, the Christians and the churches within the city.

The Early Vision:

Initially this took the form of me visiting Cambridge in the autumn term of 2002 several times to meet up with Christian and non-Christian friends there. This enabled me to continue witnessing in the Cambridge scene while supporting and praying with fellow Christian friends in a number of colleges, particularly at Fitz. This ‘support’ factor is one of the main aspects of the vision that the lord has placed on my heart for this ‘link’ between myself, THCC and the area of Tower Hamlets and Cambridge and its students living for Jesus.

As most Cambridge students know, living & studying at Cambridge University is an extremely challenging and busy time. It’s a time where your faith is really put to the test on a number of fronts, but also a time when you have amazing opportunities to share the gospel. Having an ‘outsider’ who can talk and pray with you, giving you a larger perspective of Gods plan for your life, proved to be very helpful for a number of my friends studying there and a real blessing for me.

However, this ‘support’ factor extends beyond the students time at Cambridge. With a very large proportion of Christians ‘losing their way’ and ‘drifting’ from the plan God has for their lives following graduation, particularly when moving to the ‘big city’, support for graduates is of great importance, as most church leaders in Cambridge will vouch. Therefore, another key strand of this ‘support’ aspect, is to provide a place where Christian Cambridge Graduates can settle into vibrant spirit-led church and get actively involved in the local needy community of Tower Hamlets – having an active role in a supportive church is a key factor in keeping young Christians on the exciting path God has laid out for them. In the future it is envisaged that THCC will form a partnership with one or more churches in Cambridge, so that an accountable support-flow can be set-up, between the two cities as the students graduate and leave to move to London.

‘Give clothes to those who need them…feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness’ (Isaiah 58:7&10)

Counteracting A Trend:

The other main aspect to this ‘Link’ vision relates to a wider biblical calling, which I believe applies to all Christians. Jesus clearly calls us to reach out to the poor, needy, deprived, those less fortunate than ourselves. In the UK this tends to be concentrated in the inner city and is particularly true in East London. Tower Hamlets is the most deprived borough in Britain and has a very high ethnic population. Not only is the area a massive challenge physically, but also spiritually, with a very high Muslim population. The number of Christians living in and actively reaching out to the inner city in the UK is embarrassingly low. A significant aspect to this vision then is to help counteract this trend, by encouraging and enabling Christians moving into London to settle into its inner-city areas. The vision is not only for this long-term commitment however, a large part is to see Cambridge Christians showing the love of Christ through more short-term means, such as getting involved in outreach missions during the summer to participating in a gap-year style program following graduation.

The Beginnings Of The Link:

To date (summer 2003) the lord has blessed this aspect of the vision already, with a number of Cambridge students involved in THCC’s summer outreach mission, which was part of the ‘Canaan Project’ vision held by the youth pastors at THCC. The mission during July this year was an amazing and powerful time, where we were able to really reach out to the local community and share the gospel directly with thousands of young people. As well as witnessing a number of fruit, the mission was a real time of blessing for those serving from Cambridge and for us, the church in Tower Hamlets. All of those involved from Cambridge, ten in all, we’re all very excited about being involved in the next Canaan Project (THCC) mission. Many also found that it was a time where their own faith was stretched and challenged and God really did a fresh new work in them. This demonstrates at an early stage in this exciting vision, the two-way blessing for those involved, with the Cambridge students who committed and dedicated their time, experiencing a powerful and exciting work of the lord in a desperately needy area, and Tower Hamlets as an area and the church, being amazingly blessed by their willingness and desire to serve the lord in this way.

What now? The Future:

THCC has been blessed with having a number of its congregation linked in the past and currently, with Cambridge University. More recently, I graduated July 2002, and three others are now studying at Fitzwilliam, Girton and Robinson. This is very exciting and has been one of the factors that confirmed to me that this vision was of God and was one that can work in an exciting and blessed way.

Short-term:

In the short-term its envisaged that THCC host ‘taster’ weekends, where students from Cambridge will have the opportunity to come and stay in the east end from the Friday till Sunday, experiencing the different ministries of the church in reaching out to the local population and getting a taste for the area and what’s going on separate from the church. These weekends may act as a reunion type event for those participating in missions previously as well as being a time for those who have never experienced inner-city east London to see the work God is doing in this place. The typical programme for such a weekend would be something like below, and we would hope to have the first one at the start of the Cambridge University Christmas break, possible early December 2003:

Friday: Arrive, THTs Youth Club (church-run for around 150 church and non-church youth ranging from 11-19). Saturday: Tours of the borough (estates etc.) and the Canary Wharf complex, meet the Main Leadership team, evangelistic/ outreach event or evening social in docks. Sunday: Morning THCC church service, lunch and chill in local park, evening Youth café & youth church meeting, depart.

Following the success of the Canaan project mission and youth camp holiday in the summer, THCC will be running a programme every summer and possibly smaller versions at other points throughout the year. The involvement of Cambridge students this year was very exciting and an amazing blessing for both parties. This will be the other short-term focus to this vision. Information and prayer points for different missions will be dissipated to Cambridge by myself, those at THCC but studying at Cambridge, and via the church(es) that we may be working with as part of this link. As this link develops it may be that some of the youth living in Tower Hamlets, come and support missions being held in Cambridge by the church(es) that we are working with.

As mentioned earlier supporting students throughout their time at Cambridge is also something placed on my heart. On a general scale this should be coming from local churches, but probably comes as a more personal calling for me and relationships that I have with friends who are studying in Cambridge. However, it may be that support/accountability friendships develop between London & Cambridge through fellowship on weekends, missions etc.

Long-term:

In the long-term it is envisaged that Students graduating from Cambridge and feeling called to London, will have the opportunity to move into Tower Hamlets and get involved in the active ministries in THCC, that they would have hopefully experienced already. THCC will work with them and the church(es) they come from to make this transition smooth, helping with practical issues such as housing and employment. Not only would this spirit-led process benefit and bless the inner-city East End and THCC’s ministries showing the love of Christ to Tower Hamlets (counteracting the trend of middle-class/professionals moving and living in the suburbs of UK cities), but equally as important it will act as a support and protection for Christian graduates moving perhaps for the first time into the big and overwhelming city of London (counteracting the trend of Christian Graduates falling away from the path that God has laid out for them following university).

In the future THCC hope to be facilitating a gap-year style program, particularly for Christians in the year following graduation from university. This would be an exciting program where participants would live in the local community, be involved in a range of ministries and community projects, help develop local and overseas mission and have the time to develop their own giftings and vision for their future. The link with Cambridge would have an obvious role in this scheme.

Praise God for the way He is moving in different places, for the way He is moving in Cambridge and in Tower Hamlets. I thank the Lord for the vision that He has placed on my heart for this ‘link’ between Cambridge and Tower Hamlets and know that others share and support this vision in both places. If you have any words or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via details below.

Eddie Stride, September 2003

Tel: 07876 494912

Email: eddiestride1@hotmail.com

Address: 32 Claire Place, Tiller Road, London, E14 8NJ

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself’ (Luke 10:27)

June 2005 – An Update

Since September 2003, when this document was written there have been a number of exciting changes and developments in regards to this vision. I will highlight some of the key points.

The following summer (2004), a number of young people from THCC travelled up to Cambridge to get involved in the “Summer Blast” mission being run by City Life Church (CLC). This was an exciting time & was a blessing for all involved. A few weeks later a number of students from Cambridge got involved in the “Soul in the City” mission in London – many were stationed in Tower Hamlets (the plan to have them based with THCC fell apart due to a central IT system failure!) – and it really was an amazing couple of weeks. As part of the 2 weeks The Canaan Project (community arm of THCC) linked up with City Gateway (a training & employability project for young people, set up by the local church. City Gateway has carried out a number of projects in partnership with The Canaan Project and works very closely with THCC) who were working in partnership with the local authority and a number of other secular organisations. This was an exciting time demonstrating that Christian-based organisations could produce high quality programmes for the youth in the area. We witnessed a number of young people giving their lives to the Lord.

Following the mission, we had a great youth week away, where again a number of young people were saved and we really saw God impacting young peoples’ lives. And following the summer we saw some early signs of what was to come in relation to this vision and the special link building up between Cambridge & Tower Hamlets - Rachel Goodacre (who graduated from Cambridge summer 04) came down to the East End and joined THCC, while Sophie Grimble (who graduated at the same time) started working at City Gateway. This was very exciting and a real encouragement to myself & others who had been praying for this particular vision. Somewhere along the timeline, THCC were blessed to have Tim Anderson (pastor of CLC) and a whole team come down & visit THCC, as Tim shared with us and we had exciting fellowship together.

This year – 2005 – has continued to see these trends developing. In June Tim is back to share with us at THCC and hopefully we will then be able to share with him and the group from Cambridge some of the exciting things the lord is building here in Tower Hamlets. Following this we hope to see an increase in momentum of believers from both areas serving in each others summer missions and a continued & increased flow of graduating Christians in Cambridge (who are heading to the capital), moving into Tower Hamlets and building the purposes and plans of God in this area. We also look forward to more members of THCC who will soon be moving to Cambridge to study, and the role they will play in helping to serve in all that God’s people are doing there.

Contact details if you want to know more about all this & get involved:

• Eddie Stride (07876494912); eddie@citygateway.org.uk

• Roxy Hastings/Suzy Stride (Cam), Sophie Grimble (City Gateway), Rachel Goodacre (The Stepney Life Centre)