History

The local Church was established just over fifty years ago and is one of the oldest branches in the Church of God in London.

The first pastor of the Church was Brother Shiakallis who was assisted in his ministry by Brother Barbounis. These men envisioned a Church which would be free from all restrictions of legalistic creed, tradition and culture which would hinder the work of God.

History

In attempting to do this, they encountered much hostility, jeering and derision from the Greek Orthodox community but persevered in their quest to discover the Church of the Bible.

In the early years, the Church consisted of a majority of Greek-Cypriots who worshipped in different localities (such as in Islington). These years were simple, quaint, and most of all, free, with songs sung and sermons preached in Greek.

After a while, as young children were born and a few English speaking people came to the Church, the need for translation arose. The Church has also had different pastors over the years. Some of the more notable including Brother Gregory Dikeos who served for about four years in the early nineteen eighties and was instrumental in encouraging some of the younger believers. Brother Vaughn, a pastor from America who helped the Church through some of the formative phases and helped to lay a good foundation for future growth.

Candle

Brother Michael Charalambous served the Church in the late 80s and early 90s. Together with his wife Soulla, they worked to make the Church truly bilingual with songs and messages translated. This helped others come into the Church who would otherwise have been hindered. At this time they were based at Russell Road in Palmers Green and continued to blessing to the surrounding community.

After Brother Michael was transferred to Cyprus, the Church was placed under the care of the overseer, Brother Poorman (also the former District Overseer) for approximately twelve months.

History 3

Soon after, Brother Ricky Christopher was appointed by the National Overseer to become the Pastor of the Church in 1994. The Church was becoming a modern church with young people coming along from the community, modern music and resources, teaching and preaching in English as well as Greek and enabling us to entertain the idea of having a building.

The Church re-located to Edmonton in the Green Towers Community Centre and for about four years served the Edmonton area with many wonderful outreach ministries such as concerts and dinners - we became truly relevant. The young children were now teenagers and a Friday night youth group was well-established. The young people went to retreats nationally and internationally, as well as socialising more locally, like skating and cinema.. All of a sudden the Church was fun as well as spiritual for the youth. After four years, we waved goodbye to the Edmonton area and took on the challenge of reaching out to the community in Wood Green, with HCC now being based at the Church of the Good Shepherd. It was here that new giftings began to really emerge.

History

Traditionally the Church had given concerts with very minimal stage production. For the first time, however, we had reached the level of technical, dramatic and artistic performance to draw large numbers to our outreach events - many which resulted in new people coming along and joining the Church.

Presently, we are based at Lordship Lane Primary School where we have been for approximately five years.
We no longer have translation in Greek but offer support for every nationality. In 2008 the Church is moving on and there is a sense that the future is bright. A new generation of leaders is emerging and the Church is experiencing a breath of fresh air.

Today we continue to stand as part of the wider Church of God which has branches all over London and England and continue to be an expression of cosmopolitanism with members from the Turkish, Greek, Portugese, Caribbean, American and many other communities.

Our worship and Preaching services can be accessed via the web and the youth have become one of the most successful in the UK even winning the National prize a few years ago. Their dramatic productions have been placed on DVD and is a blessing to many.

Fifty years after the foundation of the local Church we have experienced the faithfulness of God and can truly say that we are still standing and by God’s grace we hope to continue to serve and be relevant to the surrounding community for years to come.