AT JUST gone 10am on Monday 23 June 2008, volunteer Tanya Willison cut the ribbon at the Marylebone Passage entrance to declare the London Jesus Centre open. “God gave me an honour to do that,” said Tanya. “It’s good to make a legacy in your life.”

With one visitor already waiting for the Welcome drop-in, it was soon business as usual as word spread and others began to turn up for showers, storage, food, friendship and more, while downstairs in the Word tea room one first-day visitor’s comment was: “Lovely service, lovely soup. I’m gonna be a regular. Where’s the bowl for tips?”

Two weeks later, representatives from Jesus Fellowship churches as far away as Leeds crammed the upstairs chapel on 5 July to commission the building, a former Anglican convent, “as a place for Christian community, worship and care.” Unlike the two other Jesus Centres, the London one has a 30-member community house, Battlecentre, attached – it’s truly 24/7 church.

In its first month of opening, the London Jesus Centre welcomed over 50 different people to the drop-in, with an average of 15 visitors per day. Sixty-six lots of clothing were given out, 181 meals served, and 19 lots of laundry done.

Meanwhile, the Word tea room was seeing a steady increase in business week on week, with many customers becoming regulars.

Says Rob Bentley, Centre Manager: “We want the London Jesus Centre to be a centre of the Jesus Revolution, where Jesus Revolution workers help people have a personal Jesus Revolution so they can join in the shared Jesus Revolution.”

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