City Temple, London - city centre Nonconformist Congregation
The City Temple is an historic Nonconformist Congregation founded circa 1640, whose first minister was the Rev. Thomas Goodwin (chaplain to Oliver Cromwell). Today it’s a cosmopolitan international church ministering in the City of London. In September 2001 it took the unusual step of calling Rod Woods, a pastor from outside its tradition and from the United States. He says, “When I arrived in London, I immediately noticed how burdened people were with many issues in their lives: sin, relationship breakdown, stress, baggage from the past, even demonic oppression. Tragically, this was as true for Christians as for non-Christians. Because of these issues, Christians were greatly hindered in their development as disciples of Jesus and the church was very ineffective in its witness to the city.”

Rod had been using Freedom in Christ principles for many years in previous churches in the States and knew that the Steps to Freedom in Christ would be a valuable tool in helping people resolve these personal and spiritual issues. He presented the issues to the eldership of the church who unanimously endorsed an important strategy. First, they would encourage everyone in the church to have a personal appointment to go through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. Second, they would provide training in order to develop a team of encouragers to help lead others through the Steps. Third, they would make the Steps a prerequisite for involvement in other key ministries, such as the prayer ministry team. Finally, they resolved that no one would be received into membership of the church who had not had a personal appointment to go through the Steps.

Rod believes that this has been highly significant: “It’s had a dramatic impact on our congregation. We now have a group of people other than the pastor who can minister to others effectively; we have an increased sense of unity; and we have seen the Holy Spirit resolve personal and spiritual issues in people’s lives in amazing ways.”

The leadership of City Temple is so excited about the potential of churches adopting Freedom In Christ principles that it now invests considerable effort in helping other churches get up and running. It hosts training events, offers freedom appointments to other leaders and sends staff out to other churches both in the UK and overseas. According to Rod, “One of our passions as a church is to help equip other Christians and churches for the kind of effective ministry we have experienced. We count it a privilege to work with Freedom In Christ in the UK.”