17 Sep 2025, 19:52Maxine Donovan, Tottenham Lighthouse Church Prayer Ministries LeaderTottenham, Haringey, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Tottenham Lighthouse : Serving our Community with Love - Part 1
Tottenham Lighthouse Church is striving to become a church in the heart of the community, with the community in its heart. Activities are planned not only for our members, but for the people who are non-members, from other denominations and faith groups and for the community as a whole. One example of this was when the Community Services Department, under the leadership of Sis Sophia Charles, hired a coach and took the women who regularly visited the Food Hub and also the volunteers who are from the community, on a trip to the seaside.
On Sunday, 31 August 2025, Tottenham Lighthouse held a dinner party at a restaurant in Wood Green. The cost to members was subsidised, but for our visitors and community members, the full cost was borne by the church. It was a wonderful evening, a beautiful time of fellowship, laughter and delicious food. Natalie, who lives in East London, was one of the non-members who joined us. She was once a regular attendee at our online Wednesday night prayer meetings, and other online programmes. She was unable to join us when we started having face-to-face Wednesday night prayer meetings at church, but faithful Sis Lawanda Mansukani kept in touch with her. Can you imagine our joy when she visited our church for the first time two Sabbaths before our church dinner? She was invited, and she accepted.
How did Tottenham Lighthouse come in contact with Natalie? This is her story, in her own words, that she shared on Tuesday, 16 September 2025:
About five years ago, whilst attending my friend’s birthday party, I met a lovely lady called Lawanda. She was giving out books about God and the Bible. I have always believed in God, but I have never found a church that felt like home. I wanted to know more. We spoke, and she gave me some books and she said I could give some out. She [Lawanda] then started to send me the link for a prayer group every Wednesday, which I ended up attending for about three years. It was really a lifeline for me. At that time, I was going through very severe menopause and I was feeling really down. Without the church family at the time, I don’t know how I would have gotten through. They really did save me. I gave the books out that I received to all the people in my building. My neighbour’s mum, who was severely alcoholic for 20 years, decided to turn to God after reading the books that Lawanda gave me. She has now been clean all this time. She now attends church and it saved her life. Meeting Lawanda that day literally saved two lives. Also, over the years I went to many churches, but there is a feeling you have to feel when you enter into somewhere, and that was the feeling I got when I came to Tottenham Lighthouse. I felt at home, I felt at peace and I felt that everyone there was genuinely there for God… I am glad that I finally found a church that I feel like I have a family.
When we were worshipping online in 2022 during COVID, Natalie made a video testimony for one of our programmes. She has given us permission to share it. She presently works on the Sabbath, but she has put in a request to start her work later, for she desperately wants to come to church every Sabbath.
Video link – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TLsEYt60MjgiD2JFpLEqj-yrxjlMWzqa/view?usp=sharing
Please join us at Tottenham Lighthouse to pray for Natalie and others like her, who are waiting on us to make the first move to share the good news of salvation – using all means possible. As Isaiah stated and Paul reiterated centuries after:
…How beautiful are the feet of those who bring us good news from the Lord, and tell us about His plan of salvation.
— Romans 10:15, The Clear Word
Tottenham Lighthouse Church is striving to become a church in the heart of the community, with the community in its heart. Activities are planned not only for our members, but for the people who are non-members, from other denominations and faith groups and for the community as a whole. One example of this was when the Community Services Department, under the leadership of Sis Sophia Charles, hired a coach and took the women who regularly visited the Food Hub and also the volunteers who are from the community, on a trip to the seaside.
On Sunday, 31 August 2025, Tottenham Lighthouse held a dinner party at a restaurant in Wood Green. The cost to members was subsidised, but for our visitors and community members, the full cost was borne by the church. It was a wonderful evening, a beautiful time of fellowship, laughter and delicious food. Natalie, who lives in East London, was one of the non-members who joined us. She was once a regular attendee at our online Wednesday night prayer meetings, and other online programmes. She was unable to join us when we started having face-to-face Wednesday night prayer meetings at church, but faithful Sis Lawanda Mansukani kept in touch with her. Can you imagine our joy when she visited our church for the first time two Sabbaths before our church dinner? She was invited, and she accepted.
How did Tottenham Lighthouse come in contact with Natalie? This is her story, in her own words, that she shared on Tuesday, 16 September 2025:
About five years ago, whilst attending my friend’s birthday party, I met a lovely lady called Lawanda. She was giving out books about God and the Bible. I have always believed in God, but I have never found a church that felt like home. I wanted to know more. We spoke, and she gave me some books and she said I could give some out. She [Lawanda] then started to send me the link for a prayer group every Wednesday, which I ended up attending for about three years. It was really a lifeline for me. At that time, I was going through very severe menopause and I was feeling really down. Without the church family at the time, I don’t know how I would have gotten through. They really did save me. I gave the books out that I received to all the people in my building. My neighbour’s mum, who was severely alcoholic for 20 years, decided to turn to God after reading the books that Lawanda gave me. She has now been clean all this time. She now attends church and it saved her life. Meeting Lawanda that day literally saved two lives. Also, over the years I went to many churches, but there is a feeling you have to feel when you enter into somewhere, and that was the feeling I got when I came to Tottenham Lighthouse. I felt at home, I felt at peace and I felt that everyone there was genuinely there for God… I am glad that I finally found a church that I feel like I have a family.
When we were worshipping online in 2022 during COVID, Natalie made a video testimony for one of our programmes. She has given us permission to share it. She presently works on the Sabbath, but she has put in a request to start her work later, for she desperately wants to come to church every Sabbath.
Video link – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TLsEYt60MjgiD2JFpLEqj-yrxjlMWzqa/view?usp=sharing
Please join us at Tottenham Lighthouse to pray for Natalie and others like her, who are waiting on us to make the first move to share the good news of salvation – using all means possible. As Isaiah stated and Paul reiterated centuries after:
…How beautiful are the feet of those who bring us good news from the Lord, and tell us about His plan of salvation.
— Romans 10:15, The Clear Word
