On Sunday, 26 March 2023, Tottenham Lighthouse held its highly anticipated community day – ‘Sharing the Love’ – the first for 2023 but the fifth since 2022. Despite the heavy downpour of rain and the overcast skies at the start, we were all pleasantly surprised at the number of people who attended. Not only local people were present, but some came from other boroughs including Enfield and Islington, to access the various services on offer. A deaconess at the West Green Road Baptist Church, who joined us after her Sunday service and brought another member with her, said that ‘Sharing the Love’ was announced at her Church for the past two Sundays and she had given out many leaflets.
Sharing the Love is an initiative led by Prayer Ministries, working closely with Adventist Community Services and the other departments in the Church. It is a quarterly event, held during the last month of the quarter on a Sunday from 12 noon to 3:00pm. God has blessed His Church with highly skilled professionals and they have willing offered their services, free of charge, to the community. One service provider commented, ‘There is a fulfilment which I feel within me doing this, and I should say thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve.’
The services offered to the community included: health checks done by nurses, with a doctor available for follow-up; legal advice by a barrister; education advice by a teacher; massage done by a massage therapist, prayer by the Prayer Team; counselling by a qualified counsellor, business advice by a successful business owner; IT careers advice by an IT Consultant, spiritual books & literature (donated by the BUC Personal Ministries Dept); floral arrangement demonstration; gifts for visitors and refreshments. The refreshments were supplemented by Greggs’ donation of 60 nicely packaged doughnuts.
The Prayer Team reported a higher number of people coming for prayer. One visitor, who told the Registration Desk that she only came for prayer, was also later seen having her health checked and enjoying the refreshments. She then said, “I’ll be coming to Church on Saturday.”
Marian, one of our community volunteers, wrote the following feedback: “Congratulations on organising such a wonderful day for the community. Quite a few came to show me their blood pressure, weight and height readings and were very happy with them. One was even surprised that she had such good readings, much improved from the last time. The poor weather conditions didn’t deter people from coming to seek advice, refreshments and company.”
A ‘big thank’ you to all our service providers, community volunteers and members who braved the weather to provide another excellent day’s service to our community. We appreciate your continued support of this worthy initiative. Our Mother Church, Holloway, is planning a similar event on Sabbath, 13 May. We plan to provide them with our support, where needed.
At Tottenham Lighthouse we strive to be a light in our community by showing people that we love and care for them. Inspired by Jesus Christ, we will continue to find positive ways to interact with our community to help them to one day ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’
