The community of Redbridge were treated to an extravagant parade and festival to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ on Monday 6th April 2015,
The event which has been operating for three years is galvanising solidarity between the local church community that has historically been divided, the main organising body is growing every year and now includes seven churches from around Redbridge:
British Pakistani Christian Association, Eden Christian Centre, EDF Tamil Church, Gateway Church Ilford Methodist Church, Ilford Seventh Day Adventist Church, Kingdom Ministries, and Liberty Christian Connections (RCCG).
Visitors travelled to the event from around Redbridge, wider London and further afield.
Our Easter procession was led by a military style band from the Ilford Seventh Day Adventist Church. Behind them came an amalgamation of parishioners from all the local churches. Children from Gateway Church prepared red paper flowers to wave in the air many of which were handed to children watching the parade. The children of Eden Church prepared artful banners that were carried within the procession that had images of the crucifixion, the stone rolled away from the tomb of Jesus and more modern adaptations such as an eraser rubbing away the word sin, illustrating how the death of Christ removed the potency of sin to those who believe.
An attendance at the event of in excess of 10,000 throughout the day illustrated that Christianity is a faith that is welcoming and not feared. People of all diversities joined us for our celebrations singing along to catchy worship songs – yes even non-Christians.
Children joined our Christian themed art workshops and had their faces painted with animals representing new life. Many children queued up for the whole day to jump on our free bouncy castle that enabled them to expend some energy and keep fit. Ilford Seventh day Adventist Church also provided free health checks and advice all day and made sure that pathways to further help were provided. A spread of commercial stalls including a food stalls, local charities, clothing stalls, toy stalls and henna art stalls kept people locked into the event and allowed for stronger outreach. Moreover, it was these stalls and church sponsorship that helped fund the event – no council grant was obtained.
Our prayer tent was kept busy and a number of local people were healed including a woman who reported she was healed in her back and legs. Several lapsed Christians confirmed they would be attending church on Sunday including a volunteer Ryan Duggan, a former Catholic, who has not attended church in over 15 years.
Ryan Duggan said;
“I have always believed in God, but felt that my sins blocked me from His love. Guilt has kept me away form church but now I know God’s sacrifice was for me as well as everyone else. I will build relationship with God again and can’t wait to get back into church.”
The eclectic musical tastes of local people were catered for through the following participants:
- Eden Church Worship Team
- EDF Tamil Church Worship Team
- Feedem (Christian Rapper)
- Gateway Church Worship Team
- Gateway Drama Group
- Ilford Seventh Day Adventists Worship Team
- Minister Taf (Christian rapper)
- Liberty Connections Worship Team
- Reema and Maya (Urdu Christian singers)
- and many others…
Plans are afoot for a similar event during the Christmas holidays and we are hoping that London-wide churches and other partners make contact, so that we can make next year’s event an even bigger success.
