WE ARE LONDON.
WE ARE HTB.
Ministry update 2023-24
EVERYTHING WE DO TOGETHER IS MADE POSSIBLE BY YOUR PRAYING, SERVING AND GIVING
THANK YOU
Our vision is to play our part in the evangelisation of the nation, the revitalisation of the church and the transformation of society. Here’s a short update on what we’ve been able to do this year together as a church, thanks to all your support.
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR
Caring for the Homeless
At HTB Shelter, we provide two morning shelters (Wed, Thu), as well as a Wed evening dinner service. During the winter months accommodation is provided overnight on our sites on Wednesday (HTB QG) and Saturday (HTB EC) nights working with our partner Glassdoor Homeless. We have over 150 weekly visits across HTB sites. Our shelter services, provide a warm meal, sewing/mending, appointments for practical help with partners orgs, clothing and other services.
Refugee Response
Our Love Ukraine outreach started in 2021, since then it has been extended to include all refugees and asylum-seekers. We meet every Thursday at HTB Queensgate where we provided weekly meals, English classes, food bank and community. Our asylum-seeker Community Cafe at HTB Earl’s Court continues to grow with over 150 meeting weekly for a meal. We offer our kitchens for asylum-seeker to cook their own cultural foods in partnership with the local council.
Empowering Vulnerable Women (Shine & Spotlight)
Our women’s ministry is expanding. We run the Shine Programme, an empowering course for women encouraging worth and purpose. Each course has approximately 10 guests. The graduates of Shine continue to meet in a monthly lunch club and our team offers other events throughout the year for all women, with speakers covering different topics like mental health, baby loss and others.
Employability Training
The Spear Programme provides a 6-week course with coaches, walking alongside young people (16 to 24 years old), that have encountered barriers to entering education or the workplace. Each course has approximately 20 guests. It is run in partnership with Spear North Kensington from HTB Dalgarno Way.
Debt Advice Services (Crosslight)
Crosslight provides debt advice across two HTB locations: every Wednesday within the Shelter at HTB Queensgate and every Thursday or Friday at HTB Dalgarno Way. We support individuals in need with debt advice, budget management and financial coaching, and other practical support to enable them to live sustainably and work towards becoming debt-free.
Caring for Prison Leavers
Through this ministry we offer prison leavers the opportunity to engage with the bridge program, with approximately 10 people on each course. It is an online community of prison leavers discussing faith and life, with the aim of providing a bridge from prison into a Christian community. This includes in-person socials and dinners together.
Love Christmas
The HTB Love Christmas campaign aims to spread love, hope and kindness in our local community by giving a Christmas gift to those who might otherwise be overlooked. In 2023 the congregation of HTB sponsored, packed and delivered over 6,100 bags to those in prison, to the homeless, to refugees and asylum-seekers and others.
Workplaced
Over the past year 700 people have signed up for HTB's Workplaced initiative; to connect with others and think more about God’s purpose for their work. We have held 8 Central gatherings, which on average have been attended by between 150-200 people, and 20 sector specific gatherings in areas ranging from professional services, education, tech, stage, screen and broadcast, finance and healthcare amongst others.
INVESTING IN A RISING GENERATION
Kids (0-10)
HTB Kids runs across eight Sunday services each week, discipling over 300 children. During the week the team support a weekly after-school club at HTB Dalgarno Way, as well as hosting weekly Play Cafes for parents and carers with their little ones at three HTB sites.
Youth
HTB’s Youth team engage with young people through weekly sessions in local schools, seven Sunday Youth sessions, Youth Alpha, our online gaming ministry, discipleship groups (PoDs), and our monthly ‘Youth All In’ events where we’ve seen an increase in young people attending and inviting friends. On our busiest weeks we are engaging with more than 350 young people.
Students
We gather students from Universities and Colleges all over London, to encourage, equip, and empower. HTB Students meet as a community each week, either in fortnightly small-groups across London campuses and homes or at our Student Nights on Tuesday evenings at HTB OS. Student Alpha groups and Bridge the Gap football run mid-week with the aim of reaching more students with the good news about Jesus.
The OS 4:30 service is our home, but students are involved across all HTB sites and services.
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE COMMUNITY
Sunday Services
Our ten in-person Sunday services, across our six sites, continue to draw together different age groups and demographics, representing the cultural and racial diversity of the city we look to love and serve. Our livestreaming of the 11.30am service at HTB Brompton Road has become a community in itself, attracting people from across the country and the world as a space for envisioning, celebration, encouragement and connection.
Alpha at HTB
HTB continues to run Alpha every term, with both online and in person options available, as well as Farsi and Chinese language options. During 2023 around 1,550 guests were hosted on Alpha at HTB.
We also hosted Alpha inside Wormwood Scrubs Prison, with 60 people signing up and 15 men baptised at the end of the course.
Prayer & Worship
Prayer and Worship are vital to all we do at HTB and we’ve sensed a greater hunger for God’s presence, particularly at our Kingdom Come worship and prayer evenings. Some other highlights this year have been leading worship at LC23, pulling together Carols at Roundhouse as well as recording 5 Christmas songs to be shown in prisons across the UK on Christmas Day as part of an Alpha UK project.
Outreach Courses
HTB courses are designed to help deepen faith, strengthen relationships, and provide support for those complex social and emotional issues like employability and self-worth. In 2023 over 8,600 people registered for one of our pastoral, relationship or family life courses online or in-person at HTB. To see what is currently running visit htb.org/courses.
Groups and discipleship
At HTB we have 97 Connect Groups meeting online and in-person across London each week during term time. These groups provide a space for people to build friendships and deepen their faith. The Discipleship team support Connect Groups with resources, leadership training and pastoral support for group leaders.
Leadership Development Year
The Leadership Development Year is a year-long programme for young leaders (18-35) to deepen their relationship with Jesus, develop their gifts and discover their calling. In 2023 we welcomed 15 new students, equipping them through teaching in theology, leadership, character and emotional health as well as developing them practically through their mid-week ministry placements.
PLAYING OUR PART ACROSS THE UK AND GLOBALLY
Global evangelisation through Alpha International
Alpha continues to work towards its 2033 vision to make Alpha available to as many people as possible across the world. In 2023, 1.85 million people had the opportunity to explore and develop a relationship with Jesus through Alpha. Over 74,280 courses ran across 148 countries worldwide. 2023 saw significant investment into product, with production phases progressing for Alpha Youth Series and the new Alpha Film Series.
Church planting & resourcing our network (RT)
HTB is home to the Revitalise Trust (formerly known as Church Revitalisation Trust (CRT)). In 2023, 14 new church plants were commissioned at Focus, our annual Network gathering. We are pleased to share that the Caleb and Peter Stream have continued to expand with new dioceses joining last year and training taking place in new locations.
The Marriage Courses
The Marriage Course, started at HTB in 1996, continues to draw in couples seeking to strengthen their relationships. The Marriage Courses have been translated into 45 languages, and have a global reach, running in 117 countries in 2023, with over 8,000 courses impacting over 123,000 participants.
The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (BIOY)
In 2023 we changed the name of Bible in One Year to The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel. The vision remains the same – to reach millions with the bible and to help people develop healthy bible reading patterns. In 2023, app users continued to grow across iOS and Android apps (to over 450k) and our website visitors surpassed 1.5 million. Our podcast listeners were up 62% to over 14.5k, with 700k subscribers through the YouVersion platform across 10 languages.
Alpha in Prisons across the nation
Our vision is that the Christian message is made available to everyone no matter your circumstances. Throughout 2023 we have saw God’s presence in prisons. Another 5 prisons started running Alpha courses and 10 more will go live in 2024. We ran 8 Alpha Prison Training Days to 20 churches and 140 volunteers throughout the UK.
Training new church leaders
St Paul’s Theological Centre, as part of St Mellitus College (SMC), continues to see God at work within the College, our students, and our communities. This year, SMC saw 724 students access our programmes, with 196 undertaking ordination (35 and 21 on the Caleb and Peter streams respectfully) and 79 being sent out to serve curacies across the country. There is something for everyone at SMC as we seek to play our part in the revitalisation of the Church.
Leadership Conference
The Leadership Conference is a unique opportunity for leaders in every sphere – across contexts, traditions, generations, and cultures – to gather as one, encounter Jesus, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. For the first time in 4 years, we hosted the Leadership Conference at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 and 2 May 2023. Over 5000 leaders from 68 countries and 28 denominations gathered together for 2 days of worship, prayer, talks, interviews, seminars and networking. Over 53,000 people from 143 countries registered for LC Online, which was the best of the conference distilled into a 2-hour 15-minute event streamed and hosted live across four time slots. LC24 will take place on 6 and 7 May.
Focus
Focus23 saw over 8,000 people from across the UK and overseas come together for 4 days of fellowship, teaching, worship and loads of fun. Over 1,500 people attended from HTB, we have heard so many amazing stories of transformation, healing and changed lives. Make sure you join us from 25-28 July 2024.
Love Your Neighbour nationally
Love Your Neighbour is a national alliance of churches, including HTB, working together to provide practical help, love and ongoing support to individuals and families in need. These hubs delivered 2.7 million meals and helped nearly 3,000 families with debt advice and employment support during 2023. We also hosted the national Love Christmas initiative which brought together more than 1,000 churches and other organisations from 34 networks and denominations to share over 100,000 Bags of Kindness with people who are most isolated and alone.