Heart and Soul
‘Heart And Soul’ is a new worship song which we’ve been using in our times of worship at KXC…
‘Heart And Soul’ is a new worship song which we’ve been using in our times of worship at KXC, which has helped release the joy of God into our services and worship sets. It is a song that helps gather people to worship, and points them towards Jesus and to trust in him. The song is being released on Friday 10th July under ‘KXC’ – and it’s been a gift to us in our times of worship, and we hope it is to others too.
Abi Horne the singer and writer for the song explains “the song declares the truth of God’s faithfulness and his wisdom. It’s a joyful anthem that reminds us that God is worthy of our trust and that His ways are always higher than ours. We wanted to write the second verse about the story in John 21, where after the crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples had returned to their old trade of fishing. In total despair, with faith levels low, they’d returned to their old lives as fishermen and things didn’t seem to be working out so well, as they couldn’t catch any fish. But then, Jesus turns up on the shore and calls across to them to tell them to try throwing their nets out onto the other side of the boat. It must have seemed bizarre, but when they did “they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish” (John 21:6).
This passage reminds us that in God is all the provision we’ll ever need, and to follow his guidance despite it not making a whole load of sense is the best decision we could ever make. As I was writing this song, I was in a place where I really needed to remind myself of God’s promise of provision, and this song was the song I needed to hear in that moment.
‘Heart And Soul’ is a promise over our lives, that surrender and living in obedience to the will of the Father will always lead us to a place of joy and freedom. God is infinite wisdom and he calls us to have faith like a child, following Him with our whole lives even when we end up in peculiar places. We believe that the Father has good gifts for His children and our prayer is that this song stirs up faith in whoever sings it to trust that walking in his ways will always lead us to fullness of life.”
Much love from all at KXC,
Abi Horne, Tom Eccleshall and Pete and Bee Hughes
about an ordinary life
I have recently felt prompted to put into words, my experience of living a seemingly ordinary life…
By Alexandra Burnett
I have recently felt prompted to put into words, my experience of living a seemingly ordinary life and for the life of me I just couldn’t.
Everything that came out was very, very cliché and cheesy!
So I almost gave up!
But last week, whilst it was unbearably hot, and I couldn’t sleep, I attempted to pen a poem. Something I haven’t done in years.
And the poem somehow turned into a visual expression of my inner wonderings which I am so excited to share with the people in my world.
I hope it blesses someone!
Fighting For My Heart
‘Fighting For My Heart’ is a new worship song being released by Rich and Lydia Dicas and KXC Worship.
‘Fighting For My Heart’ is a worship song which was originally written for those wrestling with issues of self-hatred and self-harm, although the song has become an anthem of hope to many others too.
The song was written by KXC’s Rich di Castiglione and LA-based songwriter Jordan Frye (Urban Rescue & Jesus Culture). The song is being released with both “KXC” and “Rich & Lydia Dicas” on Friday 26th June 2020.
The heart of the song is the Romans 8 passage that celebrates how nothing can separate us from the love of God - not even our own brokenness. The chorus echoes Psalm 139 and Psalm 23 with the words:
Even if I go to the highest place
Or sink to my knees and hide my face
I cannot out-run, I can’t escape
Your love is chasing after me
So often we try to hide from our pain but the truth is that we can’t get away from his presence. Rich & Lydia say: ‘At home we often talk about how we always want to ‘fight for each other’s hearts’. That we don’t want to let shame come in between us and that we always want to find connection with one another. We’ve both personally experienced how the Lord has done this in our hearts – he loves us as we \are but always wants to see us step into greater measures of freedom and honesty in our relationship with him. He is constantly drawing us into deeper intimacy and inviting us to share with him both our joys and our disappointments. God is not aloof or disinterested in our hearts – he is also not scared or intimidated by our brokenness. He doesn’t want us to be numb or anaesthetised to our pain but to bring it to him – to be vulnerable and let him see our scars and care for our wounds.’
The second verse paints a picture of lifting hands in worship and baring to him our scars as we openly surrender our hearts to him. The bridge is a confident declaration that we are ‘never abandoned and never rejected.’ It’s both a cry for those who have been struggling with self-hatred and also for those who can declare it over others. The words are written for the church to prophesy to a broken and hopeless generation that ‘you are never abandoned and that you have a Father who is fighting for your heart’.
We hope this song can become an anthem of hope for all who have no hope left for themselves. We pray it would be a song of deliverance for those suffering from self-hatred and anyone engaging in self-harm.
Much love from all at KXC,
Rich & Lydia di Castiglione, Tom Eccleshall and Pete and Bee Hughes
Refugee Week: Finding faith in Iran
We spoke to someone in the KXC community about their story of finding faith in Iran and how it’s impacted their life.
We spoke to someone in the KXC community about their story of finding faith in Jesus after visiting a house church in Iran and how it’s impacted their life.
Dogs of Ladbroke Grove
A story of community being drawn together through dogs and their portraits, by Sarah Jones Keyworth.
“The Dogsibition began as an idea I had to bring the community together at my local pub, as well as raise funds for The Mayhew, an animal welfare charity. It’s a very friendly pub, but there had recently been a stabbing outside and threatening behaviour towards the bar staff that led to the manager leaving to protect his family.
The new manager had been asking for ideas for events, so the original vision was to create an atmosphere that would be sociable and fun - I sort of imagined all the owners and their dogs coming to the private view, although that may have been a terrible idea! (I also had never seen myself as a pet portraitist due to inbuilt artist snobbery.)
After Christmas and New Year I still had been sent only one dog photo, but I extended the deadline and eventually had 18 to paint in a month. One particular dog (appropriately named Onions) caused me a lot of grief. I must have painted him 6 times as his portrait varied on a scale somewhere between spawn of satan and a koala bear. Got there in the end though.
The private view was in the week leading up to complete lockdown, and we had 8 guests and 1 dog in attendance. (3 people and 1 dog not very well behaved either). We sold one painting that night to the owner of a dog called Biscuit (Biscuit the dog, not the owner) who is an NHS worker and was so pleased to come to something happy that week. That, if anything, made all of the work worth it!
The day after the preview, the pub shut down and I kept thinking about how sad it was that all the pictures would never be seen... however, we made friends with a guy called T who lives above the pub and is caretaker for it at the moment. He said he’d been spending afternoons in the exhibition space, staring at the pictures and enjoying them. We had seen him one afternoon on the roof of the pub from our garden and arranged to have a distanced coffee on the Sunday. We were going to leave for church online but then he said he’d like to watch it too, so we ended up outside the pub, phone propped up on his car boot, watching church all together. He loved it - and Joey Ellis’ performance especially. He kept saying- “I’m Jeff!”
One day I was on my way home and walked past the pub. The shutters were up and I suddenly thought - why don’t we put the paintings in the windows? I’m a bit annoyed at myself that I didn’t think of it before, but I contacted the manager who said to go for it. T let us in and we brought the exhibition out of lockdown.
We’ve sold a couple more since, and it’s so nice to walk past and people are stopping, smiling, taking photos, and talking to each other for a bit while standing there. It’s not how I ever thought it would look, but it’s certainly everything I wanted it to be!”
- Sarah Jones Keyworth, Artist of the Dogsibition
This is Onions!
Three things to do for Refugee Week
Refugee Week is an open festival in the UK that celebrates the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees. Luke Stewart suggests three ways we can get involved.
By Luke Stewart
“I was a stranger and you invited me in.” - Matthew 25:35
These words from Jesus point us towards God’s heart for those who find themselves at the margins of society, those seeking shelter and community. In a world that is often suspicious or afraid of strangers, the Church has been known throughout history as a source of radical hospitality, inviting the stranger in as well as meeting them where they’re at.
Many of us have felt troubled and angry as the global refugee crisis has continued to grow. We long for an end to the violence that forces people to leave their homes, and we long to see fairness and compassion from the countries these people seek shelter in. Importantly, we know God is at work in the midst of this brokenness - and as followers of Jesus we have an opportunity to take part.
Refugee Week is an open festival in the UK that celebrates the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees. This year the events being held as part of the festival will look quite different as we stay indoors to keep each other safe - but these difficult circumstances offer a unique opportunity for us to engage with what’s on offer.
Here are 3 things you can do over the week.
Pray
The most effective action we can take is to pray. When we turn our hunger for change over to God, our desires align with the kingdom of heaven and we see answers to prayer in ways far beyond what we could have imagined.
How?
Throughout next week we’re going to be praying that God’s presence and comfort would be known by those who have had to flee their homes, and that those in positions of power would be filled with compassion in their decision-making.
On Sunday in the 11am and 4.30pm services we focused our prayers of intercession around Refugee Week, you can also spend time joining in prayer for refugees with us at Tuesday’s morning prayer.
There are some brilliant prayer resources online, such as this guide to praying for refugees from Compassion and this written prayer from Catholic Relief Services.
2. Hear their story
Each of us is made in the image of God, meaning our story is of deep value. We can take steps towards those who feel different or distant from us when we choose to hear this story, rather than making our own conclusions or judgements. Understanding somebody’s lived experience increases both our compassion and our understanding, making us more effective in the action we take to help them.
How?
On Monday 15th June we’re hosting a ‘watch party’ of Hernán Zin's 2016 documentary 'Born in Syria', which follows the journey of a group of Syrian child refugees who have been forced to flee their home country. You can sign up to the Facebook event here.
In the 10am service on Sunday 20th June, we’re going to be teaching families how to get involved in the Giants Dolls’ House Project by making a dolls’ house out of a shoebox, helping them to think about the importance of a home and community for all.
To explore stories further, a great place to start is this collection of films exploring refugee experiences compiled by BFI. There are also many helpful accounts to follow on social media, such as Art Refuge, Help Refugees and the International Rescue Committee.
3. Take action
When our lives are turned outward towards others, we can’t help but be led into action. God calls His Church to respond when we see those in need, and also to challenge authorities on why the needs exist in the first place. There are many practical ways we can take action.
How?
There are many charities you can support who carry out vital work to support refugee communities and to challenge hostile government policies. Safe Passage campaigns to reunite families who have been separated by conflict and Help Refugees works across 15 countries to provide financial support to local refugee support organisations.
The organisers of Refugee Week are encouraging people to try out 8 Simple Acts throughout the week, such as reading a book about exile, listening to music that has travelled borders or creating a piece of art.
However you choose to get involved, I hope this week gives you an opportunity to look at what skills, resources and connections God has put in your hands and start to discover how He can use them for His purposes.
Storytelling through Spoken Word
Sharing of stories and thoughts through spoken word from Dele Ayodele, Joey Ellis and Kirsty Rider.
Creativity has been bubbling up for many people in the KXC community during this time, and one way of creative storytelling is through spoken word and poetry.
Words written and performed by Kirsty, speaking into what this season of staying at home could look like.
Joey shares this spoken word about him and his neighbour, Jeff, and how they’ve been interacting through their windows.
Spoken word by Dele, reminding us of who God is, and his promises for us today and everyday.
Creative Joy
Lydia Hyde shares some beautiful creations from feeling creatively prompted during this time.
“I’m lost without your creative spark in me”
I’ve always found drawing relaxingly therapeutic, using it as a way to visualise the ponderings, wrestles and desires of my heart. For a while now I’ve felt the increasingly regular nudges of the spirit leading me to visualise key moments of intimacy with the Father. I’ve often kept these to myself, but more recently I’ve found God gently pushing me to start sharing them with others, as a kind of visual prophesy and encouragement.
So here are a few I think God wants to share with KXC. I pray the forms on these pages speak the life giving truth of kingdom hope to you today.”
- Lydia Hyde
Coming to Faith
Geddy Stringer’s story of coming to faith.
My interest in Christianity has always been bubbling under the service somewhere. I sung in the church choir at Croydon Minster through my teenage years, and thought hard about 'becoming a christian' then. But growing-up, exams, and university meant it was a long while before I thought about it again. The enjoyment I had at the aforementioned services meant that I started to seek out an Alpha Course. Lo and behold, I ended up at KXC.
I don’t actually live in London. At the moment, I live in Surrey with my parents (it’s much cheaper than London rent when you’re a student), but KXC was the closest to the Academy and meant I could enjoy the course without being late or rushing to get there! The Alpha Course was incredibly insightful and those who ran it made me feel incredibly welcome and comforted in whatever questions I had. I’d like to give a special shout out to Mahsa and Sam who were the leaders on my table and lead with such joy and confidence that it made me feel very at ease.
During this course, it became increasingly clear to me that I wanted to learn more and spend more time with God. At some points I wasn’t sure I could be a christian due to not knowing enough or having a 'basic' understanding of it. Due to the course, however (and my own time with the bible and friends) I realised that being a christian is about always learning and trying to get closer to God and, for me, it is about the drive to want that and to know more that makes me, now, a Christian.
I also wanted to mark the importance of Pete’s ministry and those others who lead services at KXC on Sundays. I started coming along in January (just before the course started) to see what it was like. I loved it. Pete’s energy, love and pure happiness and Joy in what he was saying was exactly what I needed. The first service I attended was about prophecy and its power. As first services go, it was definitely like being thrown into the deep end(!), but the way Pete spoke and welcomed everyone made me feel like I was at a home away from home and shouldn’t feel like I don’t belong. His ministry is something I look forward to each and every week and I still log-on every Sunday to hear His word as we go online during this time.
- Geddy Stringer
Bankuet: Getting food banks the food they need
Making it easier for food banks to get what they need, when they need it and to also make it easier for you to give, founded by Robin Ferris from the KXC community.
On April 25th, Bankuet did their first bulk delivery via Morrisons to Hammersmith Foodbank, now based at Kensington Olympia - a milestone moment! Bankuet are now partnering with Kings Cross Foodbank to supply this new temporary foodbank in response to Covid-19. You can support this project by donating to Kings Cross Foodbank through bankuet.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to the KXC community who have given £2,000 to Bankuet over the last few weeks, with donations going to food banks across London. Your generosity is really what makes this all happen.”
- Bankuet
"We have over 50 people actively volunteering with Bankuet remotely, helping with all sorts of things from data entry to marketing strategy. I jumped on board as volunteering coordinator at the start of lockdown - having met Robin through the spARK programme at Ark Co-working last year - and have had the pleasure of speaking to loads of incredibly talented people who are coming forward to offer their skills and expertise at this time.
Everyone's work and life is in a state of flux so it's just amazing how dedicated and helpful everyone has been. Most of us are yet to meet in person due to the circumstances but we're having regular get-togethers where we share updates and hear from colleagues on the ground in food banks. It really feels like we're one big team, even though we're dispersed. It's been amazing to be part of and we're so grateful for everyone who has got stuck in to support Bankuet at this time."
- Lianne Howard-Dace, Volunteer Coordinator at Bankuet
"Working with Bankuet has been been amazing. I started working with Bankuet in the middle of March as a digital consultant in the areas of social media, brand and UX design, and to think about how far we've come is crazy. Between 1st March and 30th April - 93 food banks joined, 5,400 Bankuet bundles were donated through our platform, the number of total items that were donated was 133,800, serving 16 cities (this is cities rather than individual locations) - feeding approximately 4,460 people (based on 30 items = 1 person fed for a week). These numbers are now a lot higher. It's felt like a modern day feeding of the 5000 - I don't know how else to describe it!"
- Naomi Ellis, Digital Consultant at Bankuet
Kings Cross Foodbank have been partnering with Bankuet since the end of April and we have seen unbelievable generosity from donations to the foodbank via Bankuet. With the help of Bankuet, we have been able to deliver almost 200 food parcels across Islington to those in need at this time. We have an amazing team of Kings Cross Foodbank volunteers who are working hard every week to pack up Bankuet deliveries into bundles ready to be delivered!
- Kings Cross Foodbank Team, June 10th
Stories from Hubs
While Hubs have been gathering virtually, they have also been serving locally with some exciting stories coming out of this time.
Hubs serving Choices clients - Archway / Highgate Hub
3 April
We have had a couple of opportunities through Choices to practically serve our local community. We have seen this play out by understanding what the need is for the individual or family, putting a call out to our Hub to see if anyone is willing to support and then encouraging them as they help serve. Most often this looks like purchasing groceries and delivering it to their homes.
This process hasn't always been easy with some of these items in short supply and multiple trips being required. However, this has reminded us that God always provides and has helped us to live generously and sacrificially. Serving the community has not only had an impact on the families receiving support, it has also helped us as a hub to fix our eyes on Jesus as we learn to love our neighbours well.
Hubs getting involved in Mutual Aid groups
8 April
“A few weeks ago, when quarantine and lockdown were just getting discussed, we wanted to see how we could serve our local area of Willesden Green. Finding out about mutual aids groups, we reached out and found out the lead coordinator was the CEO of a company based out of Ark- seemed like the sign we needed!
Keen to be involved, both of us ended up drawing on our respective backgrounds in project management and counselling (what we had in our hands) and ended up on the admin board of the group setting up the system which is now running across the ward to enable vulnerable and isolated individuals to request support with shopping and pharmacy pick ups.
Though it has been hard to fit this around the huge change in culture, constantly having to consider safeguarding and health and safety limits, as well as our own busy work schedules; there's been amazing provision from God and huge highs from the experience. We've formed friendships with local people, many of different faiths, to come to this goal of making sure nobody goes without or is forgotten. We've had the chance to connect to people facing heartbreaking grief and worry and speak peace and joy to them which has felt a real privilege.
We've also been able to engage our NW Hub in the plans, with Rachel Smith coming on board as one of our call handlers, spreading the joy even further.
These mutual aid groups are going through the city, along with the government NHS support scheme and local council initiatives. They are all working to connect people who are able to serve their local community with those who need help. It'd be wonderful to hear how others from our wider communities were finding opportunities to serve their local areas.”
Neighbourhood Facebook Group
10 April
Just thought I’d share about a Facebook that I’ve started for our building of about 60 flats. Was amazed at how keen people were to get involved and people have been offering to add stuff to their online shops to help others. Really beautiful to see community coming together. I have been praying that God will use this time to bring about community and I can start to see the fruit of that.
Bread Hub Quarantine Letters
30 April
“We just wanted to share a little hub idea with you that we’ve found really fun and a great way to encourage, love and inspire each other at a distance...
We were chatting about how fun it is to get exciting things in the post, so have created a chain of ‘Bread Hub Quarantine Letters’. It’s basically a little parcel that one person starts, posts onto the next person (who adds their own bits and bobs to it), posts it on to the next person, and so on.
The parcel encourages everyone to add different things to it; writing a ‘good thing God thing’ from the week, recommending top playlists, our favourite TikToks, inspiring new reads, or current film binges, sharing a particular verse / song we think God is speaking to us through at the moment, flat-pack paper games, little gifts to each other, and general words of encouragement / thoughts from the week.
Here are two of our wonderful Hub-ees who were first up. We’re excited to see how it evolves over this time and can’t wait to look through it as a group when we’re all back together, using it to reflect on all that God’s been doing during this time.”
Hubs Serving Locally
5 May
“A lady in my hub is shielding and shared in one of our first few meetings of the difficulties of losing independence and the ability to be out and about as an extroverted person. Of particular concern to her was her inability to secure a grocery delivery slot after contacting multiple stores in her area and spending hours on the search. A guy in my hub perked up at this and announced that he was quite good at securing slots and had knowledge of different vendors. They continued the conversation after hub and on the same night, within an hour or two, she had a delivery of fresh produce to her door. This was of course lovely, but she shared later of how she'd been praying about this quite desperately and how floored she was by how simply God had met her need and assured her of his presence with her. “
Some thoughts from Ezra
Jess Sutton shares some thoughts from Ezra, when they began to rebuild the temple.
“In Ezra 3, the people have come back from exile, and they begin to rebuild the temple, and they start by laying the foundations. It says that when the builders had finished laying the foundations, the priests and the Levites stopped, took their trumpets and cymbals and began singing God, saying: "He is good, his love for Israel endures forever".
It goes on to say how they were celebrating the foundations - not even the whole temple.
The most beautiful part, for me, is when there's such vulnerability in 3:12 where "But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy".
The contrast of this dynamic of some people weeping, some people shouting for joy, but together it was a huge sound - 3:13 "No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away".
I read these words and was absolutely floored, thinking about how this feels like us right now. We've been laying new foundations these past 2 weeks, foundations of new places of worship in hundreds of homes in this city, hundreds of living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, gardens. There will be people who have wept when remembering what came before now, and there'll be times when those same people have shouted for joy at where we are now. I just can't help but feel the POWER that comes when this huge noise of joy and grieving comes together as we're building lots and lots of new foundations.
AND the promise of peace always prevails. In Haggai 2:9 it's written "'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house' says the Lord Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace.' declares the Lord Almighty".
I'm so baffled by how we have a God who is so good and brings peace in these times - in times where there's weeping and there's joy and there's a lot of noise and confusion.”
- Jess Sutton
