The West London Boiler Room: Four Years On...

Published: December 20th, 2006

Four years is a long time!  Four years ago I wasn’t married.  Four years ago I thought the word "iPod" was an example of bad spelling and that Sven Goran Eriksson was a reasonably capable football manager.  As I look back on the four and a half years of being involved in the West London Boiler Room, I can see a lot has changed.  The journey that I and everyone else involved in the Boiler Room hasn’t been easy, but as I look back on where we’ve come from I can see God’s hand in it.  Some of what has transpired I find hard to believe that God has been involved in it, but somehow I know he has.

In 2001, a bunch of us in a 24-7 week at Royal Holloway University were given a vision. It was a vision of prayer sweeping across our area, igniting unity that would see people come to know Jesus. We prayed and believed that the first step on that journey was to open a house of prayer for West London.  We opened the West London Boiler Room in 2003.
 
Over that time, we’ve prayed lots! A couple of people have become Christians, pilgrims have come from far and wide, we’ve tried to help the homeless, been involved in heaps of schools and youth work, run prayer rooms at events like Soul in the City and had some great encounters with God.
 
There have been some really tough things over the past few years.  The building we have used as a community home has not been a nice one to be in.  The local church really hasn’t grasped what we’ve been trying to do.  I’ve suffered from real times of lethargy, apathy and wanting to give up. (As a leader, that’s never a good thing).
 
With God there the journey isn’t over till he says so.  There are always new opportunities and new ways of doing things.  In January, I am handing on the reigns of the Boiler Room to a new Abbot!  James Butler, a former Royal Holloway student and CU president, starts in January after two years of missionary work in Uruguay.  I will continue to work with the East to West Trust and as part of the 24-7 UK team and our training community, Transit.  We have a new location and are beginning again the process of team and community building.  The vision that God gave is five years ago burns as bright as ever.  Even though we get tired and lose heart, God never does and has some major plans for this area of West London.
 
Do keep looking at the web-site for more info on James, the new venue and opening times for the West London Boiler Room.

Tim Rose is part of the 24-7 UK team and heads up the UK Transit course.  He was the previous Abbot of the West London Boiler Room.  Tim is married to Emma and they live in Sunbury-on-Thames near Heathrow.  Tim shares the growing 24-7 passion for Cricket and along with Andy Wilson (24-7 Canada) is a mad Watford fan.  You can learn more about Tim and continue dialoguing with him on the east2west website.

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