Displaying items by tag: The Turning

The Turning mission last August involved teams from many churches going out on the streets and sharing the gospel. This will start again on 2 February in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and will continue on the first Saturday each month, with churches sharing the Gospel and seeing people come to Christ. Last year, approximately 300 people made a commitment to the Christian faith. Plans are also being made for a further round of ‘Leaders Envisioning’ meetings in late February, aiming for new missions in August as The Turning is rolled out across Scotland. Organisers have also produced The Turning Bible which helps those who have responded on the streets to understand the Word of God as they begin their journey of faith. This version is easy to read and understand, using everyday language, and is perfect for reading aloud. See

In February we praised God for the growth of The Turning since launching in 2016. In the coming weeks the vision will be shared at various locations across London. Organisers are working with denominations and city leaders in a vision for equipping believers in London to share the Gospel and disciple those who respond over the next three years. Their first step is running envisioning events for people to hear the story of how this outpouring of God’s grace landed in Reading, and hear Pastor Jonathan Oloyede share the vision of bringing the vision to London - and what that means for London churches. The first such event will be in Tottenham on 28 April, followed by ones at City Gates Church, Ilford and New Life Christian Centre, Stonebridge Park. Various meetings will then be held across London on following days.

The vision for The Turning is to equip every church member to be confident in sharing their faith - to start that simple conversation that could lead to someone encountering the saving grace and love of Jesus Christ. At the February envisioning meetings in Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, 320 leaders and team members heard Pastor Yinka share the vision and history of The Turning. He returned with a small team to Scotland from 17 to 19 April for a second round of meetings for leaders who learnt more about what is involved in preparing for, holding, and, very importantly, following up a Turning mission. They also discussed what should happen in the months that follow, so that they can sustain an ongoing outreach in each community.

In May 2016 a two-week mission began in Reading. On the first day 80+ people accepted the invitation to pray to Jesus. Many more heard that God had an awesome plan for them and allowed a church member to pray a blessing over their life. On 8 June, Reading Christian Network affirmed that something extraordinary was happening. After ten days over 720 people had prayed on the streets of Reading, the mission was extended, and The Turning was born. It is now becoming a phenomenon - a gift from heaven that empowers ordinary Christians to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. What started in a Baptist Church is not just for one Church or even one town. The Turning leaders are considering the possibility of reaching three million people across Europe within five years. There will be a national day of prayer and worship at City Gates Church, IG1 1BH on Wednesday 21 February, to launch ‘Turning’ in London. See

At the end of May, the churches in Walsall in partnership with the Turning team from Reading went out on the streets of Walsall using the ‘The Turning model’ of evangelism.

At 10.00am every morning, we met at the Rock Church for worship and training and in the evenings at a couple of local churches for worship and testimonies.

After the training session in the mornings, we would then go out in pairs on the streets, parks and market place. We followed a script that tells people of God’s love for them, briefly outlines the Gospel and ends by inviting them to accept Jesus. For everyone that prayed that prayer, we asked for contact details so that someone from a local church can follow them up.

Our first day was Bank Holiday Monday and over a hundred people turned up to go out on the streets. At the back of everyone’s mind was ‘will this really work’, ‘will God show up will He use me’. The answer was a resounding YES!

At lunchtime when we gathered back, everyone had an amazing testimony. There were some rejections but with those that made a commitment, it was so easy. Some people only got as far as saying ‘God loves you’ and people burst into tears.

A number of us witnessed whole families giving their lives to Christ, old people who were very near the end of their lives wanting assurance that they would go to heaven when their time comes. Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims came as well as people of no faith.

Young people and one man told of an accident he had had 10 days before in which he had an out of body experience where he was told that it wasn’t his time and that in 10 days time he would be told what to do. It was exactly 10 days when he was approached by two of our team and gave his heart to the Lord.

I could go on with testimony after testimony. God was definitely moving on the streets of Walsall.

Walsall will never be the same again, the churches will never be the same again and neither will I. As the great hymn writer says, ‘My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!’

Sheila Hendley
Academy for Life

The World Prayer Centre has been journeying with The Turning since summer 2016. We provided prayer cover as this all began to develop and Jane Holloway is part of The Turning National Leadership team. We see this as a part of all that God has asking His church to get ready for in this time of unprecedented shaking – an unprecedented harvest. 

Here is an update from Yinka Oyekan, leader of The Gate in Reading: ‘On the 29th of May 2016 we began what we thought would be a one-week mission at our Baptist Church ‘The Gate’ which would possibly stretch into two weeks. In the end because of the results we were witnessing on the streets we stretched out the mission for a total of four weeks. In that time, we saw over 1850 people prayed for on the streets of Reading with many first-time commitments and rededications to Christ. Quite apart from the large numbers of responses to the gospel the sheer number of people willing to let us pray for them on the streets took us by surprise.

Seven months on from The Turning outpouring that shook our church in Reading, we have been excited to see in practice that this grace can and has been released in other cities. We have gained much insight through conducting five months of mission which has culminated in seeing over 4150 people in England and at last count over 865 in Lille in France respond in prayer to an invitation to accept Christ.

In the UK leadership teams covering over 230 towns and cities have asked us to bring The Turning to their town or city. In England, we are calling the implementation of this campaign to bring The Turning to these places ‘The Big Bang’, a campaign that will be inviting cities and towns to receive the best training we can give them prior to launching a Turning Team in their city or town. We will also be launching a similar event in several other countries in Europe where we have invitations to bring The Turning’.  December 2016

For more information http://theturning.eu

As this continues to develop we would invite you to pray with us for:

• Protection for Yinka, his family and all the leadership team for The Turning and at The Gate church
• Wisdom and continued grace to flow as they travel across the UK and beyond
• God’s presence to be experienced at every training session
• God’s kingdom to come and His will be done as churches get ready for this harvest
• For an awakening across the body of Christ to respond to the Father’s invitation
• For workers to go out into the harvest fields

Jane Holloway….