A transformed heart for Toxteth

Julie’s Story

While we were at Frontline there was a decision to do a church plant in Toxteth and Dave got a team together to do this.  I had zero desire to do that as church planting is such hard work and I felt like I had done that for years and that I had no desire to do it again.  Toxteth wasn’t a place that was on my heart but understandably, it was for Dave.

So a group met in the John Archer Hall on a Sunday afternoon and I would go about once every three weeks, just to support Dave and the team.  Then they started meeting in the Tab building in the afternoon and I know Dave started doing some work with the Tab leaders and again, I’d go every two or three weeks, but I still had no desire to be there whatsoever.

I was still at Frontline, leading meetings, and God had clearly not given me the green light to go so I was not going to go anywhere.  And then we handed Frontline Church over to John Harding, which was great - he was definitely the guy to lead it forward.  When he took over in the September, he had a month of prayer - all meetings were cancelled midweek and people were getting together to gather for prayer.  I was just really struggling as it didn’t feel like home to me and that was quite difficult after 20+ years and I was like, ‘God I don’t know where you want me to be?’ Toxteth was not somewhere I wanted to be. 

So one Sunday afternoon, I was going along to the Tab just to support the group and I parked in the car park and got out the car, and I looked at the Tab building and I can only say it was like a conversion moment - it was as powerful as the day I got saved.  God just flipped my heart.  I saw the green light for me to leave Frontline and to join the group at the Tab.  And it wasn’t just an obedience thing, it was a heart thing - God had switched my heart around and I just had a love for the Tab and it’s people and what Dave was doing and the area.  It was just a God thing and I have to say it was transformative.

I shared it with Dave and the team and I knew this was where I needed to be.  After this the afternoon service moved and joined with the Tab, and Dave became Minister at the Tab.  Again, I never wanted Dave to pastor another church, because we’d done that and thought we’d have a slower pace of life.  

But we had real faith to see God move and bring people in and see the balcony full. We still have that faith to see that.  I have never regretted it for one second.  It’s not always been easy, it’s been quite challenging at times and a totally different kind of service to what I was used to for 30 years, but I knew that is where God wanted me to be and I wanted to be.

Even though it was only a really short time after this that Dave was diagnosed with his illness and we were like - I don’t understand God, you brought us here and this is happening - but we have just stayed obedient to what God has called us to do.

I love leading services here and I enjoy being part of the Tab family.  It’s so exciting to see all these new people coming in.  

That’s my story of coming to the Tab - it was transformative and it was an absolute heart change, (because it needed to be a heart change) as I had been so involved and committed at Frontline for so many years.  It couldn’t have been something I decided in my head.  I can see myself now standing in the car park looking at the building and my heart just flipped and the Presence of God came on me with a love and desire to be there, that was only God.