London Calling enters an exciting new chapter

In this article, Mike Betts reflects on the London Calling 2025 November day, a significant moment in an ongoing journey of prayer, prophecy and shared mission across London. He describes how sustained intercession over recent years has begun to yield fresh clarity and concrete steps of faith. Mike offers both encouragement and invitation to all who share a heart for seeing London renewed by the gospel.

London Calling 2025

By Mike Betts

For the last two years, I’ve had the privilege of joining with three London churches - Hope Church Tottenham, The Church in Bassett Street and Revelation (Rev) Church London - monthly on a Sunday night to seek God for the city of London.

When we first started these prayer evenings, the plan was to commit to a year of prayer meetings. However, the meetings have been marked by such fervency—people praying from the heart—and by the strong, sustained presence of God that it felt unthinkable to bring them to an end. As momentum grew, we sensed the need to continually soak the ground spiritually before launching any kind of strategy, so carrying on into a second year was a no-brainer.

Over time, the Lord has deepened our convictions and has also begun to stir our faith for what might come next. The two London Calling 2025 days have felt like significant turning points: moments when prayer began to move into action.

As 2025 began, we sensed the Lord prompting us not to leave what He had been doing in the realm of intercession alone, but to trust that our prayers would begin to shape concrete steps of faith. Intercession changes situations and the intercessor; it softens hearts and aligns human wills with God’s. And often, as we pray, the Lord begins to speak with fresh clarity about what obedience looks like.

In March of 2025, the three North London churches gathered together for a joint Sunday with Edward and Frida Buria—a first for us—which helped fan our faith for what God might want to do across the city.

Prayer Inspiration: Edward and Frida Buria traveled from Kenya to share their own experience of city-transforming prayer

Coming Together to Hear from the Lord

In November 2025, we hosted a Saturday London Calling Day that leaned more intentionally into the prophetic and was open to anyone who was interested.

Adrian and Koreen Horner, together with Mike Bollinger, led a significant part of the day, serving us with mature, prophetic ministry. Every church in London present was prophesied over—not only the three North London congregations, but also Freedom Church in Romford (East London), as well as other London churches who are exploring connecting with Relational Mission.

Stef Liston would join me in expressing how touching it was that a good number travelled in from outside London to stand with us. Around 20 people from Relational Mission churches beyond the capital came to pray, worship and encourage us. Others came from churches not part of RM but beginning to look in, exploring whether our mission in London might be something God is calling them to be part of.

All this was a potent reminder that we’re not labouring alone. Our family is wider than any one postcode.

A Day Marked by Worship and the Prophetic

Our regular London Calling prayer evenings have been consistently marked by vibrant, faith-filled worship, and both London Calling prayer days have carried the same hallmark. Stef described the November London Calling Day as “vibrant, just full of life”, and that’s exactly how it felt in the room; simple, wholehearted praise, with a real sense of God drawing near as His people lifted their voices in thanksgiving.

Rosie Carter (Freedom Church, Romford) reflected that the day “was a time of rich blessing”. She spoke of the joy of gathering with others, both those from London and those from further afield, to see what God is doing and seek His heart for the future together. For her, the time given to stirring up prophetic gifts was hugely significant, giving much to weigh before the Lord, both personally and at a church level.

Adrian, Koreen and Mike really did serve us superbly. They led with humility and clarity, bringing several substantial prophetic words (more on that later). Now we’re in 2026, each church has the critical task of weighing those words and working out, in local eldership teams and communities, how the Lord might be shaping our trajectory for the years ahead. It’s still early days in terms of specific direction, but there was a real sense that these are the kind of words that will shape churches for decades, not just months.

Prophetic stations: Children were able to use lego creatively to hear from God

Family on Mission

One of the things I loved most about the day was how clearly it felt like family. Rosie also commented about the “joyous, Spirit-filled worship times” and said that her nine-year-old son told her how much he’d enjoyed it too. That matters. It’s all too easy to build events that energise adults and quietly exhaust children. London Calling, however, didn’t feel like that.

The children’s work was excellent. The kids were taken seriously, both in their own sessions and during the moments where everyone was together. Activities like “prophetic Lego” gave our younger ones a tangible, age-appropriate way to listen to God and respond in faith. I know that many of us who attended are praying that days like this plant deep seeds of faith in our children, and that they’ll grow up passionate about seeing Jesus break into the lives of Londoners and those living beyond the city’s borders.

As always seems to be the case, eating together also played its part. Jane Adu (Rev Church London) said it was brilliant to meet believers from across London and to feel the “buzzing atmosphere” as we shared food. I share Jane’s excitement. London is so big that one can sometimes go years without properly connecting with other believers, even those within the Relational Mission family. However, those informal, slightly noisy conversations over a paper plate often do as much to knit churches together as any microphone on a stage. They’re where friendships begin, and stories are shared. I think it’s a difficult task to leave such environments without the sense of we’re in this together having been quietly reinforced.

Seeing London Through God’s Eyes

During the November day, Adrian Horner brought a prophetic word that felt particularly pertinent. Picking up the language of Moses blessing the tribes of Israel (Deuteronomy 33) and Jacob speaking over his sons in Genesis 49, he spoke of the day as a “fathering moment” and a release of sons and daughters. The picture was of a growing family, with surprise “pregnancies” and new church plants to come, and of needing a bigger vehicle to carry all that God wants to do across London.

Adrian described the Lord moving us from a local minibus to a London bus, with many routes criss-crossing the city and many new drivers released to serve different neighbourhoods. God, he said, was giving us a “travel London pass,” declaring the city is ours to explore in the Spirit, and entrusting us with sons and daughters who would lead boldly like Joshua and Caleb, convinced that “the Lord is with us”. For those new leaders, or drivers, the charge will be to restate the values, retell the stories, refresh the vision. Those three things, Adrian urged, would help future teams navigate the new routes God is opening up.

As well as prophetic input from Adrian, Koreen and Mike, everyone took part in prophetic exercises that were highly engaging and interactive

Jane, for her part, highlighted something straightforward but very important: London Calling helped make real the sense that we are “all on mission together, crying out and fighting in prayer for the city we love”, not just on our own streets, but in the cafés, workplaces, schools and other places we frequent across London.

Beyond North London

When we first started talking about London Calling, we had in mind a relatively modest vision: three churches in North London, praying and working together over an extended period of time. That hasn’t changed! We remain deeply committed to Tottenham, Kentish Town and Camden. Each of those congregations is seeing greater clarity about future vision, and growth is beginning to gather pace as people are saved, added and equipped. But something is happening that is bigger than those three congregations and bigger than North London.

January 2024: A lot has happened since the first London Calling prayer gathering!

As part of the emerging London Calling activities, I host a London leaders’ morning and lunch every other month. At present, leaders from six or seven churches are gathering, some of whom are not currently part of Relational Mission but are looking to build on Word-and-Spirit foundations in their own contexts. Relationships are forming. Trust is growing. There is a sense that the Lord may be knitting together a wider family of churches across the city that share common DNA and common dreams.

At the November day, we also had a good number of individuals who came simply to explore. Some are asking whether God may be calling them to move into London for a season, to join one of the churches and strengthen the work from within. Others are considering how they can support from a distance through prayer, financial giving or other practical help. All of this is deeply encouraging, and I ask that, as a family, we pray for the continued flourishing of relationships.

I want us all to be very encouraged. Momentum is slowly building. It will take time, and we’re in no rush to manufacture what only God can do. But there is plenty of ground to cover, and the road that lies ahead is exciting to say the least.

How You Can Play Your Part

So, where does this leave us as the wider Relational Mission family?

First, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all who prayed, travelled, led worship, taught children, served food, prophesied, weighed words and simply showed up. Days like the London Calling events don’t happen by accident; they are the fruit of many hidden acts of obedience and years of prayer.

Second, I want to extend an invitation. If you’re going to be in London at some point soon—as a student, for work or for a particular season of life—I’d love you to consider whether the Lord might be nudging you to get involved in what He is doing here. That’s especially true if you’re in early retirement or have some measure of financial freedom and could give a year or two more flexibly. Some have already done this: they’ve kept their family home where it is, but taken a small place in London for a season to strengthen a local church. It’s a costly, but incredibly beautiful way to serve. For others, involvement might look like regular prayer, financial partnership or bringing particular skills into the mix, whether that’s administration, kids’ work, evangelism, mercy ministries or something else entirely.

If any of this stirs you, please get in touch with Annice Green (annice@relationalmission.com) in the first instance, and we can talk further about what might be possible. We don’t have a rigid blueprint, but we do have open hands and open hearts.

A Final Word

London is a vast, complex, often bruised city. There are issues of injustice, loneliness, spiritual confusion and material need on almost every street. Yet the London Calling 2025 events have reminded me again that the Lord loves this city more than we ever could, and that He is already at work by His Spirit in ways both seen and unseen.

I don’t want to miss the human story behind this moment. On the November day, I mentioned Stef and Davina, and it feels important to say it again here: their perseverance, faith and long obedience have helped get us to where we are. Building anything of substance always requires someone, somewhere, paying a price. Church planting in urban centres carries a particular cost: the slow work of showing up, staying put, loving people through complexity and refusing to give up when the fruit feels delayed. Their commitment to London has helped prepare the ground, and I praise the Lord for them!

Our task is simple and demanding all at once: to keep praying, to keep listening, to keep stepping out in obedience and to do it together as a family. As I’ve said, it’s going to take a while, but that’s all right. We’re in this for the long haul.

Again, I would welcome anyone and everyone to be part of what God is doing in London. If you feel stirred, do get in touch; we’d love to hear from you: annice@relationalmission.com.