DONATE NOW

Become part of the move of God in Europe


VIVE London

My church! What originally started as a church in the Bay Area in California, has grown into a global family. Our London campus is our newest campus, and we have others in Italy and around the States. On September 3, 2023, we officially opened as a church! Since January of this year, we have been having weekly events like Groups where we go through leadership courses as a team, Dinner parties where we invite people all over the community to be part of a dinner where they can be loved on and encouraged, and even bi-weekly Team Services where we meet as a team to start preparing for our regular services once we launch.  Our church meets in King’s Cross (how great of a name for a church to meet!), and we have been using our pastor’s home and even a local comedy club to host our Team Services! Seeing such an ordinary club transform into a holy meeting place on Sunday mornings has been so amazing! We’ve seen salvations, baptisms and people’s lives changed in these past few months, and we can’t wait to start weekly services and continue spreading the reality of Jesus to people and bringing heaven to such a hectic city. I love that we are in London because it makes me think of Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28 “to go and make disciples of all nations”. London is such a culturally rich city that literally every nation is here! That is our mission at VIVE London. 

THE TEAM

What has been growing weekly of a group of faithful servants in London started out as a dinner party of strangers! The very first week my pastors and I moved to London, they hosted a dinner party for people who had heard about us coming to London, and we greeted them and introduced ourselves LITERALLY as they walked in the door to their home! I love that no matter where you are or are from, once you meet with other believers you automatically become family in the body of Christ. God has been so good to us in bringing different people to join our team as we start our new campus. Within the past few months, we’ve seen people who didn’t even think they had spiritual gifts grow in serving with passion and love. It’s truly been miraculous how we have met some of our team. One story for example is about an amazing couple who are originally from Brazil who knew of some friends at our Mountain View campus and were invited to our dinner party in London talk about a global family! People in London often move there for work or school, so many people can be lonely and isolated. Our team has really dedicated themselves to building our vision and wanting to be a part of something bigger than themselves. In April, we took some of the London team to our Milan campus to get an idea of how we will look as a body once we launch, and others even got to come to our AMEN Conference in June with all 11 campuses in Mountain View. It has been so sweet to see this group grow and prepare for September! 

Pastors Milena & Davide

You may know of my history with Italy and are wondering how I got to London, and the answer is my pastors! I originally met both Pastors Davide and Milena in 2018 at Davide’s music label’s conference. In 2018, Pastor Davide opened the first campus in Italy. Since my very first semester in Italy and Bible College, I had been dreaming about going to VIVE. Then, in 2019 the Milan campus opened where I got to visit for the first time. I had even discussed plans about joining their team once I had graduated from bible college, but due to COVID, I had to return to California. But the Lord’s timing really is key! Fast forward to the summer of 2022, Pastors Davide and Milena were spending the summer at our main campus in California to plan for our opening in London. It was a secret at the time, but when I reached out to try and visit them, they shared their plans with me and invited me to talk about the future of VIVE in London. I met with them at last year’s conference and was buying my ticket the very next day! 


God answered my prayers when He brought me to my pastors. They are some of the most faithful, loving and humble people I know. They both said yes to leaving their lives and families in Italy to move to London. For a while, I was in a bit of awe when I started serving with them because Davide was originally a worship leader and pastor in Italy, and Milena did ministry in Italy and had a history of missions. I knew there was so much to learn from them! In October 2022, I moved to Milan and got to see how they served their church. Their hospitality and love have been a foundation for our London campus. Within the first few months, they had over a thousand people come in and out and stay in their home. They’ve opened it up to meet for groups, dinner parties, sisterhood gatherings and even just to have a place to be known and cared for. Working alongside them, I’ve gotten to learn how to fully trust that God has a plan while also giving everything for His glory.


Lily Lopez 


Now, my story! My missionary journey really starts in 2017. After having victory in a battle of doubt in my faith, I knew that living a life sold out for Christ was the only thing that would satisfy me in this life. After graduating high school, I went on a plane for the first time and flew across the world to Italy to attend Calvary Chapel Bible College where I studied and graduated with an Associate’s degree in Theology. I felt like God was calling me to be a missionary in Italy, but once COVID hit, I had to head back to California. For two years, I worked and prayed about being sent back out to Europe. During bible college, I had seen how God was stirring up his church in Europe. Many people assume God has already done His work in Europe, but I believe He is starting to wake His church back up in many countries like Italy, England, Sweden and so many others. My heart yearned to be back there. 


That’s why when Pastors Davide and Milena reached out about VIVE London, I knew God had been preparing me for it during my time back in California. After a few weeks of praying about moving to London and seeking counsel from leaders at my church, I knew God was telling me to GO! I didn’t have much time to work out all the details like a visa, finances and even housing, but when God tells you to go, you have to go! I sold my car, clothes, basically, everything I had that didn’t fit in my 2 suitcases and was back in Italy in October 2022. For a few months in Milan, I was trained and equipped to help lead our new campus in London. I served in every area there was to serve like children’s ministry, setting up and tearing down the auditorium for services, and even in our youth ministry VOXGEN, where I got to pour into the youth (and even preach in ITALIAN!). I learned the behind-the-scenes of the church and daily spent time with the pastors and leaders there learning as much as I could from them. 


In January 2023, I moved to London and started to help prepare for our launch. I am the Team Director for our church and will be helping lead groups and our team! I meet weekly with different members of our church, will lead some of our courses our church offers, eventually lead our youth group once we start, and really anything else that needs to be done as we open! Planting a church has been a huge growth opportunity. It has required a lot of faith to build something that is not physically there, but God has been so faithful during it all! I’ve gotten to create amazing relationships within our church already, and cannot wait to be there long-term to continue building the kingdom.

$0.00

Almost done, where should we send the confirmation?

GivingFuel Fundraising Software