Pastor Francis

Audio interview with Pastor Francis Lewis

Shiloh Pentecostal Church, Ashwin Street, Dalston E8 3DL 

Date 19th January 2024 

“I was born in Granada which was a British Colony in the Caribbean. I came to England in 1969 to join my parents, who lived in Bedfordshire. I had three siblings, two brothers and a sister. After my A levels, I came to London to attend Queen Mary’s University to study chemistry and teaching was my first profession after graduating. During my time at University, I always used to come to the Hackney area as I lived in Mile End with family members.”

“I used to come to Dalston quite a lot because there used to be a club called Four Aces and further down the road on Martello Street, there was All Nations. When I was a teenager, eighteen, nineteen, those places were my haunt. A couple of years afterwards, someone invited me to the Shiloh Pentecostal Church, on Ashwin Street in Dalston. In 1977, I did turn up one Sunday morning for a service and from that moment I started coming to this church. It was already a Pentecostal church then, but previously it was a Baptist church. I met one of the ministers from when it was a Baptist church, and he told me that the congregation dwindled after the second world war as people were saying if there was a god then why did he allow the war to happen. He was so happy that the building was still being used as a church.”

“When I started coming to this church it was like a spiritual rebirth, like something new happening in my life. It was not my intention to be a leader here but just to come and to help. The same year that I joined they started running a bible school and I enrolled to get some training in theology. As the years went by, I helped and people started telling me that I could become a pastor one day, but it was not something I thought I would choose. I just wanted to help along the way. By the 1980’s I was handed more roles in the church but still being a pastor was not something I wanted.”

“The Shiloh Pentecostal Church was officially opened on Valentines Day, 14th February 1965 but not in this building. It started at a rented church Hall in Morning Lane in Hackney. But they moved to this building in 1968 when the building had been used as a factory after the Baptists moved out but was now up for sale. So, when they moved in the place was a real mess and they could not use the main church hall for worship and had to use other parts of the building, eventually they bought the church, which a quite a struggle at first. The members got together, and they bought the building and obviously over the years we have had to do a lot of renovations. The founder of the church was originally a woman from Montserrat in the Caribbean. And when she came here, she wanted to continue her worship, so she got together with different islanders, so you have people from all the different Caribbean islands here. She sadly died in 1992, and another pastor took over from her and in 1993, I became the assistant pastor. In 1998 I became the senior pastor, and I have been the pastor ever since. I have seen a lot of change in the church, Dalston and the Hackney area from 1977 up until today. The area has changed, and the people have changed as well.”

“But the church has always been here, and we consider ourselves to be a community church. We are here to help, council, weddings, funerals, family issues or family event, baby dedications. We have a counselling centre here as well and people come to talk to us about their struggles. No matter what it is, we are just here. Our services are available, and we are not into money or anything like that. We just want to help and that’s who we are. Obviously since Covid everyone has had a difficult time and even now some of our older folks do not want to come out. So, we livestream our services so they are available for the elders whose grandchildren can help them set up a service screening from home. Life has many ups and downs and takes many twists and turns and so covid was just something else. I think it taught us that life is fragile and how something can affect the whole world.”

“Being a pastor is not something I would have chosen but here I am. I look upon the church as a lighthouse. It’s like a light shining amid a lot of dark forces and people look upon the church as something stable. If everything is down, the church is there, and they have something they can relate to. Even though they may not be members of the church, they look upon it as part of them. I am specifically talking about the black community but there are alot a lot of members of the white community who look upon the church as an iconic structure. As you know the English like to keep the heritage. At one time the developers wanted to demolish the church and came to offer us another space. It became quite stressful as they put the pressure on us and told us that the council were behind the plans. But the council were not behind it. Both the black and white communities all wanted the church to stay here in Dalston.”

“I did not know what God’s plan for my life was. That is why I always say to people, you never know what your main plan and purpose is until you hand it over to God. God might have a plan for you. I had my own plan. My plan was to go to the Caribbean, be a teacher there and enjoy the hot sun. But one must obey the call. I still have family in Granada and in Bedfordshire, but I was the only one to move to London. When I started coming to the church, my parents were worried about me coming to the city by myself. But by becoming part of the church family, my mum was very happy there were motherly figures here and they looked after me. So, there was a sense that I was part of something and not alone.”

“This city can be a very lonely place and even at university at Queen Marys, I saw people struggle and one of our friends committed suicide at a young age. He was from Nigeria and could not face his exams, so in the halls of residence, he jumped from a window. It was very difficult for us to take. So, belonging and feeling loved is essential in this modern society and I found this through this church.”

“When I look back on things, they always go around in cycles. There are periods where there is a dearth, and it seems people want faith. But people utilise this sense of belonging and come back to church again. When things happen to people sometimes, they need their faith and sometimes they need us. We have a sister here who is being baptised and when her mother died, that really clicked, and she started coming to church. It could be loss or many other situations that makes people realise they want to return to church. There are periods where there are a great revival and then it goes down and then picks up again. I think especially when it comes to the gospel – the gospel means good news. Here in this church, we always have that good news. So no matter what your circumstances are we’ve got this message of good news. Some people will hear this and some will reject. That’s how it works even going right back to the days of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some will reject and others will scoff but that’s our role as a church. To be here for the many and for the few. We should just be here and allow nothing to depress us or to give up. That’s the one thing we must do. We must hold on.”

“This is what I have learnt over the years and being a pastor is not easy. There are periods where you can get a little bit discouraged, but you must pick yourself up. You encourage yourself in the Lord and you realise you are doing the Lord’s work. I say to myself that there is no greater job to be in, than to be doing this. I am glad I am doing this. If I am not being a teacher somewhere this is what I would want to be. It’s so amazing to have been here over so many turbulent times and remain here. Lots of people come to us for help especially the homeless and people with mental health and I wish I could help them more, as the problem is becoming endemic. I am continually striving to find ways to help people, in whatever way I can.”

“My motivation comes from being a servant of the Lord and I am here to serve. I give God thanks that so far, he has kept me quite healthy. When I wake up in the morning, I don’t have no pain, and I am just ready to go. People say to me how do you do it? I tell them that it's best to do what you can whilst you can because there is going to come a time when will not be able to do it. I am happy doing it now, whilst I can do it. I will give it my energy no matter what it is or who it is. No matter where you come from, and I can help, and the church is here to help and tell you about the love of God and to do whatever else we can. And that’s what motivates me really. I just want to serve, and it sort of goes back again to being a teacher. I just wanted to help people.”

“This is why we still have a Saturday school because we also want to help young people. Maths was my favourite subject when I was young, so I work with young people to advance their maths skills. I don’t charge people for this I just do it. In the same way I teach music as well – the piano. I wasn’t interested in music until I came to the church. I had never touched a piano but always wished I had learnt. But a friend of mine who was a church person, taught me and every day I would learn music. Some of my pupils ask what music school I went to, and I would say The Lords music school. People always ask me to play the piano at their weddings and funerals etc. If I hadn’t become a pastor here, I never would have played music. Music plays a large part in this church and congregation. Music makes us all happy.”