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tlcNorwich welcomes new pastors as it joins Elim

Independent church tlcNorwich officially joined the Elim network of churches on Friday night (September 4) and inducted its new senior pastors, Rev Dominic De Souza, who first began preaching at the age of 11 and was a church leader by the age of 13, and his wife Catherine. Keith Morris reports.

A congregation of around 150 saw Dominic, and his wife Catherine, formally inducted as the new senior pastor of tlcNorwich which, at the same time, joined the 100-year-old Elim Pentecostal Church network of 70,000 people in 600 churches.
 
The service heard from Elim General Superintendent John Glass, who urged the church to be a catalyst in its community: “I believe this day is a breakthrough moment for this church, building on the work of past years,” he said.
 
Performing the induction, Elim Metropolitan East Regional Leader, David Campbell, said: “We want to see this church take its place with the other churches in this area and we ask for a blessing on every church that honours the name of Jesus that we might see every church grow.”
 
After the induction, Catherine said: “We are really excited that we are here and are in a ‘this is it’ moment.”
 
Dominic said: “The 2011 census said that Norwich is the most atheistic city in the country, but we are going to prove them wrong because God is up to something here. We want to see a people who are so filled with the Holy Spirit and the love of God that it literally spills out of us into every stream and sector of society, into business, the media, education and leisure and that we affect an atmospheric change.
 
“We are excited about the future and the new site we have on Cromer Road and about building a city church that can impact society. We also want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder together with other churches and see something quite wonderful happen here.
           
“We see tlcNorwich as a church that preaches the pure unadulterated Word of God and that loves people. We want it to be a church which moves out in the power of God and sees signs, wonders and miracles – being a naturally supernatural people.”
 
Prior to moving to Norwich, Dominic was the Senior Leader of Letchworth Garden City Church – a growing and thriving Elim church in Hertfordshire. Before that he was an Assistant Pastor at Kensington Temple, Elim’s largest church, where he also served as Director of Training.
 
Dominic started preaching at the age of 11 and entered into church leadership at the age of 13. He went on to become an award-winning student at Cambridge University, where he read theology. Dominic also serves on the Advisory Council for the Cinnamon Network and as Parliamentary Representative for Elim, as well as being a member of the Elim Metropolitan regional team.
 
Dominic says that he sees his principle role as equipping the church for effective ministry in the marketplace, through both strategic leadership and Spirit-empowered preaching of the Word that enables people to integrate faith with daily life.
 
Catherine is Head of Programmes for Langley House Trust, a national charity which works to transform the lives of male and female offenders and those who are at risk of offending.  

Previously Catherine was a departmental head at Holy Trinity Brompton, overseeing Alpha International’s ministries in prisons, Caring for Ex-Offenders and in equipping churches to seek justice in and for their communities.  
 
Catherine says she is passionate about the transformational role the church has in demonstrating God's justice throughout society, so that the poor and marginalised have hope.  Catherine serves on the board of youth charity E:merge and offender employability charity Clean Sheet.
 
The couple have one son, Kobie.
 
Dominic previously said: “This move is a massive step of faith for us but we have a firm sense that this is what God is asking us to do – and so we must obey. It is also a strategic decision to go to Norwich – thinking nationally and long-term, we believe that there is room for the kind of church that God has envisioned us for in that part of the country.”

Read our previous article on this topic
 
Pictured above are Dominic and Catherine De Souza at the induction service at tlcNorwich. Picture by Thom Law.
 


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