“Growing up, I’d hear words like handicapped. Spastic."
“Those hurtful words brought me to the point where I wanted revenge. I wanted to hurt people. That’s the type of man I was,” says Elim Mindikoglu, a member at St Cuthbert's Church.
Elim was born with slight brain damage on the left side, which affected his mobility on the right. Hearing taunts about his disability throughout his life had twisted his heart. It made him angry and bitter.
But that was before Jesus completely changed his life.
“Then, one day, it just clicked. And I realised that I need Jesus, man. I couldn’t do this on my own anymore,” Elim explains.
“Jesus radically changed me through his word, through prayer, through fellowship, through life.”
He met London City Missionary Daniel Olteanu one day, who invited him to St Cuthbert’s Church – a church Daniel was working with to share the gospel in its community.
“I got to know the church through meeting Daniel. I’ve been here for two years now, and it’s just home,” says Elim.
“It’s just amazing to experience their love. They know what I’m going through as well. I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis two years ago. My mobility has been on and off. Some days, I have good days. Some days, I have bad days. But the church has always been there for me.