We have just published a collection of experiences from across the Diocese.
This publication, Buildings on Sure Foundations, tells stories of how buildings that lay locked and empty have been reopened through a commitment of time, money and energy from those who longed to see them filled by new worshipping communities.
It also records simple things: an open door, a new way of using a space, a new welcome to the community.
“I was glad when they said to me, ”˜let us go to the house of the Lord!’”
Psalm 122:1
We hope to recount all these in more detail through Capital Vision 2020: the tale of one hundred new and renewed worshipping communities, and church buildings opened up to the communities around them; stories of possibilities in new and old places.
London’s churches are as varied and colourful as London’s communities. They are places where different strands come together, both temporal and eternal: places of quiet and prayer in a busy city; places of history and beauty; places of celebration and mourning; places of splendid ceremony and ministering to the poor.
Churches are also places where international visitors of all faiths and none can connect with God.
They are buildings on sure foundations, built with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.
Read it all and you can read Buildings on Sure Foundations [pdf]
I write as you know from an RC perspective.
I was moved by the description of formerly empty, shuttered churches, semi-derelict, being brought back to life. But I wondered what to make of the stories of churches installing coffee bars, post offices and the like. The idea put forward here is that by drawing in the local community, links will be made, people will recognise the church in their midst as a spiritual resource, and start making use of it. Really? I submit that it is equally likely that the idea of sacred space could be lost, and with it, an important aspect of our faith, namely that while God can be found anywhere and any time, to set aside space to reflect away from the pressures and images of everyday life allows us to enter into a deeper communion with God.
The bottom line is always: have attendances increased? I know that the Diocese of London bucks the English trend in being the only diocese with growing numbers. But it is difficult to know the balance of the various forces at work, eg HTB church planting, immigration, and so on.