The Light of the Gospel shining out brightly

You may well have seen a photograph of the estate where I was involved with a church plant. Two men, half-dressed, stood on the balcony of an apartment block giving themselves up to the police. They were being arrested for the London bombings. The men had been tracked down on the Dalgarno Estate in North Kensington, not far from Notting Hill, in one of the most deprived areas of London. It was July 30, 2005.

What the camera did not show was a church building just behind that block which had reopened a year before. I want to tell the story of the church plant there and to look at some of the theological issues involved.

St. Francis Church was originally planted in the 1930s to serve the people of the newly built Dalgarno Estate (like a grouping of apartment complexes). The churchq had declined in recent years and was closed after Christmas in 1998. That left 4,000-5,000 people without a church of any denomination in their neighbourhood. Nor did they have any shops or other focal point, other than a Youth and Community Centre, which had become a no-go area for most local residents.

The Bishop approached me about whether we at St. Helen’s would be willing to undertake mission to the Dalgarno Estate in addition to the estates already on our patch, and try to restart the church there. I had come away from seminary with a heart for church planting and was delighted by the challenge, little knowing what we would be taking on.

We began by commissioning surveys on St. Francis Church and on the neighbouring rectory, St. Francis House. They made for sobering reading. It would cost $150,000 to make the house habitable and about $400,000 to restore the Church. St. Helen’s was struggling to pay its own way and had no funds of its own to turn to.

Looking back, I am grateful for that weakness. We had to pray and to turn to other churches for help – which they did. Churches from across the theological spectrum and from several denominations helped us in the planning and with generous financial assistance. Even a loan we took out was initially repaid by letting rooms to a youth worker and a community worker from neighbouring congregations. With their help, we had secured the presence of “the church” and signalled that we were not going to sell the buildings for redevelopment. Soon afterwards, Ian Dowsett came to St. Helen’s as Associate Rector, and he and his wife Ruth lived in St. Francis House. Incarnational presence like that is invaluable! They were willing to live in a place most people were trying to leave. And they were able to build relationships with adults and children in the community, and to pray and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They formed a home group populated almost entirely by those who lived on the Dalgarno Estate or who used to live there. That is now the core group of the plant at St. Francis.

Ian and Ruth organised a holiday club for children on the estates, in partnership with another evangelical Anglican Church, in Notting Hill. They needed somewhere to follow up children who wanted to know more about the Christian faith. There was no place available nearby, so we asked the architect what was the legal minimum needed to reopen St. Francis. The estimate was $50,000 – rather less than $400,000! The Archdeacon came to see how we were doing and when he heard the cost, said he would underwrite that full amount whilst we did our own fundraising. So the church was open in readiness for the holiday club! It was then officially reopened in April 2005.

Soon after he was settled in, I asked Ian to write a report on how he believed God wanted us to reactivate the life of the church on the Dalgarno Estate. One main finding was that we needed to focus on children’s work. At least a third of the population of the estate was under 16 – i.e. over 1,000 children!

At the time, I was serving on the board of the Dalgarno Neighbourhood Trust. We had recently appointed an excellent director, who was also a committed Christian (was God looking out for the Dalgarno Estate or was I imagining things?). One of her major concerns was the lack of a provision for children. I met with a community development consultant (also a committed Christian) to look at whether we could combine the needs of the Trust and the Church. I was also looking for help for St. Helen’s, where we could not find volunteers who felt able to run our children’s work (there were some challenging children…).

To cut a long story short, the funding was found: the church work was paid for by local churches, and the community work by the Borough. Two members of another Anglican Church in Notting Hill came forward with the relevant qualifications (and more) to run children’s work at St. Helen’s, St. Francis and the Dalgarno Community Centre.

What an answer to prayer! I only wish I had space to tell the whole story of how this happened. If anyone doubts the Providence of God, they would be hard pressed to explain all that away.

So what theological lessons do we learn here?

• It is God’s mission, not ours, and we need to cooperate with Him. How many times have I heard that? But there were other attempts to get things going at St. Francis Church that came to nothing. I had worked with a consortium of representatives from local housing providers, the Borough, and those with responsibility for regeneration funding. We met on average once a week for 18 months drawing up exciting plans to redevelop St. Francs as a preschool, family support centre, and worship centre. We got the support of the neighbourhood and planning consent from the Borough. Then a key person in one of the funding bodies moved to a new job. Her replacement was more cautious. $800,000 that had been promised for the work was withdrawn and the scheme came to a shuddering halt. That was a painful blow. But what we have now offers many more opportunities for the work of the church than that scheme would have done.

• We cannot do these things on our own. Again, no surprises there. We received considerable support from local community workers and politicians. And the local churches came to our aid in numerous ways. What a joy it is to see churches working together in the mission of God – and what a pleasure it is to be able to talk about that to a sceptical world. The renewed St. Francis Church is also home to a Nigerian Pentecostal congregation which worships on Sunday mornings prior to the church plant service on Sunday afternoons. It too is reaching out to people on the estates. And the rent they pay helps meet the costs of keeping the building open, so other groups like Narcotics Anonymous can use the building for a nominal fee.

• It is a great privilege to lead a church. I have seen astonishing levels of faith from people whose daily lives are a great struggle. It is amazing to think that the vestry at St. Helen’s was willing to take on the challenge of St. Francis when they had such complex problems to address already. But as they did so, time and again their faith was rewarded. Would Ian and Ruth Dowsett have come to St. Helen’s otherwise?

• It makes a big difference when the Bishop and Archdeacon are behind you. Their commitment to mission and to church planting was vital. They have even arranged funding for Ian to stay another two to three years to get St. Francis established. How much of this would have happened without their willingness to take risks?

• David Sheppard, previous Bishop of Liverpool, argued that God has a “bias to the poor.” I can see why. There is an awareness of need, and a willingness to admit it, which creates numerous openings for the Gospel. In such a context, little time needs to be spent convincing people there is a God. They know that. What they need to hear is that God knows them, cares for them, and is for them. They fear they are not worthy, and dread being told they are not “good enough” for church. In such communities, the presence of Christians trying to live out the Gospel message is a powerful agent for change.

So when you think of the London bombings or see pictures of inner-city housing estates there, please remember the churches that are nestled among them, and pray for the light of the Gospel to shine out brightly.

The Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology.