BLACK CHRISTIANITY AND SACRED SPACE IN LONDONCONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES

The Being Built Together project

Being Built Together project

Is a partnership between the University of Roehampton, Southwark for Jesus, and Churches Together in South London

We have funders from both church and local authority agencies.

The project is led by Dr Andrew Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of Roehampton, and is part of the Research Group in Ministerial Theology.

These slides are for personal reference only. Contact bbt@roehampton.ac.uk if you have further queries.

Headline statistics

Non-white church attendance increased by 19% (from 1998-2005)

English Pentecostal churches grew by 34% in 1998-2005

UK Pentecostal churches grew by 27% in 2005-2010

Being Built Together team

Being Built Together

Being Built Together interim report

www.roehampton.ac.uk/beingbuilttogether

London Borough of Southwark

nBMC demographics (as of Nov ‘12)

160

Use Classes A ~ D

A1 ~ Shops A2 ~ Financial and

professional services A3 ~ Food and drink

B1 ~ Business B2 ~ General

industrial B3-B7 ~ Special

industrial groups B8 ~ Storage or

distribution

C1 ~ Hotels and hostels

C2 ~ Residential institutions

C3 ~ Dwellinghouses

D1 ~ Non-residential institutions

D2 ~ Assembly and leisure

Sui Generis

Use Classes D1 & D2 detail

Class D1. Non-residential institutionsAny use not including a residential use — (a) for the provision of any medical or health services except the use of premises attached to the residence of the consultant or practitioner,(b) as a crêche, day nursery or day centre,(c) for the provision of education,(d) for the display of works of art (otherwise than for sale or hire),(e) as a museum,(f) as a public library or public reading room,(g) as a public hall or exhibition hall,(h) for, or in connection with, public worship or religious instruction.

Class D2. Assembly and leisureUse as — (a) a cinema,(b) a concert hall,(c) a bingo hall or casino,(d) a dance hall,(e) a swimming bath, skating rink, gymnasium or area for other indoor or outdoor sports or recreations, not involving motorised vehicles or firearms.

Southwark and Faith Premises

Pastor Eaaron

People understand themselves, so somebody from Ghana sees the church as, oh, this is from my home. So she or he feels comfortable.

And also language plays a role. After the service is over you can get somebody to talk to, somebody to relate to, especially those who are not elite or who have not been to school, you know, they have trouble and they can speak to [someone], and that is one of the facts.

Pastor Solomon

P: And straight away because we are ethnic driven, people do not live locally.

 A:Yes.

 P:They are coming in from north, south, east and west, they drive in, they park, they come into the service.

 A:Yeah.

 …

P:And then you’re trapped in a dangerous dynamic because the more you move the more ethnic you remain. When you finally settle down you can consider trying to be more relevant to the local population but because you’ve been consolidating your ethnicity, you find that by the time you’ve settled down you really need some kind of genetic mutation to happen.

Pastor Justyn

I hope that when this [Being Built Together research] is in the public domain it will harmonise the relationship between churches and Southwark council so that Southwark council appreciate that churches are adding value. The churches are actually a force to be reckoned with in the community, that most of these kids that are out on the streets are being taken care of by the pastors and churches without the churches blowing their trumpet to say this is what we are doing... So I’m hoping that somehow [this research] will also get out there for people to know that churches are not here just to make noise, we are here to transform, like I say we are agents of you know transformation, we want to transform this Borough.

Four emerging proposals

1. Facilitate informal networks between leaders of nBMCs and other local churches

2. Work on ways of enabling good hosting / sharing practices

3. Sharing good practice and enhancing communication with Council planning department

4. Seek to lobby at the policy level through the final report and partner / link organisations