During the days of ‘Prayer in the City’ Heather Dean looked at the historic census taken by William the Conqueror in 1086, the Doomsday Book. The entry for Croydon began with “In Croydon there is a church”.
Few statements have impacted me as much as these six words. It was true in 1086 and I was absolutely sure it was true today. That church wasn't Jubilee or any other local expression, it was the whole church. In 2005 we began our new Croydon wide prayer meeting modelled on Manchester’s but reaching out to all parts of the church, and called it “In Croydon There Is A Church” or as we quickly began to refer to it “ICTIAC”. We came together three times a year for an evening and prayed for many aspects of the life in Croydon. The first issue we tackled was crime. The Borough Commander of the Metropolitan Police Force was interviewed as well as local Borough Counsellors responsible for law enforcement and also the then fresh initiative of “Street Pastors” and others involved in the criminal justice system. It was a huge success and saw 450 Christians praying together in various styles for the request of our guests. At few months later we heard that crime in the centre of town had dramatically dropped!
Few statements have impacted me as much as these six words. It was true in 1086 and I was absolutely sure it was true today. That church wasn't Jubilee or any other local expression, it was the whole church. In 2005 we began our new Croydon wide prayer meeting modelled on Manchester’s but reaching out to all parts of the church, and called it “In Croydon There Is A Church” or as we quickly began to refer to it “ICTIAC”. We came together three times a year for an evening and prayed for many aspects of the life in Croydon. The first issue we tackled was crime. The Borough Commander of the Metropolitan Police Force was interviewed as well as local Borough Counsellors responsible for law enforcement and also the then fresh initiative of “Street Pastors” and others involved in the criminal justice system. It was a huge success and saw 450 Christians praying together in various styles for the request of our guests. At few months later we heard that crime in the centre of town had dramatically dropped!
One of the many wonderful things about ICTIAC is the team who plan it. Although it was a 133 initiative, we then had Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Pentecostal, Black Pentecostal, Independent Church and Baptist representatives. One Church.
When we prayed for homelessness and street life we saw an increase in churches taking part in our ‘Floating Night Shelter’ such that we now have 70 churches involved in opening up our buildings every night from the beginning of November to the end of March each year for people who find themselves without a home, to have free bed, evening meal and breakfast. Every time ICTIAC meet we see amazing answers to prayer and often new initiatives coming from across the church in Croydon.
There was just one problem. The 133 group were running the leaders breakfasts and overseeing ICTIAC meetings. However, the Borough Deans and CTBC were struggling and if anything were not looking favourably on what 133 was up to.
Two other mission initiatives had been going on too. We had about 20 churches joining together every summer to run a week of BBQs in the town centre giving away food and worshipping in the shopping centre. A local evangelist, Steve Mullins, led the team and after a few years turned the event into a longer Borough wide initiative called ‘Love Croydon’ where 30 or more churches put on events over a two week period culminating in a one day festival in our local theatre, The Fairfield Halls. The 133 churches were central in all of these missions, but CTBC seemed disconnected.
In 2006 a wonderful Methodist man of God took over as chair of CTBC. In terms of theology and churchmanship Harvey Richards was miles away from me and the rest of 133, but he loved Jesus and his Church. Harvey had heard about 133 and asked if he and I could meet in his office. Harvey was as disappointed in CTBC and the Borough Deans as I was. We chatted for hours and agreed that we wanted the same thing. I suggested that I would go away and write a short paper on what was wrong and what we might do about it, having absolutely no idea what to write. I came up with three typed sides of A4 paper suggesting a way forward. A meeting was called for all of those involved in CTBC and unity. We met in the offices of the C of E Bishop of Croydon, Nick Baines. Nick spent some time taking my paper to pieces at every level. Obviously as a man of great grace, I was cool with this, well about 700 degrees Celsius to be precise. But suddenly Nick concluded that my points on the way forward were the way we should go. We agreed a working group of Nick, Harvey, myself and two others who we felt we should ask. Damian Luke, who was the Borough Dean for Black Led churches and Bishop Paul Hendricks from the Roman Catholic Church. Over some months we met with CTBC people, local area group committees, Borough Deans and just about anyone who wanted to talk about unity.
During this time I was listening to a radio programme about the founding of the London parks. The narrator said that the first parks were laid including the walkways and paths and then opened to the public, who proceeded to walk where they wanted and not necessarily on the paths, inevitably leaving worn areas of lawn. Learning from this, the next parks were opened for a year before the paths were then laid where the people had walked.
At the next Annual General Meeting of CTBC we agreed to close the organisation for one year and see where people ‘walked’. For that year the 5 man working group would function as the executive and would draw up a constitution. We would look for where the energy and enthusiasm was and find ways of communicating this around the church. 133/ICTIAC gave their web site to the churches as a tool to help this and the CTBC secretary worked directly to the 5 of us. One year later we published our one side of A4 constitution, the introduction of which stated:
At the next Annual General Meeting of CTBC we agreed to close the organisation for one year and see where people ‘walked’. For that year the 5 man working group would function as the executive and would draw up a constitution. We would look for where the energy and enthusiasm was and find ways of communicating this around the church. 133/ICTIAC gave their web site to the churches as a tool to help this and the CTBC secretary worked directly to the 5 of us. One year later we published our one side of A4 constitution, the introduction of which stated:
Croydon Churches Forum (CCF) will be a light-touch communication and facilitation forum to serve the following purposes:
Encouraging local ecumenical collaboration, building on where there is vision and energy.
Encouraging the sharing of resources between churches in mission, evangelism and community care.
Keeping before the churches the bigger picture of Christian initiatives and developments in the borough and beyond.
Provide a route through which the Borough Council and others can be directed to member churches.
Bring churches together for wider mission, and outreach and worship.
The working group became the convenors of CCF and the Borough Deans became the interface between CCF and the local authorities as well as the council of reference for all that we did together. No more terrible and boring duplication. 133 gave over ICTIAC and the breakfasts to CCF and pretty soon the police, hospitals, local council, businesses and charities knew that they could speak with and get answers from a representative body for the Church in Croydon.
In the next blog I want to pull the theme of the last few together and make my real point on unity.
In the next blog I want to pull the theme of the last few together and make my real point on unity.
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