Our Aims in Mission
Future Vision
All the members of the church are very committed to the work and we believe that the Lord does have much blessing for us in the future. Working in an Inner City area means that we are faced with particular problems but we know that this is the place God would have us to be and we look to him to build his church.
Work and Witness
We seek to use all proper means to evangelise the area. As well as the special events already mentioned we regularly carry out Carol Singing at Christmas and on some occasions during the summer months have our Morning Service in the church car park. This service has proved to be quite beneficial with a number of local residents commenting on how much they enjoyed it. We have discovered that we do in fact reach quite large number of people with the message.
A number of our members are involved with the local community. Some are governors of local schools, until recently one of our Deacons was a local councillor and he has also served as Mayor of Hackney for a year. One of our young people has also been involved in local hospital radio. One of our deacons is the Chairman of the local Police Consultative Committee.
We believe that our prime concern must always be to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ but at the same time we seek to do all we can to help with the very special needs of this area.
The Local Community
The London Borough of Hackney is an Inner City area and is one of the most deprived Boroughs in the whole of the country. This deprivation is seen in the social needs that there are and also in the level of income. The most recently available figures indicate that the gross annual household income for Hackney is £12,000, the figure for the rest of London is £20,000. This low level of income is reflected in the church and although many give very sacrificially the total amount received is low in comparison to many others.
There are many different ethnic groups in Hackney with all the particular problems and privileges that this brings. We are very encouraged in that we are one of a few churches that have a very real ethnic mix. As there are many different ethnic groups it means that many different languages are spoken and a recent analysis has shown that there are at least 14 different language groups in Hackney. We have those attending our church who are not able to speak English with any proficiency and for a number of others English is a second language. The area is very densely populated, we estimate that there 6500 people living with a 1/4 mile radius, 26000 in a 1/2 mile radius and 58000 in a 3/4 mile radius.
Statistics
Although statistics cannot show the whole picture it does show many aspects of the problems faced by the local community. Upmystreet.com provides details of what the area is like for prospective buyers of housing. However the Government looks at a wider aspect of the community and we would encourage you to visit our AGBC(SE) section which provides statistics for all the Associated Churches. Please note that Government statistics rarely gain any meaning unless you are providing practical comparisons.