Faith in the City

The capital’s African churches are booming, with congregations as great as 12,000

It’s 5.05 on a Saturday morning on the Old Kent Road. Despite the hour, a stream of smartlooking
Africans in tailored twopieces and traditional dress pours out. Everyone looks sparkly-eyed while much of the rest of London is sleeping. Why? Because they have just come out of church; the Everlasting Arms Ministries Freedom Night, a 10pm-5am service led by Pastor Kay Owolabi, has just ended.

Some of London’s bestattended churches are the Evangelical, Pentecostal and Seventh-Day Adventist black majority churches (BMCs). The African-Caribbean Evangelical Association reports that there are 3,000 BMCs in the UK. Congregations at these churches vary from 50 to the 10,000 that attend the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) in Walthamstow.

Unlike the Church of England, attracting young worshippers doesn’t seem to be a problem for BMCs. ‘Church appeals to the youngsters because we give them a voice,’ says Pastor Owolabi. ‘We don’t only school them in the Bible, but in life. That’s what church should do; help you deal with life issues.’

Multiple ministries operate, with some of them targeted at young, married or single worshippers, while others are dedicated to business, personal development and family.

London’s BMCs are run like corporations. Their websites are replete with podcasts (or even ‘Godcasts’) and video clips of sermons. Being in touch with modern life means that the sermons embrace life coaching and social wellbeing, and the churches do not shy away from issues like career development and personal financial management.

The KICC’s official spokesman Pastor Dipo Oluyomi says: ‘People have misconstruedholiness with abstinence from anything material. In the scriptures, anyone with a relationship with God
prospered. How can you share your blessings – build schools, hospitals – if your needs haven’t been met?’

Between the late ’80s and mid-’90s, the number of African churches across the capital exploded. London’s BMCs were once mostly West Indian, but as African émigrés moved to the UK from the late ’70s, an evangelical style of Christian worship – lively sermons, gospel singing, belief in miracles – that had enjoyed a revival in Africa came with them. Africans began to establish their own ministries, some as UK branches of churches founded in Africa, such as Nigeria’s House on the Rock
and the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Rising numbers of worshippers of non-African descent are also joining these churches. The KICC has nearly 50 different nationalities – including Polish, Spanish, French and Indian – in its
congregation. Pastor Oluyomi believes that its message and style attract people: ‘The UK is very secular and Christians have become almost apologetic about their faith. KICC and churches like us are not apologetic. We preach the practical word of God and take it into the heart of the
community. People like that approach, African or otherwise.’

Sarah Bentley