Historical Backcloth for Urban Mission

Abstract

"Back in 1851 West Ham was a collection of villages framed by rivers and the remnants of Epping Forest. Today it is a densely built part of East London, facing industrial decline, multi-racial and set between City centre and the Essex suburbs. My own experience of West Ham began in 1965 when I became the minister of the Church at West Ham Central Mission. I found myself grappling with a series of questions. What had shaped this urban society? How had the Church responded to the population inrush? Were there clues to spiritual success or reasons for failure? Why was the Church so weak and unrepresentative? Working for a thesis on 'The Inter-action of Church and Society in an East London Borough' I began to dig into the history recorded in local papers, read through the books and pamphlets, interviewed older people with long memories and explored the network of agencies that had grown up over the years. Patterns began to emerge as eight key areas of inter-action stood out. These can be seen in the spatial symbolism of buildings; the faith issues of religious practice and evangelism; the wider issues of social caring, personal morality and politics; and the underlying process ofsecularisation running alongside the cultural and class conflict"