About The Church
This page contains more information about:
2.
our church building; and
3.
Our history.
We are, before anything else, a Christian church. We share the basic Christian beliefs with all other churches, Catholic and Protestant.
We are also a blend of different Christian traditions. If you think of yourself as Baptist, Congregationalist, Church of Christ, Church of Scotland, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian or Reformed, then this is “your church” in Leytonstone. But in fact we are wider even than that. We welcome all kinds of people in our congregation. In addition, we work closely with Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal, and Salvation Army congregations in the Leytonstone Group of
We call ourselves a "United Free Church" because the various streams of our history are part of the "Free Church" or "Nonconformist" tradition. "Free" Churches are so called because they are not an officially established national church like the Church of England.
They are also "free" in the sense that their worship does not follow a compulsory prayer book, nor go in for very much ritual or ceremony. It is relatively simple, informal, and flexible.
Churches vary greatly in their life and attitudes, and their understanding of what following Christ demands. So do individuals within any one church. If you want to know what kind of "ethos" this church has we can only recommend that you come and see! Although a preview can be found on the members page.
Our church building opened in 1991. It is designed for the needs of the present time: a Chapel small enough to bring people close together in worship, but capable of being extended for bigger gatherings. It reflects the purpose of the Christian Church – to enable people to be at peace with God and with one another.
At its heart is a concourse - a kind of crossroads everyone passes through to get to the various rooms. This means that the various community groups who use the building are able to meet each other. We encourage this by having members of the congregation to steward the building whenever it is in use, and by building links between the different organisations.
More information about the groups using the church can be found on the activities page. We welcome community groups to hire parts of the building either on a regular basis of for a single occasion. To make enquiries, please phone 020 8518 7725.
The chapel leads off from the concourse. Externally, it is a high profile building on the street corner. Internally, it has an air of peace and beauty, enhanced by the soaring roof and the colourful stained glass window. For Sunday worship, it is small and brings us all closer together. Two of its walls are moveable, so that a larger congregation can spill over into the concourse and one of the other rooms. The two walls at the other side of the concourse are also moveable, so that the whole building is adaptable to different uses.
Upstairs (accessible by two staircases and a lift) there is a “hard surface” multi-purpose hall, with spacious cupboards so that furniture can be stored away when not needed.
The building has lots of glass (reinforced, needless to say!). This makes it look welcoming and easily accessible from the street. It is also good for security. We can see who is coming in and there are no hidden corners. When we are at worship we can see the world outside, so that our worship is focused on God’s love for the world. At the same time, people passing by can see us at worship, and perhaps feel less apprehensive about coming and joining us.
A church building is a visible statement about God. It is a sermon that goes on for a very long time! With the help of a patient and creative artist, high quality builders, a skilled stained glass window artist, in consultation with many people in the neighbourhood, and as a result of the prayers and ideas of many members and friends, we prepared this sermon very thoroughly. We now try to be ready for what the Holy Spirit calls and empowers us to do with it.
A helper at the English Language courses that are held here during the week complimented us on our building recently and said that it was the nicest place that she went to in all her duties as a teacher. This is typical of many remarks made by visitors over the years. We were indeed blessed with an outstanding architect and a splendid firm of builders, and now it is up to all of us to keep our church building and its surroundings in good order. Look around and see what you might be able to do to keep everything shipshape, please.
Our history
The church building was opened in 1991, but the congregation is much older, resulting from a merger of the Fallbrook Baptist Church (on our current site since 1979) and the Leytonstone Congregational Church (founded in 1827), which had its building on Leytonstone High Road.
Both buildings were very large, designed for the big congregations of the Victorian era. In the 1960s they were both demolished, and both churches were using rooms that were left.
In 1972 the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in
In 1979, these two churches decided to join together and became Leytonstone United Free Church. We met first in the halls of the old
This was made possible largely by the sale of the buildings. The rest of the cost was made up of generous giving and hard work in fund raising. A large number of former members of both churches, now living in other parts of the world, were particularly generous.
During this period, the church’s Minister was Rev Ray Vincent. Ray served in Leytonstone for 21 years, until his retirement in September 2001.
In the months since then, God has continued to lead the church forward. New people have joined the congregation; a worship group has been set up and the Holy Spirit is at work in many different ways. Perhaps the most striking has been in leading us and our present Minister together. After over a year of searching for a Minister, Alison Mackay accepted a unanimous call to the pastorate in December 2002. She joined us in September 2003 and we have been growing as a congregation together. To read her monthly message click here.
Please pray for us, as God continues to lead us all to do His will in the life of Leytonstone United Free Church.