The Desecularisation of the City Reviewed

The Desecularisation of the City: London’s Churches, 1980 to the present edited by David Goodhew and Anthony-Paul Cooper and published by Routledge is an interesting book from a variety of angles. There is the question of what has happened in London over the last 40 years? Then there’s question of if desecularisation has occurred in the capital is the shape of things to come in the rest of the country?

The more interesting thing about the book for me, though, was section three of the book and the picture it gives of the ethnic mix of London and the impact that different waves of migration have had. Whilst this includes the expected discussion of West African migration and the new churches it has bought with it but the book also looks at Brazilian and Russian migration and the impact of that. I had not realised for example there had been three waves of Russian migration or that the Brazilian churches are particularly at risk of schism.

As a Methodist, who is relatively new to living and working within the London District, Alan Piggot’s chapter on ‘Growth and Decline of London Methodism, 1980 to the present’ was particularly useful. It gave a useful insight into how the London District came into being and how the current structure had developed. The discussion of the way strategy had misread the signs of the time and predicted growth in the suburbs and decline in the centre showed that a lot of what happened was down to reading the signs reasonably well but guessing wrongly where it would all lead. This is something that may provide a salutary warning to us all as we seek to develop strategy in a time of unknowing.

On a personal level Piggot’s chapter also gave me a clearer insight into the context in which I am now working and the pattern of growth which had occurred over the last 30 years in particular. I had not realised at one point we had been responsible for one eighth of all growth in the London District.

The discussion of the New Frontiers churches also gave me an interesting insight into more recent developments which I had not been clear about, particularly the fragmentation of the denomination into the six spheres.

Thus, this book is good reading for anybody who wants to catch up on where we are now as well as how we might have gotten here. It is very good for filling in gaps of knowledge on some specific areas and contexts.

One area of concern for me as I read was something black theologians such Anthony Reddie have bought light to. That is the way that the Black experience of migration, communities and church growth is often being interpreted through the eyes of white academics and/ or preachers who layer the story with their own interpretations and meanings. I am not sure the percentage of chapters in the book which were written by white theologians compared to other ethnicities but I was aware that a fair number of the authors were white talking about communities where ethnicity has changed strongly over recent years. An example of this is Colin Marchant talking about Newham. His section on Beginnings I am sure would have been different in flavour if written by a black theologian.

In terms of the question of whether London is an exceptional case or not the chapter by Grace Davie is well worth a read. She outlines well the ways in which the development of faith in London has a different narrative to other parts of the country and that the answer of whether the rest of the country will follow is complex and it depends upon where you are looking.

So, overall is this book worth the read. Most definitely in paperback or ebook if you are a practical theologian, somebody who is in ministry (lay or ordained in London and wants to understand your context) or a sociologist of religion. Beyond these groups I’d say you might find out a few things, but I’d probably just get it out of the library if you can persuade your local one to stock it.  

If you're interested in this area you might be interested in the accompanying half day conference happening at Kings College London, in January