Contents
- Home
- News
- Question of the week
- Comment
- Simon Parke: Support in short supply
- The dilemmas of interconnectedness
- A story of a Church without vision?
- Giles Fraser: No tasks left for the risen Jesus
- Paul Vallely: Africa doesn’t need another Big Man
- Listen to the older voice on Islam
- Leader: Westminster scandal does its damage
- 100 years ago: France and Blessed Joan
- Who cares now for the grandparent-carers?
- Letters
- Real Life
- Features
- Faith
- Humour and crossword
- Pastimes
- Books
- Arts
- Media
- Gazette
 back to Comment |
 previous story
|
next story 
|
A story of a Church without vision?
The saga of St Mark’s, Mayfair, shows a Church determined to decline, argues Jenny Taylor
 Making their voices heard: members of the Save St Mark’s Action Group, including Lady Sainsbury (with megaphone) protest against its closure outside London Diocesan House last month |
|
It has been an unhappy and, at times, bizarre experience to find oneself fighting one’s own diocese to keep a church open. The upside-down world of the London diocesan property office has found some of us, the Save St Mark’s Action Group, siding with the state and the local unchurched community against the church hierarchy in order to keep the Grade-I listed St Mark’s in Mayfair, London, as a place of worship (News, 13 March, 20 March). The bigger picture is equally bizarre. The diocese of London seems determined to close St Mark’s, North Audley Street, at a time when, as Christianity magazine reported this month, there are believed to be 80 homeless congregations in one London borough alone, and probably similar numbers in others. The diocese seems to function as a decline-management bureau, when there are congregations (Anglican and non-Anglican) now willing and able to take on the financial burden of historic buildings and to contribute to diocesan coffers. It appears to be cashing in on its heritage, while none the less riding roughshod over ancient covenants when it is convenient to do so. The diocese is also mired in an outdated parochial model of church. Even the usually daring Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, has called St Mark’s “unstrategic”, betraying an approach that cannot be justified in a city heaving with Christian migrants desperate for a place in which to worship. Westminster City Council has heeded the sometimes histrionic cry of the local community, and refused planning permission to the car-park operator George Hammer, who wants to turn the church into a celebrity venue/beauty parlour/cancer-therapy centre. The Victorian Society, local businesses, Private Eye, and the builder Kirk Mitchell, who leads the Save St Mark’s Action Group, all want to keep the church, as do the Jesuits in the area. Is the diocese being contrary, then, in insisting on renewing a contract with a man who has promoted the other sacred space he has bought — Holy Trinity, Marylebone — as a “decadent” venue? The diocese is under no obligation to renew its agreement, since it was conditional on planning permission. It does not have to sell to Mr Hammer, since Holy Trinity, Brompton, accepted its offer of the church a while ago, and entered into six months of negotiations. The diocese appears to have reneged on those negotiations when Mr Hammer’s bid showed new signs of life. The Bishop’s Council is gathering on Monday next week for an “extraordinary meeting” to decide the fate of this early-19th-century building. It was made redundant 35 years ago, and its history has been well rehearsed (see www.savestmarks. com). Several facts stand out. · The Grosvenor Estate made over the land for the church and the adjoining vicarage for “ecclesiastical purposes for ever” in 1824. · The diocese refused an offer of $100,000 for the church by the United States after the Second World War, when St Mark’s had been used by US service personnel based near by in Grosvenor Square. The diocese preferred to propose a 20-year lease — which was refused because the Americans reportedly thought it was too short to make long-term plans — after which the church stood empty for two decades. · The congregation that was allowed by the diocese to use the church for 14 years, and was then forced to leave (contrary to an earlier agreement), was teaching vulnerable children about the dangers of the street, and the menace of knives and casual sex. · That congregation now has to pay £1250 per week to worship in a conference room at the Holiday Inn Regent’s Park. · Homeless people used the portico for years, despite being tempted into warmer lodgings by the new pastor, Rod Anderson, who took over from the ailing Commonwealth Christian Fellowship in November 2007. The portico was fenced off by the diocese, without permission, to keep the homeless out, the night after the eviction. Westminster City Council announced on Wednesday of last week that it was taking enforcement action against the diocese to remove the offending barriers. The Save St Mark’s Action Group brings together a cross-section of society, from supermarket millionairesses to pensioners who have benefited from the church’s Christmas hampers and curtain-washing. Its campaign has been perceived by some as a parable of revolt against a Church that cannot see that it is at a crossroads. A sad tale of bungling, faithlessness, and lack of a prophetic belief in the future could be turned round overnight to become the flagship of a popular uprising against decline, and to lead the revival we all long to see. The Bishop of London has the chance to lead his team out of this gulch, before the church — and others, too, perhaps — are consigned to the body-waxers for ever. Dr Jenny Taylor is Director of Lapido Media, and media consultant to the Save St Mark’s Action Group. |
