st stephens church south lambeth history

8/7/2019 St Stephens Church South Lambeth History

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news from your parish church

STSTEP

HENSCHUR

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the newly built St

Stephens church held its first ever service, and

the parish of St Stephen, South Lambeth came

into being. Ever since, St Stephens has been

home to a group of people committed bringing

the love of Jesus Christ to our corner of London.It didnt come out of the blue. For some time

500 people had been attending services in a

public hall on Dorset Road. But the new 1200-

seat church, soon filled twice each Sunday, al-

lowed most of the population of the parish to

meet and worship Jesus.

And with 21 district visitors (the fore-runners of

today's social workers), the church also started

a life-long mission to make a difference in the

lives of those who were struggling with practicaland health needs.

Inside this issue of Encounter, you can read the

full story. There were ups and downs along the

way, but for 150 years St Stephens continued

to work, here in the midst of the community.

If you join us on Easter Sunday, youll be part of

history!

A day that changed

everything

a man came back to life from thedead. On Friday he'd been executed, died and

put in the grave. On Sunday morning the grave

was empty and he was alive again, talking,

walking and eating with his astonished friends.

He was no ordinary man. His birth was marked

by events that are still celebrated 2000 years

later. As a young man, he spoke with such au-

thority and did such amazing things that he

was soon surrounded by crowds of followers.

Soon he was on his way to a gruesome death.

He'd committed no crime. His enemies had

him arrested, tried and found guilty on false

charges. He didn't even object. He seemed to

know that he'd come in order to die.

Hed made extraordinary claims and promises.He claimed to be the Son of God. He offered a

completely new life even for the outcasts of

society. For one long weekend it seemed that

theyd been empty words. But when he rose

from the dead, he proved the sceptics wrong,

and started a movement that has lasted to this

day.

If you join us on Easter Sunday, you might find

how that history can become part of you.

Happy birthday... ...to you!

150years

The empty tomb...

...what does it mean?

1861

2011


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St Michaels Church, Stock-

well, founded a National

and Infant School on Dorset

Road, and established a

worship centre there.

The Fegans Society (now

Fegans Child and Family

Care) was founded.

The church built the New

Dispensary (now 44

Wilkinson St) to provide

subsidised medical care

for those who couldn't

afford it.

St Stephen's

church held its first

service on 23rd

April 1861. Built on'a waste piece of

ground at the back

of Albert Square',

the 1200-seat

church had been

paid for by the vicar

of Stockwell.

As well as taking

over the running

and funding of theschool, St

Stephens had 21

volunteer District

Visitors (the fore-

runners of social

workers).

Rev J Grundy became vicar. He found a difficult

situation caused by the 'outward drift' of better-off people to the suburbs, which decreased the

church's income while increasing the needs. He

became very hard up and his health suffered.

Parliament began to provide

some funding to church schools.

The State began to take over responsibility for deal-

ing with the problems of society, and the Church wasrelegated to the spiritual aspects of life. People

were becoming sceptical about traditional Christian

beliefs and looking for secular answers.

After 36 years as vicar, Rev Grundy died in the

church while preparing for a service. Electric lighting

was installed in his memory.

St Stephens School was the only local school to con-

tinue throughout the war, despite suffering two direct

hits from bombs. The children had to walk in a croco-

dile to Spurgeons Orphanage for lunch.

The church in your community - 150 years


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The first black children came to

St Stephens School

The typical congregation was only 7 people! 12 vicars turned

down the job before Rev Corbett agreed to take it on for 3 years.

But in 1961 nineteen people turned it down and St Stephens

was nearly closed. Rev Carroll had the courage and imagination

they were looking for. By 1965, the typical congregation was

40-50 adults and 150 children

The building was a massive problem - much too big and coming to

the end of its natural life. A building firm was contracted to demol-

ish and rebuild the church and vicarage, in exchange for a 99-year

lease on the rest of the land, to build flats.

Mervyn Stockwood, Bishop of Southwark, consecrated the new

building. Not everyone liked the functional and fortress-like design,

but it was celebrated as a sign of new life - a striking contrast to

the fading grandeur and decay that it replaced.

There were so many children

that the teachers finally

couldnt cope. Sunday School

for children over 7 was closed

down, and the children were

welcomed to the main service,

so that the church could con-

centrate on building up the

adult congregation. It took 7

years before those groups

could be restarted.

The "church without

walls" project brought us

the building we know

today. New large win-

dows replaced the 1969

"slits". The annexe provid-

ed a clear entrance, aplace to sit, an accessi-

ble toilet and kitchen

area. A new floor, ceiling

and lighting transformed

the dark and gloomy wor-

ship area into a bright,

inviting space.

When it came time

to demolish the

spire, it took 5 hoursjust to get a safe

set-up ready. A

crowd gathered to

say goodbye... but a

bonfire had been

built where it was

supposed to land, so

they had to delay

until next morning.

St Stephens ran its first

community barbecue on

the Dorset Road Estate.

St Stephens held a

Community Advice Day,

ran the CAP Money

course on managing

finance, and held a

week of events entitled

Hope in Hard Times.


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Childrens corner

Published by St Stephens Church, St Stephens Terrace, London SW8 1DH

Church office: ( 020 7735 8461 8 [email protected]

Count The Eggs

How manypink?

How manyblue?

How manygreen?

How manyorange?

Looking to thefuture...

We at St Stephen's have given

ourselves a mission statement -

To make disciples of Christ and

to serve our community in

Christ. At the heart of all that

we do is our desire to see more

people in our community come

to understand and experience

the love of Jesus for themselves.

Jesus showed us that a life serv-

ing others is a life that pleases

Him. So we want to find ways,

within our resources, to bless

the residents of our parish.

In January, we held a

Community Advice Day when

church family and

others were available in church

to offer practical support, from

form filling to bike maintenance

to blood pressure checking. We

are planning one later this year -

well let you know when it is.

We also offer courses in money

management and budgeting -

the next one is in May. To book

a place please ring and leave a

message on the answerphone,

or email us (see below).

Every blessing and joy to you

this Easter-time.

Bill Wilson

DORSETRD

WILKINSONST

BOLNEYST

ALBERT

SQ

ALDEBERTTERR

T R A D E S C A N T

SOUTHLAMBETHROAD

st stephens church south lambeth history

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