A Year in London: St. Catherine's Church

Many of you know that Brandon and I are proclaimed Christians. We love Jesus and we try to live our life in a way that reflects Him. So, it is important to us to find a church home while we are in London. Not only does a weekly worship service help you feel closer to Christ, but it is a way of connecting with the community of Christians and gives us a support system to rely on when things get difficult. We have joined the Christian Union on campus and attend their events when we can. We have also befriended the campus vicar (clergy). Both have offered several church suggestions for us to try, so we spent our first month visiting several area churches to get a taste of what is available and find a church home while living in London.

So the church we landed on is St. Catherine's!! This is a Church of England (Anglican) based church and it is located on the top of big hill, with wonderful views of the city. The building itself is made up of Gothic architecture and is a wonderful atmosphere to worship inside. The vicar of the church is a woman, who is interested in developing the music programs at the church and reaching out into the community of New Cross. The service itself was much like St. Matthew's, with a very liturgical based worship and even included some familiar phrases ("The Lord be with you....and also with you!") Everyone is very nice and we have already met many of the church members. Downsides of this church - not very many other students (25-35 age range) attend, the congregation is made up of mostly young families and older adults. But overall, it feels a lot like St. Matthew's and I love the fact that we can offer our musical gifts to help the vicar in her vision.

Here are some pictures of our new church home!