The Desecularisation of the City

"This is a fascinating account of religion in a city many observers would have assumed to be irreligious. It is not. The book shows just how vibrant the church-going population has become and gives a subtle, rich account of how it has grown, where it has grown, and why." Tanya M. Luhrmann, Watkins University Professor, Stanford University, USA "While Christianity in the UK as a whole appears to be in decline, in London in the last thirty years churchgoing has risen steadily. Why is this? This brilliant and fascinating book takes us a long way towards an answer. In a series of essays covering themes, particular church communities, and broad trends, Goodhew and Cooper have assembled a team of scholars who open up a challenge not only to conventional views of the actual position of religion in the capital, but also to our understanding of the complex processes through which Christian communities interact with contemporary society. London may or may not be a trend-setter for the future. But anyone who is interested in the nature of contemporary society in Britain, and the place of religion in it, will find much to interest them here. This is a volume of the first importance for understanding religion in Britain today." The Revd Dr Jeremy Morris, The Master, Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, UK "In recent decades, Christian churches around the world have gone through a series of startling transformations, which together have confounded many long-standing predictions about the future of faith. In The Desecularisation of the City, a deeply impressive group of scholars surveys these changes as they affect one of the worlds greatest urban centers. The various essays range widely, and the findings are surprising and, often, heartening. This rich and provocative collection should have a powerful impact on the future study of the Christian religion, in Europe and further afiel

Revd Dr David Goodhew is Director of Ministerial Studies, Cranmer Hall, St Johns College, Durham University. He has edited four volumes on contemporary Christianity with Routledge, beginning with Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present (2012). Anthony-Paul Cooper is Research Fellow of the Centre for Church Growth Research at Cranmer Hall, St John's College, Durham University. Anthony-Paul has a background in social research, with previous research topics including new church use of secular and sacred space and the use of social media data to better understand church attendance and church growth.

Section One: The Desecularisation of the City 1 The Desecularisation of the City: Londons Churches, 1980 to the Present, David Goodhew and Anthony-Paul Cooper Section Two: Changes in Londons Churches, 1980 to the Present 2 The Demography of Religion in London since 1980, Eric Kaufmann 3 The 2012 London Church Census, Peter Brierley 4 Walking down the Old Kent Road: New Black Majority Churches in the London Borough of Southwark, Andrew Rogers 5 New Churches in Newham, Colin Marchant 6 Using Geotagged Twitter Data to Uncover Hidden Church Populations, Anthony-Paul Cooper 7 Growth and Decline in London Methodism, 1980 to the Present, Alan Piggot Section Three: Ethnicity and Londons Churches 8 Mission Out of Africa: The Case of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in London, Babatunde Adedibu 9 Brazilian churches in London, Daniel Clark 10 Capital-wide Missions and the Rise of Londons Black-led Churches, Hugh Osgood 11 Demographics and the Russian Orthodox Church in London, Robert Collins Section Four: Denominational Shifts 12 Londons New Churches: The example of the Newfrontiers Network, Sam Jeffery and William K Kay 13 The Diocese of London and the Anglican Church in London, 1980 to the Present, Bob Jackson 14 Anglican Church Planting in East London, c. 2005-15, Tim Thorlby 15 Visibly Different: Continuity and Change at Westminster Cathedral, Marion Bowman, Simon Coleman, John Jenkins, Tiina Sepp Section Five: The Wider Historical and Sociological Contexts 16 Church Decline and Growth in London: Taking the Long View, John Wolffe 17 Londons Churches: Sociological Perspectives, Grace Davie