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The Parchmore Partnership
George Lovell, Garth Rogers and Peter Sharrocks edited by Malcolm Grundy
(Chester House Publications 1995)
189pp
£7.50
Peter Sharrocks, Garth Rogers and George Lovell
Peter Sharrocks, Garth Rogers and George LovellPeter Sharrocks, Garth Rogers and George Lovell
This is a unique story. The Parchmore Road Methodist Church in Croydon, South London, has had five consecutive ministers who have, since 1966, attempted to develop the life of this local congregation by using church and community development methods and policies. This book — the stories of the first three ministers covering twenty five years with a contribution from the fourth —encourages us to see how much can be achieved when consistent working practices are employed. A measure of the effectiveness of the Parchmore ministry is the way in which relationships with the police and the local community were maintained through more than twenty years of tension and change. This is a revealing Christian story, with many lessons for all involved in church and community ministry through the work of a local church.
Comment:
"The book is a splendid read. It contains a fund of excellent resources and telling issues which will stimulate reflection among church and community work practitioners for years to come."
"This is not a record of rigid dogma being applied: at every point the church, the community organisations and the ministers were learning from one another in flexible and imaginative ways as they faced unforeseen and unforeseeable situations. The outcome is that individuals and groups grew and matured, however rough may have been the social environment. The result: a jewel in Methodism’s post-war crown."
David G Deeks in The Methodist Recorder