St Saviour's Church, Forest Gate

Celebrating 140 Years

by Deborah Fisher

A 140th birthday celebration offers an opportunity to reflect on the life and history of a church.This short history adds to a much earlier one. Its starting point is the founding of St Saviour’s in the 1880’s, an age of revival in which extensive building of churches took place, in an area of London rapidly increasing in population and housing developments.

Through themes, it tells a story of how the many groups of people who, over the decades have formed the church, have met the challenges and opportunities offered by a continually changing east end society to pursue a key mission of demonstrating the transforming love of Jesus Christ. The story describes how the church has survived war, demolition, potential closure, a pandemic, to remain the strong church it is today.

Descriptions of key events and activities underline how the church has sought to respond to, and interact with, its local community which has seen substantial social change in terms of increasing multiculturalism, changing family dynamics, developments in the role of women, increased social mobility, and multiple social issues.Sources used in telling the story are mainly the records of parish meetings, official church documents, and images old and new.

But, most importantly, church members have offered their own accounts and memories, a source that would otherwise have gone undocumented.

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