Renewal in the Inner City was written at the request of the Methodist Church Home Mission Division, on behalf of the Newham Community Renewal Programme, in 1978 as part of a series of Occasional Papers on subjects relating to ‘Mission’ among churches in Britain.
For historians, the description of conditions in inner-city East London is a valuable addition to knowledge. For social scientists the principles of community development applied in the 1970s are timeless and have relevance for similar areas of mission today. This small book provides an exciting and inspirational fresh look at ‘mission’ and the practical outworking of faith under the direction of the Holy Spirit which has much to teach us today, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Background History
The Methodist Church in the UK were one of the earliest denominations to see the need for a fresh approach to mission work in the inner city and not only gave grants to support outreach but also were keen to publish guidelines to encourage the expansion of the thinking behind these new concepts.