Tollington, North London
So, you’ve never heard of Tollington? What about the Finsbury Park Mosque? You may know of a team called Arsenal FC? What about the Angel property in the game Monoploy?
Well, Tollington is in the north London borough of Islington and all of the above are nearby. The hill on which Islington stands has long supplied the City of London with water, the first projects drawing water through wooden pipes from the many springs that lay at its foot, in Finsbury, including Sadler’s Wells, London Spa and Clerkenwell.
Tollington Parish is a Church of England team of three churches: St. Mark’s Tollington, St. Saviour’s, Hanley Road and Emmanuel, Hornsey Road.
Throughout their history the three churches, which are all now well into their second century of ministry, have been actively involved in evangelism, outreach, and practical support for the poor and marginalized. However, despite the prayers and efforts of some faithful parishioners, by the late nineties 3 churches had reached a very low ebb and were under threat of closure.
In 2005 a ‘turnaround team’ agreed to adopt the churches in order to begin a new chapter. The churches have been growing ever since – all have healthy congregations that are reaching out once again.
Over the decades there have been multiple waves of immigration and as such the community has become densely populated and wonderfully ethnically and religiously diverse.
The Tollington estates (high and mid-rise housing projects) are the largest concentration of social housing in Islington and house many thousands of people, often in very crowded conditions and so the Tollington Parish is classified as a UPA (Urban Priority Area).
Rev Stu Wright (right) looks after Emmanuel church and is also responsible for Community Mission with a particular focus on local Council Estates. Stu thus oversees the Eden team.
The church runs night pastors, youth clubs, work with refugee communities, drop-ins for mums and toddlers, Alpha in the community centre, and much more, including the hugely successful annual Soul in the City event aimed at young people and families (although everyone is welcome).
Soul in the City is multi-faceted with activities such as litter-picking and gardening, sports, music workshops and later in the day, dynamic evening entertainment. In addition the church provides a free community meal for several hundred people every day with 600 on Saturday! The event sees residents, police, councillors, community leaders and church joining together and having a great time!
The Team Leader of Eden Tollington is Jahaziel Elliott (left) who moved to the area from Croydon with wife Nadine and daughter Azaliah. Also on the Eden team is Naomi so they are just starting out. Are you being called to join them?
As you will already have gathered Eden is called to the tough places, moving into the neighbourhood where others seek to move out, which is why we’ve included an outline of the needs of the estate.
But we’ve focussed mainly on our Partner church here because we firmly believe that the local church is the hope of the world and a key expression of God’s plan as he reveals his love to us.
However, there is a great deal more to say about the work of the Eden team, the people involved there, and the mission to the estate through the program / activity that has developed.
For futher info contact: tollington@eden-network.org
Or, Regional Director, Daniel Haigh: london@eden-network.org
