St Matthew’s Church has been a spiritual home for a wonderful and diverse range of people since 1746. It has seen many changes in the area over the years and these changes continue today. We believe we are on a journey accompanied by God in Christ Jesus, through the power of God’s Spirit. We know this will sound strange to those who haven’t been around church much, and to be honest we’re still figuring it out ourselves. We believe that the Christian life is one of healing, forgiveness, freedom, justice, reconciliation and peace, following in the example of Jesus of Nazareth.
We’re a church in the sacramental tradition, which means we believe that everything we are and everything we do flows from God’s presence with us in the Eucharist — also known as Holy Communion or mass.
People have come to St Matthew’s to pray, worship and celebrate their lives in good times, bad times and periods of uncertainty, difficulty and tragedy. The more established, the new and the passing through are all among us. We try to welcome and include each person who walks through the doors.
Vision & Mission Action Plan, 2022-2025
We believe all that we do flows from who we are becoming in Christ, through prayer, worship and sacramental life. We have a vision for our church and parish to be a place where all folks can encounter God’s life-changing love.
We have three mission areas:
- Children’s & youth work: We want to prioritise work amongst younger people in parish life, in worship and in community activities. We are lucky to be a relatively young, cross-generational parish.
- Creating community & combatting loneliness: We want to be a church where local people of all faiths and none come together and connect with others, building community and combatting isolation and loneliness.
- Bringing people of difference together to seek the common good: Bethnal Green has many people who want to make it a better place, through community organising, joining up with wider justice campaigns, and working with other groups and charities who care about the same issues we care about.
Wider context
St Matthew’s is a part of the Stepney Area of the London Diocese of the Church of England. You can check out their vision & mission plans at each of their respective websites.