Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, St Pancras, St. Bartholomew the Great. We are surrounded by beautiful churches in London, many of them with active congregations. There are even a handful of Lutheran congregations, and we are attending one just a 20 minute walk from our apartment in Camden Town. Which is to say, it’s quite easy for a Christian traveler to find a place to worship here.
Christianity spread to Great Britain between the 3rd and 4th centuries, initially facing some challenge by Roman and Anglo-Saxon pagans. At first it was Roman Catholic, but that all changed in the 16th century. Henry VIII had grown tired of answering to a far-off pope, the final straw being when the church refused to allow him a divorce from his wife who had failed to produce an heir. Long story short, England broke ties with the Catholic church and developed its own church, the Church of England. While this is the state religion, all faiths are permitted to worship here and one can find places of worship for many Christian denominations.
Luther-Tyndale
Luther-Tyndale Memorial Church is an old-ish brick church tucked away in a residential neighborhood. It was founded in 1896 by a small group of German immigrants who initially met in a house, then a factory hall, then were able to build a proper church in the current location in 1936. You can read more about their history here: https://luthertyndale.org.uk/history/. They now additionally serve a group of Brazilian immigrants with a Portuguese-language service as the current pastor is originally from Brazil.
We chose this congregation because we are Lutheran, and we have found the services to be comfortably familiar. They even use the same hymnal as our home congregation. The members are a variety of ages and nationalities and genders. If anything Luther-Tyndale seems to skew younger than many churches with several young adults and families with little children. The pastor has been quite friendly and eager to chat with us about his time in the U.S. as well as sharing information about London and about the congregation where he has served for over 20 years.
