Muslim Complain Could Close Church

A LONDON Church was effectively 'silenced' by a Court after a decision by Magistrates to uphold a noise abatement notice, not to play excessive sound, after just one Muslim neighbour complained about noise levels of worship in a church which was next door to the house he purchased.

Singing Songs of Praise on a Sunday is normal Church activity. Using amplification is a normal part of Church life and it was argued at the Court hearing that the normal use of a Church building entails worship and cannot constitute noise nuisance.

Immanuel House of Worship Church has been meeting at 89 Vallentin Road in Walthamstow since it bought the premises in 2006. The Church was built in 1894 and was formerly used by the United Reformed Church, when the Church owned all the land on which the current properties are now built.

The property next door to the church, No 87, was formerly the Manse (vicarage) until 1989, when it was then sold by the United Reformed Church. In 2005, No 87 was sold to the current occupants. Mr and Mrs Baha Uddin. From 2005 - 2006, the property was empty and vagrants frequently hung around church. Currently, the IHOW church offers a nursery to serve the whole neighbourhood and has an impressive list of neighbours who welcome the church and who do not regard their worship as a problem.

However, Mr and Mrs Uddin complained about the level of noise of worship coming from the church for just 40 minutes a week and an Abatement Notice was served on the Church Trustees on 6 May 2009 under Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 79(1) (g). The church appealed to the magistrate court and the hearing took place on 5 and 6 October at Waltham Forest Magistrates Court.

Mr Ade Ajike, a Trustee of the church said: "When we moved into Valentinn Road in 2007, we had renovated the property and bricked up the three windows facing house No 87. We also double glazed all the windows, except one stained glass window, and spent £10,000 to carry out sound-reducing. In fact, the Council's environmental department at the time said it would be enough just to brick up the windows.

"After moving in we invited Environmental Officers to visit the premises and we got the OK. We also visited neighbours and took them potted plants, and had no problem until Mr Uddin made his official complaint in August 2008.

"Gary Vickers, an Environmental health enforcement officer visited Mr Uddin's house on 10th August (Sunday worship service time) and on 12 August issued a letter to us saying that in his opinion, the volume from the music was of statutory noise nuisance level throughout the neighbours' property. He suggested to deal with matter through sensible negotiation, informing our Pastor that 'the church had to keep the noise down so as not to offend the Muslims living in the area'. He told us 'this is a Muslim borough, you have to tread carefully'."

During August, IHOW took action. They reduced hours of Sunday worship from 4 hours to 2 hours 30 mins, of which music is played for about 45 minutes. They reduced their weekly services to one service on Sunday, and all mid-week services held are skeletal services without music. Sunday evening services were reduced to once a month. The Trustees also took the decision not to hire out the premises in case noise would aggravate Mr Uddin, a move which has cost the church additional revenue. However, the visiting officer changed and questioning got more hostile.

Mr Ajike said: "Officers questioned the church why they needed amplifiers when 50 years ago the Church would not have used drums and amplified music. On 6 May 2009, an Abatement Notice was issued against the church alleging an unreasonable level of noise nuisance caused by excessive loud amplified music and drums.

"Since then we have stopped using drums and further reduced our worship time to 20 minutes beginning from 11.30am on a Sunday morning. We have also restricted church services to once a week. Despite all our action, Mr Uddin, who actually lives in what was the former Manse (vicarage) to the church, would stand at church's main entrance door and shout his complaints and demand our Pastor come out to speak to him during his sermon."

The IHOW has sought the advice of the Christian Legal Centre over their plight and to appeal this week's decision. CLC has instructed leading Human Right's expert Paul Diamond to represent the church at the Appeal.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the CLC said:

"The charge of nuisance in law must involve proving there is a substantial interference with comfort. Surely, any reasonable person would think that singing for 40 minutes or so once or twice a week would not cross this threshold. Worship in a Church is to be expected. The Environmental Health Officers do not seem to have taken this fact into account. This is a vibrant Afro Caribbean community of Christian believers whose worship of God is fundamental to the expression of their faith. The richness and vibrancy of groups like the London Gospel Community Choir is based on the Afro Caribbean expression of faith through music. '

Bishop John Anthony Francis 25 Years In Ministry

Brixton Hill, Brixton Hill... During the Month of June, all roads lead to Brixton Hill as Ruach Church celebrates 25 years of ministering from Bishop John Anthony Francis.

Many have seen this very popular man of God striding with power across the various platforms of not only his church but also on television and the Internet.  He has been dubbed a gospel music pioneer progressing from humble beginnings of being a singer in The London Gospel Community Choir, to establishing a spiritual legacy of Teaching, Preaching, and Apostolic Ministry.

The son of a pastor, John Francis may look small in frame, but don't be fooled... size is not a factor. He has been blessed with an anointing from God, and a mandate to transform lives and communities.  Tenacity, commitment, and zeal for God have been pivotal in his success as a Bishop.

The Bishop is being honored for his contribution to the Spiritual Legacy of Great Britain. The next 25 years offer fresh vision, new opportunity and the continued legacy of this bishop. Congrats!

By Gina Francis

Question time for pastors

A group of pastors from England and the Republic of Ireland recently joined Dutch, Finnish and Norwegian colleagues in a during Pastors in Conversation in what proved to be "very open" and "very broadminded" discussion and showed that churches were finally tackling what could be viewed as troubled Issues.

Introduced by Trans-European Division President Dr Bertil Wiklander, Dr Paulsen, World President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, answered questions about diversity, emphasising the richness that these groups add to the recipient church.  Amongst the ten major questions he spoke to during the one hour presentation were reaching the post-modern mind, reclaiming "lost" members, female pastors, giving young people more responsibility, dealing with small churches, and the role of the church in its community.

Two pastors from England and one from the Republic of Ireland joined with Dutch, Finnish and Norwegian colleagues in what Pastor Ian Sweeney from Leeds called a "very open" and "very broadminded" conversation.  He felt rewarded "to feel the heart of where Pastor Paulsen is at".  Pastor Ashwin Somasundram represented churches in the London area and was "encouraged to hear that Pastor Paulsen shares our pastoral concerns and understands our challenges.  Pastor Steve Wilson flew from Galway and as the youngest participant asked some difficult questions related to pastoral burnout and the reclaiming of lapsed members.  His image of the world president has changed and he hopes the sincerity and honesty he sensed in the studio came through in the programme.  Galway member, Mary Jo was among the many that sent a text message to say how much she enjoyed the programme with a "clear and refreshing message."

The programme was coordinated by the General Conference Communication department, and facilitated by the British Union Conference Media team. Pastors in Conversation, was uplinked to the Hope Channel from studios just north of London, and shown around the world. Info; www.hopetv.org.uk

RCL Praise - Awesome God

Contemporary Christian Music often retains a certain Jekyll & Hyde complex, producing some superb artists that adhere faithfully to the genres in which they belong. Christian Rock for example, claims the likes of P.O.D (Payable On Death), and Spoken & Athlete who have had success in the British charts, whilst Christian Hip-Hop is represented by The Cross Movement, T-Bone & Da' T.R.U.T.H, to name but a few.

LCL Praise, however, represents the other end of the spectrum. Produced by Ian Green, the production of their album, Awesome God, is actually very good, and the lyrical content is passionate and sincere. Nevertheless, these are both frustrated by poor musical direction.

Commencing with a cringe-worthy performance of 'So Amazing', the album is paralyzed before even acquiring any discernible momentum, continuing then to the equally lamentable, 'King of Glory'. Chord structures are largely generic "gospel" with no new interpretation or reinvigoration,

The CD starts with a cringe-worthy performance of a song called 'So Amazing' that cripples the album before it even has a chance to gain any momentum. It continues with another equally bad track called 'King of Glory'.

Tracks, such as 'Lord I love You', 'You're All I Need', and 'My Strength', are palatable, but even these barely attain the level of excusable 80s pop at best! Assuming the album's raison d'être is to propagate the virtues of the gospel, it may sadly miss the mark owing to its lack of broad appeal.

Even if RCL Praise wishes only to cater to fellow Christians, they still need to raise their game. Whilst I can feel the passion of the singers, I just wish that their music reflected the seriousness of their conviction.

By the end of album, my persistent thought was of being so disappointed to hear the splendor of the gospel conveyed in such a lacklustre manner. With the quality of the vocals, and better musical direction one can only hope for a more successful effort before too long.

RCL Praise's 'Awesome God' is out soon.

By Eddie-Lee Lawrence