Unlocking the treasure

UNLOCK is a Christian charity that seeks to serve the poorest communities in our land to unlock the treasure of the Gospel, and to experience the love of the down-to-earth God.

Each year the Unlock Sponsored Walk in a different area of inner London gives UNLOCKERS (the charity's supporters) the chance to raise some much needed cash and experience some of the challenges and joys of inner city life in the churches which act as checkpoints along the walk.

This year's walk was in Tottenham and included the Diocese of London's newest church, St Francis in the Engine Room  (above), part of £0.5billion development of ex-industrial land; two Pentecostal churches; a baptist church; an RC church; and a thriving Methodist Church (right) whose membership has grown from 40 to 350 in the past thirty years.

Stations of the cross at St Francis

The walk also took in the Broadwater Farm Estate, scene of notorious riots in 1985, and it was moving to see the work of the Church on the Farm, sponsored by St Ann's Tottenham, reaching out with the love of Christ to a needy community.

Broadwater Farm Estate

Unlockers at Church on the Farm

As we walked the streets of Tottenham, it was good to be reminded that God's church is alive and well, sharing the Gospel of God's grace in this incredibly diverse community of Tottenham (said to be the most racially diverse in Europe).

The Unlock walk is one of the highlights of our year.

It's always fascinating. Always heartwarming to think of the love and grace of urban churches. Always challenging to think of the great needs and meagre resources (by comparison with what is lavished on the middle class church by the middle class church).

Yet it is from the middle class church that many of the walkers, and many of Unlock's supporters come, so God bless those who come and those who care.

Finally, here are some Unlockers near the end of the journey, and still smiling: