Kilburn Methodist Church is a vibrant congregation in northwest London. Its roots in the area run deep. In 1866, two women founded a Methodist society; by 1868 they had raised enough funds to build a church. Today, the congregation is predominantly West African. Prior to the pandemic, the average attendance on a Sunday morning numbered approximately fifty.
In March 2020, when the UK government announced the new restrictions, the church leaders worked swiftly to move their services online. Since the very first Sunday of lockdown, Kilburn Methodist Church has gathered weekly, via Zoom, for corporate worship. SWF Senior Research Officer Lia Shimada (the interviewer) lives locally and has known this congregation for five years. A couple of months into the pandemic, in late May, some of the church leaders agreed to an online conversation with Lia. Over virtual coffee, they reflected together on their experience of ‘Worship in Lockdown’.
Read the transcript of the conversation here and listen to the audio recording below.
