History of CTICFor many years the clergy of the “Gospel Oak” group of churches met periodically and organised a Lenten ecumenical programme. In addition to the Anglican Churches of St Martin’s and All Hallows, the Gospel Oak Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church of St Dominic’s Priory, this “Gospel Oak” group includes the Camden Town United Reformed Church and the Kentish Town Congregational Church as well as the Salvation Army in Chalk Farm.
We would meet in one another’s churches for Lent Groups - now just occasional events in Lent - and would join the Palm Sunday procession from Hampstead Parish Church to Parliament Hill - now encouraged to join the Procession through Camden Town. For some years we held a service in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January – now encouraged to join Churches Together in Hampstead for their service – and we hold an Ecumenical Carol Service at St Martin’s.
In October 1995 a group of lay people were involved in planning an ecumenical service for One World Week. In December 1995 a meeting was called for a group of lay people to plan the service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. What those present decided was that the clergy should be asked to organise that January service but that we wanted to meet more regularly, once a month, for prayer and bible study as well as working towards planning the One World Week service in October.
And so Christians Together in Camden was born. For 4 years a small group would meet at the Camden Town United Reformed Church for prayer, bible study and discussion. Core members came from the “Gospel Oak” group of churches but were joined by people from other churches as we reached out through denominational, geographic and personal networks. We organised a number of services, quiet evenings, music workshops and campaigns supporting asylum seekers and fair trade in particular and all churches in Camden were invited to participate.
We had called ourselves “Christians Together” not “Churches Together” as we were not, and had no wish to be, a formal representative organisation. We eventually began to feel that there were too few of us to continue organising 3 or 4 events a year. The “work” was taking over from the prayer and bible study. We agreed to stop meeting regularly but to continue in name as an informal network of Christians in Camden.
We nevertheless organised a Millennium Project – raising enough money to buy a collection of Christian Books for Camden’s Libraries. The network continues to evolve with new links forged, others weakening or strengthening as circumstances change. A dozen churches, including ones in the south of the borough, were involved in the Christian Book project. Prayer with Songs from Taizé has led to a strong bond between members of St Dominic’s Priory and St Mary’s Primrose Hill. St Michael’s Camden Town and Churches in Highgate have since joined the Taizé circuit with others holding occasional services.
We have continued to send out 4 or 5 newsletters a year to all churches in Camden inviting them to contribute items and generally encouraging and publicising ecumenical activity across the Borough of Camden. With the increased use of email and links to websites, CTIC is now something of a “virtual” organisation existing largely in cyberspace but also whenever and wherever Christians come together in Camden.
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