St Helen's Bishopsgate
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St Helen's Bishopsgate is a conservative Evangelical church in the City of London, close to the Lloyd's building and the 'Gherkin'. It is part of the Church of England and is noted for its expository preaching. It is popular with students and young professionals, many of whom work in the City.
The church is part of Reform, and has a similar theology to St Ebbe's, Oxford, and Jesmond Parish Church in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Meetings on Sundays are relatively informal but dignified, focused on a lengthy sermon. St Helen's also has meetings at lunchtime on Tuesdays for City workers. It has planted churches in Canary Wharf, Fleet Street, and Dulwich.
[edit] History
The church dates from 1210 and contains many fifteenth and seventeenth century funerary monuments. It was the parish church of William Shakespeare when he lived in the area in the early 1600s. It is one of only a few City churches to survive both the Great Fire of London of 1666 and The Blitz during World War II.
In 1992 and 1993, St Helen's was badly damaged by two IRA bombs that were set off nearby. The roof of the church was lifted and one of the city's largest medieval stained glass windows was shattered. Now, it has been fully restored although many of the older monuments within the church were entirely destroyed. Architect Quinlan Terry, an enthusiast of Georgian architecture, designed the restoration of the building along Reformation lines. Due to parish consolidation over the years, the parish is now named "St Helen Bishopsgate with St Andrew Undershaft & St Ethelburga Bishopsgate & St Martin Outwich & St Mary Axe." The Merchant Taylors' Company are the patrons of the benefice.
Former rectors include Prebendary R.C. (Dick) Lucas. The current rector is William Taylor.
[edit] Controversies
In 2002, the ordained clergy of St Helen's resigned their salaries from the Church of England church commission in response to the selection of Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury and his personal views in favour of ordination of homosexuals. St Helen's withheld the amount it gave to the commission in order to pay its own clergy's stipends.
In 2004 and 2005, members of St Helen's were vocal opponents of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill on the grounds that it would ban evangelicals from discussing other religions in negative or critical terms. In a January 2005 sermon, Taylor stated that he would not be surprised if he were arrested during his lifetime for evangelical preaching.
