Street credo: churches in the community

Edited by Michael Simmons, Lemos & Crane, 185 pages, paperback, £12.99

This book examines the key role which churches can play in helping to solve the manifold problems faced by communities today, when market forces have undermined much of the old sense of community.

The editor has brought together religious activists from various Christian denominations to describe what they are doing for education, health, housing, asylum seekers, the unemployed and those in poverty.

For example, the Rev Andrew Mawson describes how his church at Bromley by Bow in east London has been transformed from a derelict church with 12 members into a thriving project employing 80 staff in a wide field of activities including the first Healthy Living Centre in Britain. Patrick Logan surveys the way the churches have responded to the sharp rise in asylum seekers in the 1990s and the harsh restrictive measures taken by both Tory and Labour governments. And Niall Cooper shows that the churches have a proud record in helping the homeless and the badly housed in the face of the long-term under-investment in social housing.