The Bishop of London recently visited The Anchorage, a newly created worshipping community for students across London universities and colleges, to meet with its members and speak at their Sunday evening service.

During his visit, the Bishop delivered a sermon on the theme of peace, before the students then divided into small working groups to discuss his words. Afterwards, the Bishop celebrated the Eucharist, and joined the students for pizza and more conversation. Based in the Faith Centre of the London School of Economics, The Anchorage was launched in Freshers Week 2016 to reach out to students of all faiths interested in learning about Christianity and is one of the new churches established as part of the Diocese of London’s ambitious programme to create 100 new worshipping communities by 2020.

During the evening Bishop Richard also met with the competition winning carpenter, Jamie Gilchrist, responsible for designing the LSE Faith Centre’s new furniture, given in memory of a deceased former student Mburu Kiereini and which the Bishop also blessed.

The Rev’d Charlotte Bradley, Chaplain and Interfaith Advisor to UCL, said of the visit “We were delighted to host the Bishop of London for our evening meeting at the Anchorage as one of his last engagements before retirement. The students very much enjoyed meeting the Bishop, who challenged them to think about a radical Christian definition of peace. The Anchorage is still a young church, but it is growing steadily and are grateful for the Bishop’s support of this already flourishing Christian community.”

More information about The Anchorage can be found at www.theanchoragelondon.org.