Rivercourt Methodist Church
London Greater London

Rivercourt Mission Statement

Rivercourt Methodist Church is an open community of people trying to follow Jesus offering accessible, thoughtful and sensitive worship and attempting to put into practice in our daily lives the challenges of the Christian gospel. We try to be an inclusive community respecting difference and celebrating diversity and therefore welcome all those who would wish to share with us as the rainbow people of God.

We have a dream that our church will grow numerically, spiritually and intellectually. We hope that the church may be open to the local community and be a gathering place for groups and organisations in the neighbourhood. We desire that the church may reflect the diversity of our local community and we aim to offer warm, welcoming and sensitive worship. We hope that the church will be a used and useful building, an interesting busy place, a resource for the wider community where the building makes a contribution to rather than acts as a drain on our resources.

We believe that the re-development scheme will energise the congregation and provide for the first time flexible, accessible and comfortable accommodation with an attractive and more intimate worship environment. We believe that we will be able confidently to offer the hospitality of our building and thereby make connections with community groups in our neighbourhood.

Though we are at times a fragile inner-London church, we have inner resources of vision, imagination, hope and commitment and we are anticipating the renewal of the life of the church with enthusiasm.

 

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http://www.rivercourt.org.uk/  

Rivercourt is ideally situated in the heart of West London
Parking facilities and public transport are within easy reach:

Public Transport - walk from

Ravenscourt Park 3 minutes.
Hammersmith 10 minutes.

Bus routes 267/27/H91/391/190 stop directly outside Rivercourt.  

A Brief History of Rivercourt Church: (adapted from the Centenary Notes, 1875 - 1975)

There has been a Methodist presence in Hammersmith since 1798. A Methodist convert of John Wesley - a Mr Jacob Blake, a market gardener of Brentford, with his wife Mary - opened their house in Goldhawk Road for meetings.

In 1809 a small chapel was built in what is now called Macbeth Street, off King Street. This small chapel was considerably enlarged in 1856.

However, with the dramatic increase in the population of Hammersmith, following the spread of housing over the market gardens of West London, there was an appeal for funds for a new church. That appeal was amply met; and in 1874 building work began on a new church on the corner of Rivercourt Road and King Street.

The church was to be in the Gothic style, and had an impressive spire of 125 feet. It had two fine stained glass windows and a three manual pipe organ. The new church had seating in both the body of the building and in the gallery, for over 1000 people. The opening service was held on October 1st 1875. Its imposing presence on a prime local site reflected Methodism’s confident place in the community.

In 1905, land next to the church was acquired, and in 1938 Rivercourt Church House was built. This had office facilities, shops on King Street, and a hostel for young Methodist men. Also during this period of the 1930's, the inside of the church was partially remodelled. In the early 1970's the basement was converted to provide more comfortable accommodation for church meetings.

In 1997 the church undertook to radicaly redevelop the building resulting in a flexible and welcoming property for worship and community use. Along with the creation of new rooms for meetings, the pews were removed from the sanctuary area to allow for increased seating flexibility. The basement was remodelled and is now let out to a French nursery (Le Herisson).