These splendid photographs at the Celestial Church of Christ in New Cross were taken by photographer Janusz Konarski in New Cross in 1990
Whilst traditional Anglican and Roman Catholic churches face dwindling congregations in the UK, Britain’s black-led Christian worship – such as that displayed in these images – has been flourishing for years.
In 1906 the African Pentecostal Church was founded in Peckham, but black-led churches really took off during the Windrush era of Caribbean migration in the 1940s and 1950s.
African migration in the 1960s and 1970s further swelled numbers, with a further wave in the 1980s.
Research by Roehampton University from 2011-13 found 240 black-majority churches, predominantly Nigerian, in the Borough of Southwark alone, and it is thought to represent the greatest concentration of African Christianity in the world outside of Africa.
Now such churches represent some of the largest in Britain. They also boast many of the UK’s largest church gatherings: in some ‘megachurches’ attendees run into the thousands. An estimated 500,000 people now attend black-led churches in the UK.
Many of the churches are housed in unassuming ex-industrial spaces, yet have grand names, such as Redemption House, The New Testament Assembly and Freedom Centre International.
The services tend to last several hours, are pretty informal, animated and theatrical, with music, singing, dancing, motivational sermons and rapturous prayer.

