East Finchley

About EFM

Location

East Finchley Methodist church is a 10 minute walk from East Finchley Underground station (or take a 263 bus to save your legs!), at the junction of East Finchley High Road with Creighton Avenue (map). The church has its own off-street parking and is fully accessible to people with disabilities.

Facilities

The Sanctuary is the heart of the church and is home to most of the Services. It is equipped with an induction loop (those using hearing aids should switch to the 'T' setting to benefit from an amplified reproduction of the services), and the sound system extends into the adjoining Fellowship Room and Middle Room. We have a small supply of large print Hymn Books. Seating in the sanctuary is movable, allowing occasional services to be held 'in the round' as well as in the more traditional 'aisle and row' arrangement. The central area can be cleared to provide a large open space for informal gatherings, Space: Youth Cafe, and such.

The Fellowship Room (and adjoining kitchen) are used by the younger members of Junior Church as well as being used for coffee and a chat after the services. The kitchen is equipped with cooker, fridge and microwave and turns out an impressive Bring and Share lunch every month!

The Middle Room is smaller and is used for occasional meetings. Upstairs are two rooms, to the south is Junior Church, whilst to the north is the home of East Finchley School of English.

History

John Freeman is regarded as having started the Methodist Society in East Finchley. He set up a meeting for prayer and fellowship in Lincoln Cottage at the corner of High Road and Strawberry Vale. As the church grew it moved first to King Street, East Finchley in 1829 and then to its current site in the High Road in 1897. A hall and school rooms were added in 1908.

Groups within the church have flourished and changed to fulfil the needs of its people and neighbours. The Sisterhood was formed in 1906 and a morning Junior Church was started in 1937 to supplement the Sunday School.

In 1940 blast from a land mine damaged the roof, windows and organ. The Primitive Methodist Church building (now the Youth Theatre) was gutted by a bomb and so the two churches were combined. In 1953 we welcomed members of the King Street Church, which had become a Presbyterian Mission since Methodism left it.

In 1948 the World Council of Churches was formed and, on the subsequent wave of ecumenism, EFM became one of the founding members of the Finchley Council of Churches (now Churches Together in Finchley - CTIF). It is through CTIF that we take part in the yearly Christian Aid house-to-house collection.

Young Wives' Club (later, the Wives Club) came into being in the 1950s and in 1972 we celebrated 150 years of Methodism in East Finchley.

The building has gone through changes in recent years: The first refurbishment saw the pews replaced by chairs and the levelling and carpeting of the floor. The second refurbishment saw the Hall and Meeting Rooms sold on a long lease. This enabled us to convert the long disused balcony in the sanctuary, building two rooms above and toilets and one room below. The Fellowship Room was refurbished with additional storage space and the Kitchen was brought up to date.

In July 2003, church was subject to a break in and fire. Although this caused extensive smoke damage, and disrupted services and events for several weeks, the church continued to meet in the Fellowship room and were able to return to the main body of the church in October the same year.

Restoration has continued, and was finally completed in early 2004. On 21st March 2004, Rev. Anne Brown, the District Chair, conducted a service of Rededication for the work of God at EFM, when we proudly displayed our new banners in the altar area.