Croydon Churches are In It Together
08 June 2012
Croydon Forum park event.
This year's "In It Together" event held at Selhurst Park for the second year running was, once again, a fantastic success in the sunshine of SE25. The event was initiated by the Croydon Church in a ground-breaking partnership with CPFC do good for our community.
During the afternoon there was a resources exhibition in the Glaziers bar, and in Speroni`s the very popular "Acoustically Speaking" showcased many different local musical talents including Croydon band Rosie and the Glass Balloon.
The Olympic-themed community festival in the car park outside the main stand was officially opened by Palace CEO Phil Alexander, and hosted many fun stalls and games including bouncy castles, face painting, sumo wrestling, and much more, including a diversity of food stalls reflecting the cultural diversity of Croydon.
The 10am Church service in the marquee on the pitch was attended by around 500 worshippers, whilst the "United Noise" afternoon youth event attracted another 500 young people who enjoyed a variety of excellent bands.
The climax to the day was the evening celebration, with over 1000 people packed in to the marquee, all from a variety of denominations and ethnic backgrounds, each one enthusiastically praising God on the hallowed turf ofSelhurst Park!
Interviews with the new Police Borough Commander Dave Musker and CEO of the council John Rouse followed, who both acknowledged the importance of the Church and prayer in being a significant factor to the well-being of Croydon.
This was followed by a request from Phil Alexander for the Church in Croydon to pray for Palace to make it to the promised land of the Premier League.
Phil was delighted to see this event once again take on a major role within the week's events in the marquee schedule. "We are delighted to be a partner in such a wonderful collaboration between Croydon churches. This Club prides itself on how we connect with the local community, across all ages and across all faiths, and we're so pleased that once again this year we are enjoying all involved had such a great day. I'd also like to thank our own Club Chaplain Chris Roe for playing such a pivotal role in the planning of this event"
"In It together" is fast becoming the flag-ship annual event for Church unity, and to do it in partnership with our community football club is not only really exciting but entrepreneurial as Palace are the only football club currently doing this.
Church leader Pastor Damian Luke said; "Putting on an event like this takes a lot of hard work over a long period of time, but it's worth all the effort. It's important for the the Church to have a prophetic voice into the life of Croydon as we attempt to make Croydon a good place to be.
We're all "In It Together" and we're working very hard to do this after last summer's riots."