African churches boom in London's backstreets

[TomSea]

African churches boom in London's backstreets
Simon Dawson, William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) - On a cold, grey Sunday morning, in a street lined with shuttered builders’ yards and storage units, songs of prayer in the West African language of Yoruba ring out from a former warehouse that is now a church.

The congregation, almost entirely dressed in white robes, steadily grows to around 70 people as musicians playing drums, a keyboard and a guitar pick up the pace of the hymns. Some women prostrate themselves on the floor in prayer.

In the sparse formerly industrial building, its interior brightened by touches of gold paint, a speaker reminds the group of a list of banned activities — no smoking, no drinking of alcohol, no practicing of black magic.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-africa-churches-widerimage/african-churches-boom-in-londons-backstreets-idUSKCN1PP0Q2