Artist Vanessa Tinker travelled to London once a week and spent the morning sketching inside St Martin’s. When she died in 2019, her friend donated her sketchbook to the church. Tinker’s sketches capture the still beauty of St Martin’s, and the many reasons people come inside: to sit, pray, work, rehearse, rest, wait, and sleep.
St Martin’s Today
The community of St Martin-in-the-Fields is varied, eclectic, and diverse. This film montage provides a sense of the different groups of people who are part of the St Martin’s family: The Connection at St Martin’s, Being With, Heart Edge, church music, the International Group, the Chinese congregation, and the Nazareth Community.
St Martin-in-the-Fields today is a community of hope, reimagining church and society through compassion, culture, commerce, and congregational life. It releases the energy of all through creativity and sees hidden gifts in those often defined by what they lack.
It seeks to be a model of social, ecological, and economic sustainability, and a place where diverse talents converge for common good. It is a crucible of social ideas, a vision of belonging, possibility, imagination, and faith.
In a world of hasty judgements, widespread suspicion, and volatile politics, it strives for generosity of heart, second chances, and enduring trust. It aspired to be a place where beatuy, truth, and goodness converge.
While many uphold the wellbeing of all through honest endeavour, and others seek justice through identifying and protesting wrongs, St Martin’s tried to forge a living alternative, learning from the wisdom of the ages and offering a humble example to inspire imitators near and far.