Share Our Heritage with the World

---

Reach the Methodist Church from the gate that faces Abdullah Haroon Road, and be circumspect. You are about to be pleasantly surprised. The pentagonal little lawn before the main church building, and the one green square on its right, strewn with towering palm, neem and banana trees sheltering the whole compound from the scorching summer sun, makes it a setting in utter contrast to what the world outside has turned into. Mad traffic, thoughtless commercial constructions and mind numbing commotion are a regular feature of the roads that interweave the zone where this magnificent church is located in an almost atypical manner.

There are three different architectural wonders in the compound: the church, the pastor's house and the Sunday school for babies. The staff is friendly and helpful. They work day in and day out to keep the Brooks Memorial Methodist Church neat and clean, and a sight worth respecting.

The Methodist Church was constructed in the last quarter of the 19th century (1874 or 1875). The facade of the building has a commemorative tablet indicating that this particular church was founded and built by the first Methodist minister from America, Rev Frank Ambrose Goodman. It is interesting because not too many names from America are referred to when you take into account the construction work that took place in 19th and 20th century Karachi.

It is not enough to view the Methodist Church as a work of architecture meant to gain spiritual solace. There is also a remarkable aesthetic side to it. If you try and get an overview of the whole compound either by standing at the main entrance or taking an overhead picture of it, you will develop an urge to paint (or write a poem on) the lofty trees canopying, in a way, the breathtaking church making the effect of the sunlight mellow and in consonance with the place of worship. But not everyone can paint or compose poetry.

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman]

Open in Google Map: 24.8526421475487,67.0300371974406

---

---