For more than 20 years the team at Mansfield Gospel Hall in Wellington has been opening the church doors every Saturday morning to offer a meal—welcoming the community in.
“We call it ‘Reach Out’ as it’s more active—we reach out, open up the church, and invite people in.”
Volunteer Alison Eruera says Mansfield Street Gospel Hall’s location means they welcome a variety of people from their wider community, “Newtown has a very transient population. We don’t see a lot of people coming and looking for a church, so we thought we’d look for ways to reach out and connect with the community and understand what they need.”
“During the summer months, or on special occasions, we have a BBQ outside, being outside is even better than being indoors—the smell of a sausage and some onions is a good drawcard! At Christmas we give away gifts and have pizza, and on colder days we have sausage rolls and sandwiches inside.”
Alison says the ministry has been effective—slowly but surely.
“It’s different for every single person. The majority of people that come in are mainly men, and are ex-prison or ex-psychiatric hospital or both. So, they have special needs—not that we necessarily minister to their psychiatric needs, but we can pray with them, and we can help diffuse situations—it’s just different with everyone. It’s not a difficult ministry, it’s just an individual ministry.”
And it’s caring about the individual that speaks to people’s deepest needs.
Alison’s husband Charlie serves as one of the elders, and together the two of them have been serving in different kinds of local ministry for decades. Alison came to Mansfield Street Gospel Hall as a baby when her parents moved, and Charlie came along in his late teens, “We’re a good team… We’ve done at least 25 years of Sunday School and Youth Group in the area. We miss working with kids but the Lord has opened up this area of ministry with Reach Out.”
“We find that people really need loving care—someone to pray with them, guide them, offer them a feed, and make them feel welcomed and cared about—they know that we’re there every week for them if they want to come. People know they’re missed when they’re not there.
“We’ve seen several people give their lives to the Lord over the years—joined Bible study groups, done Emmaus courses—not lots of people, but more than a few.”
This quiet, faithful gospel work seeks to meet people where they’re at, says Alison.
“Consistently over the years people have come to the evening gospel services—in their threes or fives. Not big numbers, but it has been so consistent that there’s enough to keep the Sunday evening gospel meetings going—which a lot of churches aren’t—so that encourages us.
“We see people continue on in the faith, reading their Bibles and doing regular Bible studies. And we know that the seed has been planted—whether or not we see it flourishing we don’t know—but we have seen many souls come to the Lord.
“We had a lady walk in recently—she’d been nearby as her son was in hospital with cancer—and she came in off the street and we prayed for her. She won’t necessarily come back… but there are lots of situations like this.”
The team runs Reach Out every Saturday, holding a prayer meeting and Bible study beforehand, then opening up for food from 10am, “we go for at least an hour, but if there are lots of people we’ll go later.”
“A lot of people would turn these people away, and they’ve said to us—that a lot of churches don’t let them in. We want to be like a family welcoming them in.
“We’re doing this in a quiet way—we don’t throw faith down their throats. We start with food because their tummies are hungry. We then minister spiritually as we see the need—like it says in James 2:
‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’
“That’s how we started Reach Out, we opened the doors, we saw the need and thought, OK, we’ll try this. You’ve got to start somewhere—people are human, they need physical food, and if they see you’re willing to help, then that’s the foot in the door for ministering to their spiritual needs.”
Mansfield Street Gospel Hall holds their regular Sunday communion service at 10am, and then the gospel meeting at 6pm followed by supper. With about 20 people who are part of the regular congregation, they’re praying for more, and some younger people who are keen to see local ministry continue.
