Meeting Point Cafe
For over 15 years the Richmond Hill Methodist Circuit have run The Meeting Point Café at
| The Café Manageress, Pauline, with her team of volunteers has built up a reputation of offering understanding, compassion and a listening ear for the many people who use the café. |  |
The Café was opened in 1992, as a new and innovative contribution to the Christian presence in Harehills, after the closure of
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For all the years it has been open, Meeting Point has continued in its work of offering friendship, care and concern to its many customers. |
Earlier this year there was a fire in the Newsagents next door which caused significant smoke damage to the café. Luckily, the Methodist Insurance Company has been very generous in enabling the café to undertake a much needed refurbishment and redecoration programme. Whilst the café remained open during the smoke damage period (apart from being closed for one morning) the Meeting Point Café was re-launched in celebration of the completion of the redecoration programme on Wednesday 18th July.
The Café is open weekdays in the morning from
MEETING POINT EXTRA
meet with others
Chat, Games, Crafts, Speakers
All Welcome
Tuesday's (Fortnightly)
1.30pm -3.00pm
Dates for following meetings
27th July 19th October
7th September 2nd November
21st September 16th November
5th October 30th November
14th December
FACE TO FACE
At Meeting Point
Drop in Confidential Listening Service
No appointment needed
Monday 9.30- 12.30
Wednesday 9.30 -12.30
Finding disciples not churches
Momentum editor, Laurence Wareing, visits Methodist projects covered in earlier editions of the magazine.
For two days in October this year, I did what usually only Methodist Presidents get to do. I planned a mini road trip to meet Methodists doing special things in their local communities. Five venues were on my itinerary. Each one, like windows in an Advent Calendar, opened up another picture of what Methodism can be like on the ground, rooted in the needs of people and in a commitment to God's dream for the world.
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Muslims and Methodists side by side in Beeston |
I only entered one church building along my 500-mile route and even that didn't look like one, for in Beeston's Trinity Methodist Church children have taken over. The Methodist congregation uses the building when required - a large cross still dominates the biggest hall - but, for the rest of the time, they give over their property to those who can best use it: an Ofsted-registered, proudly multicultural, children's nursery. One local community organiser calls Trinity Methodist Church 'a beacon' in the area.
Twice I sat in cafés and heard about how conversations and deeply human responses to community needs had been initiated around small tables. I was reminded of Steve Turner's poem 'White With Two Sugars (Please)', about how drinking coffee can be a profoundly religious activity. It's religious because it often enables conversation - which may lead to sharing our deepest needs. It may (as it has done at 'Meeting Point' in Leeds and 'Shackles Off' in the village of Seascale) draw together those with a religious commitment and those with none. It may do in cafés what is harder to achieve in church pews.
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A mural in Meeting Point café |
Elsewhere, I saw how individuals with housing and care needs are being helped by MHA, Methodism's charity for older people, and talked with the coordinator of a partnership between Methodists in Cumbria and Patagonia: Methodism's 'social gospel' and 'worldwide family' in just two short visits.
Making the connections between Methodist communities takes time, and sharing our stories takes effort. But to do so not only refreshes our vision of Methodism but, more importantly, shows Christian discipleship to be a road trip of endless possibilities.