As winter continues to bite, tons of of churches across the country are opening their doors each week to supply a warm space to people struggling to maintain their heating on.
There are 485 Church of England churches offering warm spaces this winter, a lot of them with food and activities to assist construct community.
They are opening their doors as a part of the Warm Welcome Spaces campaign, a national network of over 5,000 warm spaces, from churches to community halls, leisure centres, cinemas and libraries.
Lay ministers, Paul and Gemma Tombling, coordinate three warm spaces within the Wythenshawe area of the Diocese of Manchester.
Their warm space at St Luke’s Church is hosted in collaboration with the Bread and Butter Thing charity and offers advice sessions. St Richard’s Church runs a food bank, while guests can discover a hot meal at St Andrew’s Methodist Church working in partnership with William Temple Church.
“I even have lived in poverty so I do know and understand what persons are going through, I grew up in a really low income family,” Gemma said.
“During the Covid pandemic, the churches stepped as much as do as much as they may to support their communities and most of this work has grown from this time.”
In Strood, Kent, a warm space opened up at St Nicholas Church 4 years ago as a way of supporting people battling isolation and the price of living within the wake of the Covid pandemic.
It has continued to open its doors each winter, running a weekly session from December to March offering wifi, hot drinks and free food. In the run-up to Christmas, the church delivered 100 hampers to local families in need.
Rev Sue Vallente-Kerr, vicar of St Nicholas Church, said, “We’re just searching for ways to support people and we’re now considering running the space beyond March.”
It will not be only parish churches which are welcoming people in from the cold. In Somerset, Wells Cathedral is running its ‘warm rail’ for the third yr in a row, offering people in need free donated winter coats, warm clothes and accessories. At the cathedral’s café, people can find warmth and a free cup of tea or coffee.
St Thomas’s Church in Ensbury Park, Bournemouth, began a warm space within the winter of 2022. It proved so popular that the church decided to run all of it yr round. It attracts around 60 people over two sessions per week where they’ll enjoy easy meals and refreshments, and take part activities like indoor curling, board games and crafts. One Saturday a month, the church runs a breakfast club and garments swap with free donated clothes.
The Rev Canon Simon Evans, vicar of St Thomas’s, said, “We were exploring how we could reach out into the community and we saw this need. It is basically a way of expressing what our Christian faith is – the love and the care of Jesus.
“The cold is less of a difficulty for lots of the individuals who attend – they’re more concerned about isolation and the necessity for company and conversation. We even have some limited emergency funding to purchase food parcels for people who find themselves in need.”
The Bishop of Winchester and chair of the ChurchWorks Commission, Philip Mounstephen, said the sense of community on offer was a vital a part of the nice and cozy spaces.
“So many churches are offering warm spaces for people struggling to pay their energy bills this winter – not only with the Warm Welcome campaign but through other networks and as a part of the work of our parish churches,” he said.
“I give thanks for all that’s being done by our congregations and parishes, who’re motivated by their Christian faith and Jesus’s command to like your neighbour.
“The warm welcome is not only about energy bills. Everyone of us has our God given value and dignity. These spaces provide friendship, kindness and a way of community, so crucial to well being.”
