A church is providing a vital service for people living in poverty and isolation in its rural community.
St Mary Magdalene Church in Medomsley offers tea, coffee and soup at its popular Warm Welcome Tuesdays, as well as a Welcome Space Thursday Coffee Morning, where people can join together for social interaction in the heart of the village.
But the church, which has been registered with Partnership for Missional Church (PMC) for almost a decade, also works around the clock to change the lives of those living in poverty.
St Mary Magdalene works closely with local schools, who identify families struggling to cope during the cost of living crisis. Those referred to the church initiative are offered food vouchers for local supermarkets. They can also receive help with the cost of heating bills and in some cases, white goods such as cookers and fridges.
The scheme has succeeded thanks to the work of dedicated volunteers, effective partnerships with other organisations and vital funding from the County Durham Community Foundation (CDCF), and the Northumbria Historic Churches Trust.
Susan Brown, PCC secretary at St Mary Magdalene, said the church is committed to its missional vocation statement to open its doors, build relationships with all people in its community and create a web of friendship and fellowship.
She added: “Poverty is hidden. Schools have close relations with children and can work out fairly quickly who needs help. This could be families who are struggling, people who might not be able to work due to illness or disability, or people who have lost their job
and are struggling to make ends meet.
“We want to help everybody regardless of their circumstances and we also want to support those who need to get out of the house and are looking for social interaction.”
In 2014, St Mary Magdalene was one of the first churches in the diocese to engage with Partnership in Missional Church. Since then it has worked closely with the local community and more recently, has started to engage with one of the diocesan priorities to challenge poverty.
In April 2023, following a gas boiler breakdown, Northumbria Historic Churches Trust generously funded a replacement AA* energy efficient boiler, to independently heat the small meeting room and kitchen at St Mary Magdalene.
Susan added: “This enables us to heat the meeting room rather than the full church for Welcome Space, our local art group and Warm Welcome Tuesdays. We find that this space appeals particularly to older people who may live alone and are looking for fellowship and conversation.
“We know that community connection can be lost when we cannot meet other people and we felt this type of provision in the village was needed. Medomsley is a small com
munity and we are trying to do our best to engage with people.
“County Durham Community Foundation (CDCF) has also generously supported us, helping young families in poverty via a household fund. Without all of the financial support we have received, we would not have been able to achieve all of this.”
The church now has a Sunday congregation of between 20 and 30 people. It also works closely with Medomsley Methodist Church and ecumenical events include Remembrance services. The meeting room at St Mary Magdalene als
o hosts the community art group and a Saturday coffee morning. The room has free Wi-Fi, a disabled toilet and baby changing facilities.
Some of the congregation and PCC are members of the Glendale Choir, which held a Harvest concert at St Mary Magdalene with most of the proceeds going towards church funds.
Susan added: “We are certain that being part of the Diocese of Durham PMC process has helped our church to carry out much more missional work than we would ever have considered before undertaking the PMC process. We can recommend it to other churches.”
To find out more about warm spaces in Medomsley and elsewhere in Durham Diocese click here