SOUP KITCHENS UPDATE
16th September, 2023
Reaching Out to the Homeless run a soup kitchen at St Mary’s on:
Thursdays 5pm-6pm
All at St Mary’s wish to thank the Reaching Out to the Homeless volunteers for all the tremendous work they do.
You can find Reaching Out to the Homeless on Facebook.
Reaching Out to the Homeless run a soup kitchen at St Mary’s on:
Thursdays 5pm-6pm
All at St Mary’s wish to thank the Reaching Out to the Homeless volunteers for all the tremendous work they do.
You can find Reaching Out to the Homeless on Facebook.
our Christian mission
Making and nurturing disciples
St Mary’s offers traditional worship, complimenting that offered by neighbour Hull Minster. Currently, we hold two regular weekly services, Friday Holy Communion and Sunday BCP Sung Eucharist, as well as Easter and Christmas services, baptisms, weddings, funerals and annually the city’s service for those killed in road traffic incidents.
At 533 our parish population is small. However, St Mary’s distinctive high Anglican form of worship means that disciples are drawn here from as far as North Lincolnshire, Market Weighton and Beverley. Through experience we know there is scope to make disciples from amongst our parish’s daytime, non-resident population of city office workers, shoppers and visitors.
Following a significant programme of work in 2020-22, our building now offers a safe, warm and welcoming environment. We have a Priest-in-Charge two days a week. It is proposed that St Mary's re-introduce Thursday Midday Office, a Lent study group and initiate other uses of the church described below with the aim of inviting in potential disciples.
Reaching those we currently don’t
St Mary’s parish is one of the 5 per cent most deprived in the country. The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 ranked Hull as the 4th most deprived local authority area.
St Mary’s reaches out to those in need in the city by providing a venue off the streets for sustenance on Thursday evening. 60 to 90 people aged between 17 and their late 60s attend each evening. The soup kitchens are managed by volunteers Reaching Out to the Homeless.
The recent transformation of our building is key to taking forward our vision to:
Tend by responding to human need and being an inclusive congregation and to
Transform by recognising God has placed us as an urban presence in the City to support all people who live and work here, whether successful and gifted, or poor and marginalised.
We pray that we can expand our ministry to those in need and explore future initiatives including:
Moving to growth
Making the church building fit for purpose is fundamental to enabling us to move to growth. Currently many people find St Mary’s too dark, cold and damp to stay for long or, during winter especially, to worship here regularly.
In addition to services, currently St Mary’s is open each Friday and Saturday 12-3pm and for the service on Sunday morning.
A priority for St Mary’s is to increase contact with people beyond our small church community. Now the building is improved we can encourage people who are not currently part of the Christian community to come inside by organising events and by acting as a venue for events (e.g. workshops, concerts, poetry readings, exhibitions) and by promoting St Mary’s architectural and historical interest for visitors to Hull.
We aim to draw city workers, shoppers and visitors into St Mary’s with:
∙ Provision of refreshments and regular light lunch provision of soup and sandwiches
∙ Regular guided tours
∙ Heritage talks programme
∙ Extending openings hours/days
∙ Improved external signs, interpretive panels, printed and audio visitor information
∙ Promoting St Mary’s as a visitor destination
∙ Organising fundraising events
∙ Meeting the demand for the use of St Mary’s as a venue and encouraging new interest from event organisers.
There is real scope to attract more visitors to discover our heritage. We are one of Hull’s oldest churches, in the Old Town on the route between museums and retail areas and at the centre of Hull’s HAZ and Maritime City initiatives - a maritime historian has already examined our monuments for maritime significance.
St Mary’s offers traditional worship, complimenting that offered by neighbour Hull Minster. Currently, we hold two regular weekly services, Friday Holy Communion and Sunday BCP Sung Eucharist, as well as Easter and Christmas services, baptisms, weddings, funerals and annually the city’s service for those killed in road traffic incidents.
At 533 our parish population is small. However, St Mary’s distinctive high Anglican form of worship means that disciples are drawn here from as far as North Lincolnshire, Market Weighton and Beverley. Through experience we know there is scope to make disciples from amongst our parish’s daytime, non-resident population of city office workers, shoppers and visitors.
Following a significant programme of work in 2020-22, our building now offers a safe, warm and welcoming environment. We have a Priest-in-Charge two days a week. It is proposed that St Mary's re-introduce Thursday Midday Office, a Lent study group and initiate other uses of the church described below with the aim of inviting in potential disciples.
Reaching those we currently don’t
St Mary’s parish is one of the 5 per cent most deprived in the country. The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 ranked Hull as the 4th most deprived local authority area.
St Mary’s reaches out to those in need in the city by providing a venue off the streets for sustenance on Thursday evening. 60 to 90 people aged between 17 and their late 60s attend each evening. The soup kitchens are managed by volunteers Reaching Out to the Homeless.
The recent transformation of our building is key to taking forward our vision to:
Tend by responding to human need and being an inclusive congregation and to
Transform by recognising God has placed us as an urban presence in the City to support all people who live and work here, whether successful and gifted, or poor and marginalised.
We pray that we can expand our ministry to those in need and explore future initiatives including:
- Facilitating a regular drop-in advice centre - Soup kitchen service users often need help with finding housing and filling in forms. Some cannot read or write, others need computer access and assistance with completing forms online. Because soup kitchen users become familiar with St Mary’s, St Mary’s is seen as a welcoming place for seeking support.
- Becoming a hub for signposting people to services – we are in discussions with a local councillor who is spearheading this initiative, involving other churches, libraries and charities in Hull.
- Establishing a ‘Recovery Bible Group’ for those recovering from addiction, homelessness, debt and other social issues.
- Facilitating the provision of fresh start and job clubs, possibly in conjunction with Christians Against Poverty (we have made initial contact with CAP to discuss this).
Moving to growth
Making the church building fit for purpose is fundamental to enabling us to move to growth. Currently many people find St Mary’s too dark, cold and damp to stay for long or, during winter especially, to worship here regularly.
In addition to services, currently St Mary’s is open each Friday and Saturday 12-3pm and for the service on Sunday morning.
A priority for St Mary’s is to increase contact with people beyond our small church community. Now the building is improved we can encourage people who are not currently part of the Christian community to come inside by organising events and by acting as a venue for events (e.g. workshops, concerts, poetry readings, exhibitions) and by promoting St Mary’s architectural and historical interest for visitors to Hull.
We aim to draw city workers, shoppers and visitors into St Mary’s with:
∙ Provision of refreshments and regular light lunch provision of soup and sandwiches
∙ Regular guided tours
∙ Heritage talks programme
∙ Extending openings hours/days
∙ Improved external signs, interpretive panels, printed and audio visitor information
∙ Promoting St Mary’s as a visitor destination
∙ Organising fundraising events
∙ Meeting the demand for the use of St Mary’s as a venue and encouraging new interest from event organisers.
There is real scope to attract more visitors to discover our heritage. We are one of Hull’s oldest churches, in the Old Town on the route between museums and retail areas and at the centre of Hull’s HAZ and Maritime City initiatives - a maritime historian has already examined our monuments for maritime significance.
