Churches in Lincoln are coming together to help their community through the cost-of-living crisis.
Three churches in the Monks Road area – Monks Road Methodist Church, All Saints’ Anglican Church and St Hugh’s Roman Catholic Church – will all be opening their doors as a part of a joint warm-space initiative over the winter season.
“We’ve worked quite closely with two other churches on Monks Road, All Saints and Monks Road Methodist Church, and that’s been with the encouragement of our church leaders to work closely together.” Said, the parish priest at St Hugh’s, Father Eddy Jarosz.
“It’s a time when there are already activities in the church so we know there will be some people around, and we hope to open the church to other people to come as well, so they can take advantage of the facilities that we’re able to offer.” Father Eddy said.
Father Paul Noble is the vicar at All Saints, an Anglican church. He agreed saying: “I think it’s been a general understanding from church leaders this is an opportunity for the church to serve the community.
If you’ve got a number of church buildings in any area then it makes sense to share the burden of the cost and time of volunteers to keep the church available.”
“It is a very good thing when churches can work together,” Father Paul added.
Monks Road Methodist Church opens its doors from 9 am to 11 am on Fridays, with St Hugh’s opening its doors between 11 am and 1 pm later that day.
All Saints hopes to be open on Tuesdays from 11 am to 1 pm
“The Monks Road area is one of the most deprived in Lincoln, based on statistics,” the assistant curate at All Saints Church, Father Ross Copley, said.
“But also, when you go around you see we have a lot of hard-working families who are struggling, and a lot of HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) now which are multiplying the population here, in contrast to how it would’ve been, where there would have been families in those houses.
So there has been a bit of a change, it does mean of course there are different needs now than there would have been 15 to 20 years ago.
We’re hopeful in that being open we get a number of people who come in.”