A warm space

Mairisine Stanfield, minister of First Bangor Presbyterian, and David Stanfield, her husband and associate minister, first began discussing the dire situation of the energy crisis back in the summer. Conscious that this would present a massive need in the community, the question they kept coming back to was: “What can we do?”

Mairisine says, “We have a staff team and other charities using our building, so we felt we had a real responsibility to at least have a degree of warmth in the building – we couldn’t afford not to.”

So, the idea of creating a ‘warm space’ that others could enjoy came to fruition. Every weekday the building is open from 10am to 4pm, offering people a space to come and sit in warmth and comfort; to read, watch TV, or chat over tea and coffee.

The main aim is to welcome people who can’t afford to heat their houses, but there is also a second reason that is just as important to the congregation. “We wanted to do it because of the isolation people had been through with the pandemic,” says Mairisine. “Many older people have found the last two years really difficult and challenging because of that isolation.”

Volunteers from the congregation have signed up to man the space throughout the week; so far, they have encountered a variety of people who have either planned to come or just wandered in off the street. Situated on Main Street, right in the heart of the new city, it is ideally placed for walk-ins. Amongst them have been some individuals with mental health difficulties, one who was initially quite aggressive. Mairisine comments, “The individual who started coming three weeks ago, and the individual who was here yesterday was a completely different man – I think because people are sitting down and having a cup of tea with him and chatting. He’s very lonely, but through community we’re starting to see a change in his personality.”

Mairisine is very clear that the initiative is not focused on gaining new members. “We don’t promote anything. This is not about increasing numbers. We feel it’s about compassion and grace, and meeting people where they’re at and the need that they have.

“Often in churches, people think – just get them in and onto an Alpha course. But if you meet a need people can trust you – they know you’ve got their best interests at heart. Then you can go on the journey of relationship and you might want to invite them to church. But that sense of belonging and compassion has got to be the start of it.”

Although evangelism is not the primary aim, she says people have still been interested to discuss faith. “It doesn’t mean that we haven’t had conversations about faith because we have. But that’s about people asking questions or choosing to ask why we’re doing this. So we’ve found it’s really important.”

It’s a big commitment for the congregation to make. Their direct debit payment for electricity went from £285 a month to £1100, and although too early to tell how much the gas bill will be affected, they know the increase will be significant.

Mairisine says the church has always been a generous one. “They have a big heart here. When I was coming here one of the things I was told about First Bangor is that they always try and meet a need if they are presented with something. And that’s been true in the nine years I’ve been here.”

She reports that in recent years, any new families that have joined the congregation have done so through the church meeting a need in the community. One example is their ‘Easter Essentials’ initiative, which involves providing hampers to families in need over the Easter holidays. “Our youth led the way on this,” she says. “We didn’t put invitations in the hampers – we just said ‘bless you’.”

This ‘no strings attached’ approach led some people to then get in touch and connections were made and built upon.

With the changes in society, especially after the pandemic, Mairisine feels there is fresh potential for churches to reach out to others. “We became a bit self-focused, and fear got in. But I think this is the opportunity for the church to actually be the church – mission rather than maintenance. I think we’ve been doing maintenance for far too long. And it’s an opportunity for us to discern what the Lord is doing and then partner with him on it. But it’s got to be about compassion – loving and helping people.”

When First Bangor decided to provide a warm space for the community, they had no idea there was already a campaign in England called ‘Warm Welcome’ which was signposting people to spaces that were warm and welcoming. Linking with lots of different organisations, not just churches, Warm Welcome registers these places on their website and can then provide advice and help, as well as flyers and banners (at a fee) to help organisers promote their warm space. They didn’t have a drop box option for Ireland at that stage, but at the prompting of First Bangor created one; subsequently many other spaces have been registered here (North and South).

First Bangor has also recently started a couple of new initiatives to try and meet other needs in the community. The first is working with an organisation called In Kind Direct, who receive donations of quality consumer products from corporate partners and then pass these on to charities for distribution (inkinddirect.org). The other is with Fareshare (fareshare.org.uk), who distribute surplus food to charities, thus meeting a need and minimising waste.

Mairisine says, “As part of our initiatives we hope to be able to support individuals and families by providing free food and household items, as well as signposting them to Storehouse North Down.”

Recognising that not every congregation could afford to open their buildings during the week, nor do all have the facilities to provide a comfortable space for people to relax, she is just pleased that First Bangor is in a position to help and says they will keep on doing so for as long as it’s needed:

“It’s an incredible opportunity for us to grasp and we’ve decided we’re in it for the long haul!”

For more information, or to register your congregation as a warm space, go to: www.warmwelcome.uk