Here is the text accompanying the photographs:
Para 1 Hainault Road Baptist Church meets for worship in a residential area of east London which is multi-cultural, multi-faith and quite needy. As a church we realise that our responsibility is to be continually reaching out into our local community. Here we are outside our church building in Leyton.
Para 2We try to do culturally-relevant outreach among our neighbours, and have found that food is a great way to break down barriers and get to know people ! Often an invitation to a meal persuades people to take that all-important first step across our threshold. Here are two of our large team of cooks, servers and washer-uppers:
Para 3During term-time our weekly senior citizens’ Lunch Club provides a two-course meal for 25-30 of our older friends, after which nearly everyone stays for an age-appropriate Gospel meeting. For many older people, living on their own, this is the highlight of their week ! Here, some of them are celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday.
Para 4Young people’s work is an important part of our church’s life. Once a week during term time a meal follows a Bible study at a club. Cooking is a popular craft activity at both our children’s club and our youth club. Warmer weather allows us to hold activities out of doors, for instance at this teenage barbecue, which we held in conjunction with another church.
Para 5The changing of the seasons brings opportunities to share the Gospel; we hold calendar-related food events during the summer holidays, at Harvest, at Christmas and at Easter. The noisiest and biggest event we organise is probably ourannual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Party - which always quietens down at the end for the evangelistic epilogue !
Para 6From time to time a special outreach opportunity presents itself - for instance when the Olympic Games Baton Relay came through Leyton in 2012, and we opened up the church to provide refreshments and toilets for spectators. Other events happen when a particular speaker becomes available. Pictured here are men we invited to a 4-course meal to hear the testimony of a former Leyton Orient FC professional footballer.
Para 7All of this activity requires a lot of hard, dedicated activity by a large team ! We gratefully acknowledge the help of the Particular Baptist Fund, whose Special Projects Grant enabled us to purchase an SDX50 commercial dishwasher in February 2017. A local catering supplier installed it promptly, and church members fitted the worktop around it: within days it was making a real impact on our catering. Here it is !
Para 8The high temperature of a commercial dishwasher helps in general to raise the standards of hygiene in our kitchen.One person can now do the work of a small team, releasing the rest to talk to the very people with whom we are most eager to share the Gospel. Our young people have also been encouraged to take part in the washing up ! Please pray that God will be truly honoured as we use this very welcome addition to our church resources. One person doing the work of a small team !