Diocese of Chichester

A church in Eastbourne has become a radically different kind of church since Covid 19 and the UK lockdown.

Rooted in prayer and service, a ministry to the homeless and vulnerable has been operating from one of the halls at Christ Church for almost twenty years. It is called the Matthew 25 Mission (M25M).

But since many other outreach services in the town have had to cease operating because of the pandemic, M25M has seen an unprecedented rise in demand.

Fr David Charles, Vicar at Christ Church said: “Originally the proposal was to use part of the church to accommodate guests who come to M25M for meals.

“But to meet increasing demand and to conform to Government guidance relating to social distancing, we decided to reconfigure the west end of church and the north aisle to cater for an additional 20 guests.

“However, while this worked for a few days, it quickly became clear, following discussions with the borough council (they have their own equivalent of a ‘Cobra meeting'), that M25M would have to move to serving takeaway meals only.

“This necessitated an entire re-think, but the upshot is the west end of church is now being used to store all the food that is being donated by the local supermarkets for M25M to prepare in the hall itself. Meals are then served from outside the centre (ie from the church path/car park area). The queueing system, with seats spaced at 2.5m intervals, ensures that social distancing is upheld and the standards of hygiene and safety are rigorous.”

M25M is now serving up to 200 meals a day, through daily breakfasts and afternoon meals, alongside food parcels which are distributed across the local community, and evening takeaways on a couple of nights of the week.

On current projections, M25M expects to serve 13,000 more meals this year [as compared with last] as a direct result of the pandemic.

From the church’s perspective, we are proud of being able to ‘step up to the plate’ in this regard, and to engage with our local community in a very visible and meaningful way. One post, detailing news of developments at M25M on our parish Facebook page, attracted over 7000 views.”

The Centre Manager, Oscar Plumley, said, “We have long enjoyed our partnership with the Church, to support people with both their physical and emotional needs, alongside their spiritual ones. During this time of crisis, it’s been great to work even more closely as a team, to serve the most vulnerable in our community.”

The Archdeacon of Hastings, Edward Dowler said: “The Matthew 25 Centre continues to do heroic work in a very poor part of Eastbourne and you will see the church itself is now being used as an integral part of the operation to provide hot meals for the increased number of people who use the centre.”

The name comes from the Bible Matthew 25 verses 35-36

For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I was naked and you clothed me,

I was sick and you visited me,

I was in prison and you came to me. (ESV)