New Ministry After Parachuting For Many Years @ The Gathering

Building Bridges Through Relationship

“Are you getting the space?” he asked with great interest. “Will we be able to visit you now?”

A young boy in the south end of Kitchener, ON asked these questions one Tuesday evening to Catherine Gitzel, a pastor at The Gathering Church. Tuesday’s in the Park, an ongoing venture of The Gathering, has been a hit with the kids in the community as volunteers provide opportunities for the neighbourhood kids - some nights up to 90 kids – to play games, mingle, and just have fun.

The Gathering Church has been building bridges into the community since 2005. They are self described as a place for people who don’t like “church,” and those who do, to experience God at work in their own lives. They work at creating a safe place for people to explore questions of faith.

Most recently, they have rented part of a building in a strip mall for a community space, as well as for their offices. It is located directly across the street from where they gather for worship at WT Townshend School in Kitchener, ON.

“We continually are asking how we might engage the community around us. A dedicated space in the community means that a lot more visits and connections can take place.” lead pastor Jim Loepp Thiessen told me. “We discover who we truly are when we engage the world that God has called us to serve - how we live the gospel of Jesus in the place where God has called us to ‘move and live and have our being.’”

This fall, they look forward to being able to offer youth programs, ESL conversation classes, Mom and Tot’s drop-in, and after school programming.

Catherine Gitzel says, “Up until now we have parachuted into the neighbourhood - arriving and then packing up and leaving. The beauty of this is that we are very much known in the neighbourhood. Having this space allows us to be present all the time. We can say ‘Come on in for a coffee’ and the community can ask us to support them in a particular area.”

For more information on how to support this ministry, please visit their profile at the People Helping People section of the MCEC website.