Mission Spotlight
As part of our ‘Riverside Story’ blog post series, this post will focus on a mission that Riverside is helping to facilitate here in Birmingham, the UK and around the world; supporting our vision to bring LIFE to every generation in every community. This month we are catching up with the Open Lunch Team.

Every week we provide a free lunch for EVERYONE at Riverside House (21 Alcester Road) at 1pm. It’s a glorious mixture of community, with neighbours, Pantry users, café customers, Money Advice clients, Stay & Play families, and members of Riverside Church. Open Lunch is facilitated by four teams of people from across the church, but also now includes regular guests who have joined to help.

We regularly cater for around 40-50 guests, and sometimes have had as many as 70+ people come. Every Sunday at 1pm we open the doors at Riverside House.

If there was ever a picture of what the heavenly feast would look like, Open Lunch is the place to see it. Everyone gets food. People chat and make friends. The gospel is shared in words and action.

This year we are intentionally improving our help for people by appointing roles to provide chaplaincy and signposting for guests to what is on offer, particularly using our leaflet “A PLACE FOR YOU” and some of the story testimonies that have been printed by Riverside Money Advice.

In Luke 14:15, a dinner guest turns to Jesus and says “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” Discover for yourself what a joy it is to share lunch together and be part of how God is extending the reach of Riverside community.

Getting involved is easy –Turn up, get a feel for what it’s like, and then if you want to get involved have a chat with one of the team.

Get Involved

If you would like to know more about how you coudl help run our Open Lunch please click the button below to register your interest. Otherwise you can contact us via info@riverside-church.org.uk or phone 0121 442 4484.