Breakfast brings city together in prayer
The work being done to help the homeless was the theme of a special prayer breakfast.
The prayer breakfast was organised by Love Wolverhampton, who are part of Love Black Country, an area-wide Christian network seeking to encourage groups to listen to God, work together and pursue transformation in communities.
Held in the Jack Hayward suite at Molineux, the event was the latest monthly breakfast organised by the group, but the first to have a specific purpose.
More than 30 Christian churches and an array of groups and associations working with homeless people attended, as well as MPs Eleanor Smith and Liam Byrne and Wolverhampton councillor Beverley Momenabadi.
After introductions by Love Wolverhampton Co-ordinator Jeremy Watson and a full English breakfast, there were prayers, a sermon by Rev Ian Poole, chair of Love Wolverhampton, and a communal singing of "Amazing Grace".
It was also announced that the new building Good Shepherd Services and Wolverhampton Church Shelter will be operating together on Waterloo Road, providing a 24-hour centre for people in need, plans to open in late September.
Jeremy, who helped organise the event, spoke about the core aims of the prayer breakfast.
He said: "Firstly, it's about collaboration and partnerships in the city and, secondly, it's an opportunity to celebrate everything that's going on in the city currently with the partnerships and people working together at the sharp end, trying to make homelessness history."
He also said that he was overcome by the number of people who had attended the event.
He said: "It's been absolutely brilliant to see so many different people from so many walks of life.
"We've had the likes of the Good Shepherd, P3 and the Refugee and Migrant centre amongst the guests today and to be able to come together in one room and say that this is us together is quite an achievement in itself."
Matt Lambert, CEO of Enterprise Homes Group, gave the keynote speech entitled "Make Homelessness History" during the event, speaking about the issues of homelessness and the steps being taken in the city to help those in need.
He believes that the groups working in Wolverhampton are going in the right direction with their strategy towards homelessness.
He said: "There's a real sense of partnership and oneness across the city that I haven't seen anywhere else in the same way.
"That's why we talked this morning about building a sense of community amongst the organisations that are working in homelessness and I think events like this help because there's something really real to it as a lot of the time, the work that we do is built on the back of relationships and community is about relationships, which is definitely something being built here."
The next prayer breakfast will take place on Wednesday, October 2.
For more details about that event and the work that Love Wolverhampton are doing, go to www.facebook.com/lovewolverhampton
