Calderdale Methodist Circuit : New Ebenezer

St James Road, Halifax. HX1 1YS Bing Maps

New Ebenezer is a Methodist building in use for Mission. It has grown into a great centre for Christian activity showing God's love to the town ...

Currently there are four main ministries running out of the building. These are:

• Halifax Central Church
• Food Support Drop In (FDSI) Contact details: Email FSDI; mobile number 07522 485730. Also The Gathering Place, 1 St James Road, HX1 1YS, phone number 01422 647390.

As well as these four major ministries the building has been used by other organisations such as Calderdale College to deliver training three days a week, and a nursery on Fridays.

The building is situated in the Town Centre and has rooms for hire.

Parking

Although we are in the town centre there are usually many street parking places nearby at reasonable cost, (free on Sunday!) including a car park for 25 cars just 30 meters away.

Potted History

The modern Ebenezer was built in 1922, replacing the original Church, the foundations for which were dug by local people in 1822.

A refurbishment was undertaken in 1986 to make the building more suitable for modern useage and this has proved very successful.

Furthermore, the Methodist Circuit have committed £150,000 to renovate the building, providing disabled access and a more usable, modern space for all the charities now operating out of Ebenezer.

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News from Roy Sykes, Circuit Steward, Member of Christ Church and of the New Ebenezer Management Group

Visit of the President of the Methodist Conference to New Ebenezer, Monday 25th March 2013

As part of a visit to the West Yorkshire District the President (Rev Mark Wakelin), together with the Chair of the West Yorkshire District (Rev. Dr. Roger Walton) visited New Ebenezer in the centre of Halifax to hear about all the innovative and exciting Christian work going on there.

Rev. Alistair Newton (Calderdale Circuit Superintendent Minister) introduced everybody to him, including –

• Laura Woodfine and Chris Mason (HYPs detached youth workers) and their line manager Bob Arnold
• Mr Maslen (Food and Support Drop-in)
• Roy Sykes (Circuit Steward), and Elaine Manship (Circuit Steward and newly appointed Administrator of New Ebenezer)

The President led an intense discussion on the issue of poverty in Britain the modern world and how the Church is dealing with it. He heard how the Drop-in Centre provides food and other support to people who are really struggling with life in different ways (lack of money, clothes or food, drugs or drink problems), and how they have just reached the amazing total of 20,000 parcels being distributed since they started. The President told us how he has been to the Labour Party Conference and had a discussion with MPs along similar lines, where they had debated how have poverty and the need for groups like the Food and Support Drop-in suddenly arisen in our modern society. He also said that we need to look at poverty in a different way, by looking hard at the reasons why people are poor, rather than thinking that they are scroungers or in some way have brought it on themselves.

He recommended that we read a paper called ‘Truth and Lies’ written by a combination of the Baptist Union, The Methodist Church, The Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church. This looks at the many myths surrounding poverty. Copies of this report are available by e-mail from the Circuit Office, and this will be a great source of debate for your meetings, or ideas for your mission projects.

It was pointed out to the President that our Circuit has only recently organised a successful conference on this exact subject.

The Drop-in Centre have also started a ‘Gathering’ on Saturday evenings where up to 50 people are coming to spend the evening having a well prepared meal , socialising together and discussing the various issues of modern life, and how Jesus can be an influence in their lives.

Laura and Chris told the President how they are reaching the young people of Halifax by meeting them in town after school and listening to them, and hearing about their difficulties or successes in life.

The President was shown the latest plans for the development of the New Ebenezer building and was presented with a copy of the draft Development Plan (Microsoft Word document).

Before reaching New Ebenezer the President had visited the Busoasis project in Illingworth, and afterwards moved on to visit other places in Huddersfield before returning to London.