The Meeting Place Church (Winnipeg)

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The Meeting Place Church (or just The Meeting Place) is an evangelical Christian church located in the heart of downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba (Map). It is a member of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

The Meeting Place Church Winnipeg showing front of the building and main entrance.

Mission statement aside, The Meeting Place is notable for its edgier Sunday morning experience and the relaxed dress code that sees everything from blue jeans to leather jackets and is also known for its use of sports cars and motorcycles on stage during the Sunday services, and for the freedom of attendees to bring coffee to the service - something unheard of and highly unusual for most churches.

[edit] History of the Church

The Meeting Place Church during 1991 renovations.

The Meeting Place Church service held in basement during 1991 renovations.

The Meeting Place (commonly referred to as the acronym "TMP") was founded in 1991 by a small breakaway group of former attendees of another church ^[1] . The hope was that a new church home would be created with a focus and vision for making the church experience more comfortable for first time visitors along with steps and pathways to helping them grow in relationship with God.

The Meeting Place Church offices located in lower level of the building seen here on the left next to the main building.

The Meeting Place was originally located in a small office building on Maryland Street prior to moving in 1993 to its current location on Smith Street in what was previously a night club.^[2] Church services were held in a temporarily renovated area in the Smith Street basement while major renovations took place in the soon to be main auditorium.^[3] Once the main auditorium began being used for the main weekend services, the basement was renovated to accommodate the Children's Ministry program. Subsequent renovations elsewhere in the building have allowed for a smaller theater to be built accommodating the Youth Ministry programs.

Due to growing weekend attendance and expanding midweek programs that saw TMP's numbers grown from just a few families to over 2200 attendees ^[4], staff offices were taken out of the Smith Street location and moved to an office building one block away on Broadway Ave and remained there for a couple of years until once again being relocated to a basement office on Smith Street next door to the main auditorium building.

The Meeting Place has seen its share of Christian recording artists on staff, most notably Juno Award nominee, and Covenant Award winner Jon Buller and Covenant Award winner Drew Brown. The Meeting Place is also where future christian recording artist and Juno Award winner Amanda Falk was discovered.^[5]

Although the two are not officially affiliated, the former Meeting Place now known as Central Heights Church^[6] located in Abbotsford, British Columbia was fashioned after The Meeting Place Winnipeg ^[7], At the time of its initial beginnings, TMP Abbotsford invited some of TMP Winnipeg's senior staffers to visit and assist with some aspects of its startup as a church.^[8] Central Heights Church is also the location where the during an August 26, 2008 concert featuring the music group Starfield, the floor collapsed sending many concertgoers into the basement resulting in many injuries. ^[9]

[edit] Mission Statement

To be a biblically-functioning community; leading people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. ^[10]

[edit] Ministry Focus

The Meeting Place has two areas of ministry focus namely the Weekend Experience and Life Groups

Weekend Experience

The Meeting Place Worship in 2008

"Each service has a definite theme, presented through contemporary songs sung by members or guests, praise singing by the congregation, skits, music videos and a focussed message"

~Doug Barkman^[11]

This focus on theme, dynamic and presentation is experienced at every level, from children to adult.

Life Groups

Life groups are a group of people who are committed to each other and intentionally meet for the purpose of growing personally and in their faith journey.

[edit] References