The Meeting Place (church)
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The Meeting Place (TMP) is an
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
church located in
downtown Winnipeg Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the seat of Manitoba's provincial government, a ...
,
Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
. It is a member of the
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches The Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC) is a Mennonite Brethren denomination in Canada. It is a member of the Mennonite World Conference and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Offices of the Canadian Conference of Menno ...
and the Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba. The Meeting Place's mission statement is "to be a biblically-functioning community leading people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ."


History

The Meeting Place was founded in 1991 by a small group of former attendees of Portage Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church, as well as a few people from other church backgrounds. The hope was to create a new church with a focus on making a Sunday morning worship experience more comfortable for first-time visitors and offering them identifiable steps and pathways toward greater spiritual growth. 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. Church services were held in a temporarily renovated area in the Smith Street building basement while major renovations took place in the soon to be main auditorium. Once the main auditorium began being used for the weekend services, the basement was renovated to accommodate the Children's Ministry program. Subsequent renovations on the top floor have allowed for a theater to be built to accommodate the Youth Ministry programs. In addition, staff offices have been moved around a number of times. Initially these were in the Smith Street building when it was first acquired by the congregation, but were taken out 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. Over the years, The Meeting Place has seen both increases and declines in attendance. At its peak in the late 90s and into 2000, over 2200 attendees were attending on a weekly basis. Currently, 800 or more people attend on a weekly basis, with as many as 1500 people indicating they would call The Meeting Place their home faith community. The Meeting Place has seen its share of Christian recording artists on staff, most notably
Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
nominee and
Covenant Award The Covenant Awards are awarded to the Canadian gospel music industry by GMA Canada, the Gospel Music Association of Canada. The association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the growth and ministry of Christian music in Ca ...
winner
Jon Buller Jon Buller (born December 27, 1970) is a Contemporary Christian artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He now resides in Vernon, British Columbia, where he works as Pastor of Worship and the Arts at Vernon Alliance Church, a position he began in ...
, and
Covenant Award The Covenant Awards are awarded to the Canadian gospel music industry by GMA Canada, the Gospel Music Association of Canada. The association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the growth and ministry of Christian music in Ca ...
winner Drew Brown. The Meeting Place is also where Christian recording artist and
Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
winner Amanda Falk was discovered. In September 2008, John Neufeld became the lead pastor The Meeting Place. He had previously been the head of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches' Leadership Development department John Neufeld served as the lead pastor for twelve and half years alongside a leadership team and executive pastor Bob Marsch. In May 2021, John resigned as lead pastor and transitioned to another pastoral role.


References


External links

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The Meeting Place Teaching Podcast
Listen to Sunday morning teachings online.
Photo album of The Meeting Place Church's early days
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeting Place, The Churches in Winnipeg Downtown Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Church Mennonite church buildings in Canada