‘Offer hospitality to one another’ 1 Peter 4:9
KingsGate has a rich history of blessing individuals and families with mealsvia a meal train in times of need; however as the church has grown, and changed over the years I thought it would be helpful to put together a little guide to Meal trains, as well as to look at how the meal trains are distributed.
We’re starting a fresh new list of people who would like to be involved.
Please register your interest in providing meals by checking the box on your ChurchApp profile. Here’s the step by step of how to do this – it’s really simple!
- Open My ChurchApp (either on a web browser or on the phone App)
- Scroll down on the landing page to the section with your personal details.
- Click edit on the top right of this section
- Scroll down to the option: “ Signup to Mealtrain?”
- Select YES if you’d like to participate and get Meal Train emails, or NO if you’d prefer not to. (The default setting is NO).
Below is a bunch more info if you have questions, but all you need to do for now is sign up if you want to be involved.
Some of you might be thinking…
“What on earth is a meal train?”
A meal train is a rota that is set up where individuals offer to provide a mealfor a family on a particular day. There is a great web based programme called Meal Train which we use for co-ordinating this, hence the name.
“Who are meal trains for”?
Any individuals or families who need a hand during a particular time.
For the most, meal trains are used to bless families who’ve recently had a new baby and who without a meal train, would most likely forget to eat! But it’s certainly not only for the new babies. We’ve provided meals for families during times of loss, hospitalisation, sickness, house moves, but this is not an exclusive list…any situation where we as a community can lighten the load on a family. But they aren’t because you just don’t feel like cooking!
“Do I have to deliver a hot and ready to eat meal?”
Not at all!
You liaise with the person receiving the meal to arrange a drop off time. It could be earlier in the day, it could even be the evening before if you only get back from work late. Meals need to be all prepared and just needing to be reheated/baked/roasted, making it as easy as possible for the person receiving the meal.
“Does it have to be home made”?
Not at all!
Home cooked meals are great, but it could be a ready meal or you could even organise for a take away to be delivered at a certain time. We recognise that not everyone is at home during the day to prepare a meal, and in this way everyone can contribute. If you do prepare a homemade meal, we do ask that you use disposable containers, or transfer the meal into a dish at the persons home so that they do not have to return a multitude of dishes.
“But I don’t know the family”
Even better! What better a way to meet another person in the church family, than by knocking on their door with a meal! We’ll give you their home address and contact details.
“I had no idea this happens, how do I get involved”
Please register your interest in providing meals by checking the box on your Churchapp profile.
Signing up means that you will be notified when a KingsGate Kingston mealtrain has been set up, and you can then choose to sign up for a particular date. There is absolutely no obligation to provide a meal for every meal trainthat is organised! You can choose when you opt in or not.
“I know a family who would be blessed by a meal train, how are they get set up”
Please contact me on mealtrain_kingston@
Please chat to me at a morning service or one of the elders if you’d like to find out more information about the meal trains…and do get signing up if you’d like to be a part of this awesome blessing!
Much love,
Gina