9th June 2025

As I write, next Sunday, 8th June, signals thirty-two years since the setting-up of Tyndale’s Tuesday Coffee Shop in 1993 by Miriam Parsons and helpers. Strange as it may seem to us now, this was not in the sanctuary, but the limited space of the vestibule. It wasn’t thought appropriate, by some at least, for the area normally used for worship!

By my arrival at Tyndale in 1997, things had relaxed, and Coffee Shop had moved to the  sanctuary. Baptist College commitments permitting, one of my tasks as student-in-ministry at Tyndale was to be there on Tuesday mornings, where I encountered the regulars of the Grumpy Old Men’s Table, where the world was put to rights on a weekly basis with the help of coffee and the morning newspapers.

Move to the community ministry of Rachel Haig, and we expanded into Wednesday and Thursday mornings, principally for parents and toddlers enjoying music sessions in the back rooms. Nearly all of them came in to share the space, to play and chat, either before or after their class. Following Covid, however, only Tuesday opening was possible.

Now we have morphed into a Renew Wellbeing cafe, with trained staff, table games and a welcome especially for those with mental health challenges. Our next plan is to open again soon on Thursdays, but only for parents and toddlers from the music sessions.

And work starts soon on transforming the sanctuary kitchen into a more welcoming servery.

Yes, there have been changes, but still the same warm, non-judgmental Tyndale welcome, into a space where many have come to feel they belong.

David Bell