VIP Ladies Night
The VIP Ladies Night in April was an amazing opportunity for King’s Church to share the good news of Jesus Christ to the homeless and those living in hostels.
VIP is a night that we hold twice a year to reach out to the homeless in Manchester. We bring them in from the streets or shelters and demonstrate God’s love by opening up our lives to them and providing for their material needs through a meal, clothing and toiletries. These people are treated like VIPs, because that is who they are. That is how God sees them, and that is how we are to treat them.
About 25 ladies from three hostels in Manchester arrived to be greeted on the red carpet with reception drinks and a chocolate fountain. They helped themselves to strawberries, marshmallows and cakes while stewards gave them a warm welcome and chatted with them. The ladies were then led into the main dining room where each received a hamper gift at their table. All these and the meal hadn’t even started!
The night was hosted by Kelly Shennan, and the women had a wonderful meal of roasted herb chicken with baby potatoes and vegetables. Dessert was apple crumble with custard and ice cream.
Table hosts took time to talk and get to know the ladies, as singer-songwriter Hannah Atkins from The Sanctuary performed a couple of tunes from Alicia Keys and a few of her own songs on the keyboard, violin and guitar. Hannah does a lot of work with the homeless and ministers to them through her songs.
Kate Hancock, who headed the night, shared her testimony on how she gave her life to God while she was at university.
After their meals, the women were ushered into the clothes room, where they could take their pick on any clothing item they wanted. These were clothes donated by members of the church family, who had brought them in over the previous weeks.
There was a pamper room next door complete with a nail parlour, a make-up corner and a hairdresser’s. The ladies got their nails painted and hands massaged and there was further opportunity to talk to them while doing their hair and make-up.
Kate said: “We got quite a few contact details from the women that we have already started following up, which is exactly what we wanted to do. Rather than it just being an event, we want to build relationships with these women. We want to get them coming on Sundays and see the fruits of our labour from the night.”
VIP Night is an example of how we can take responsibility for our city as a church family. Kate has been involved with VIP for a year now, and said God challenged her to do so after she had been working with women in India.
She said: “You don’t have to go somewhere far away just to reach these women. You just need to look around and the opportunity is right there on your doorstop,” she said.
Come and be a blessing by getting involved with the next VIP night for men, which is on Tuesday May 19 at 7pm.
Go to our photo gallery to see more photos of the Ladies VIP Night.
By Wan Phing Lim
