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The Meeting Place is a little church community that has been gathering at 541 Eatery & Exchange ever since it first opened in 2014.
Join us for church on Sundays* at 4pm inside the main coffee house space at 541 Barton St. E. Every week after church, we share a light supper together. Everyone is welcome no matter where you are on your journey.
*Please Note: we don't meet on long weekends (to give our volunteers a rest)
A key verse for The Meeting Place comes from Jesus’ parable about a dinner party. All the invited guests have excuses for why they won’t be able to attend, so the host franticly says to his servant,
“Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and down-and-out you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.” (Luke 14:21 The Message)
“Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and down-and-out you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.” (Luke 14:21 The Message)
This is the kind of table we see set at The Meeting Place and 541 Eatery & Exchange.
At 541, cafe customers can add “buttons” to their meal purchases and pay it forward for others. Each button represents one dollar and helps someone else enjoy a meal or coffee when they cannot afford it.
But the buttons are about much more than food. They create a space where people who might never meet anywhere else become friends and neighbours Someone experiencing homelessness may sit beside someone who works in housing. Someone walking through addiction recovery may share a meal with someone working in healthcare. Someone with a university degree may sit beside someone who struggles to read.
Everyone has a place at the table.
The Meeting Place is a parish church for people who buy buttons and people who use buttons. It is a community where we learn to see one another as Jesus sees us, as beloved neighbours.
Partners & Values
Partners & Values
The Meeting Place is grounded in 3 important spiritual networks:
The Meeting Place is grounded in 3 important spiritual networks:
24-7 Prayer is an interdenominational prayer movement, with a vision to revive the church and rewire the culture through radical discipleship and unceasing prayer.
In 2017, The Meeting Place was the very first Canadian church to be welcomed into this world wide prayer movement.
As part of the world wide 24/7 Prayer movement, The Meeting Place has 3 core postures:
Be true to Jesus
Be kind to others
Be loyal to the gospel
These postures are lived out through 6 core practices:
Prayer
Creativity
Hospitality
Justice
Mission
Learning
In 2022, The Meeting Place joined Mennonite Church Canada as our denominational umbrella and leadership accountability structure.
Mennonites are part of the historic peace church and rooted in an Anabaptist theological tradition.
We find the 3 core values in the book Anabaptist Essentials (by Palmer Becker) a helpful guide for what it means for The Meeting Place to be Mennonite:
Jesus is the centre of our faith.
Community is the centre of our life.
Reconciliation is the centre of our work.
TrueCity is a network of Hamilton churches working together for the good of the city.
We have been informally part of TrueCity from our earliest days. In 2024 we officially became a core church member in the network.
In many ways a chuch experiment like The Meeting Place couldn't exist without the spirit of cooperation fosterd by TrueCity.
TrueCity's core values are the soil that our church has been planted in:
Margins at the Centre
Active Cooperation
Humble Orthodoxy
Growth through Participation
Neighbourhood Engaged
Congregationally Based
Whole City View
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