LONDON, England — During the week, the meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wembley — a district in the London Borough of Brent — looks different that being a worship center on a typical Sunday.
An English class may be underway. Someone might be learning commercial floristry or British Sign Language. A well-being event may bring local residents together, while religious and community leaders gather to discuss issues affecting the borough.
For many who walk through the doors of the Wembley Outreach Centre, it is their first experience inside a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse. For others, it has become a place where they feel welcome and safe.
What began as an effort to make a Church building available to the local community has grown into a network of friendships and partnerships across one of London’s most diverse communities.
“The Outreach Centre has become a central hub of friendship, love and practical support,” said Bishop Chris Clark of the Wembley Ward, London England Hyde Park Stake. “It has become one of the most important ways in which we serve our community.”
A meetinghouse open throughout the week
For Rachel Abeson, a community resident, would regularly pass by the local Latter-day Saint meetinghouse, and long wondered what was happening inside. “I’ve always wondered what happens within the [church]” she said. The classes offered within the Wembley Outreach provided an invitation for Abeson to find out for herself.
The center provides space for local charities, community organizations and individuals to offer programs and services. Activities have included English classes for refugees and asylum seekers, sewing, floristry, yoga, Zumba, British Sign Language, digital literacy, employment workshops, well-being events and interfaith gatherings.
But those who have been involved say its impact cannot be measured simply by the number of programs held.
Lilian Weimer, a former center director, said her experience introduced her to some of the challenges facing people in the local community, including homelessness, discrimination, mental health challenges and the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers.
It also introduced her to the many organizations already working to address those needs.
“The Outreach Centre became part of this wider network of support,” she said.
For visitors, that support can take many forms.
Lorraine Mederick, a community member, attended a beginner commercial floristry course while living with a condition affecting her nerves. The course gave her an opportunity to concentrate on developing her abilities rather than on the things she found difficult.
In 2023, she went on to win the ‘Commercial Floristry Student Award of the year for level 1’ within the wider community, inspiring her to further a career in her new found skills.
“It’s allowed me to focus on the things that I really want to do more than the things that I’m unable to do. … It’s boosted my confidence.” Mederick said.
Finding common ground
The center has also become a place where people of different faiths can meet.
The Brent Multi-Faith Forum regularly uses the Church building, bringing religious leaders and community representatives together to discuss issues affecting the borough.
Sister Sabine Rice, from Hetzondorf, Austria, is the current center director, and serves as a full-time missionary. She has helped host events ranging from discussions about dementia and cancer awareness to interfaith celebrations, youth initiatives and community workshops.
The genuine relationships formed through these events have extended beyond the meetinghouse. Sister Rice has been invited into other places of worship and given opportunities to speak about Jesus Christ and the Church.
For Bishop Clark, such relationships are an important part of building understanding.
“When people of different religions work alongside one another to relieve loneliness, strengthen families, support those in difficulty and build community, misconceptions begin to disappear,” he said.
“People stop being labels. They become neighbors. They become friends.”
Faith in action
Brent and Stacie Mangum, from Highland, Utah served as senior missionaries at the center from 2022 to 2024. When they arrived, only a small number of classes were being offered. By the time they left, activities were taking place throughout much of the week.
The Mangums developed relationships with community organizations and interfaith leaders and saw how a welcoming space could create opportunities for connection.
Stacie Mangum recalled Muslim women telling her that they felt safe in the Latter-day Saint building. The couple were also welcomed into the lives of people from other faith traditions, including a Muslim wedding and gatherings in community members’ homes.
“I felt God’s hand in the lives of many that entered into our sacred Wembley ward building,” Stacie recalled.
Those relationships have continued beyond their missionary service.
Former Brent Multi-Faith Forum co-chair Frank Dabba Smith, when describing the Church building hosting the multi-faith forum, stated “we consider this to be our home.” He continues to say the center’s hospitality and warmth are gifts to the organization that have helped to carry out its work with greater joy.
The gospel in action
For those involved with the Wembley Outreach Centre, these experiences illustrate a simple principle of discipleship: the gospel of Jesus Christ is faith in action.
Faith in Jesus Christ invites His disciples to see others as He does — as individuals of worth, with their own needs, talents, hopes and stories.
Danny Maher, co-chair with Dabba Smith of the Brent Multi-Faith Forum, stated “You as a church are probably, in my view, the best example of a faith community that demonstrates faith in action for your religion. That’s what we believe faith communities should be doing.”
In Wembley, that faith is expressed through ordinary acts of service: opening a door, teaching a skill, welcoming someone who feels isolated, working alongside another faith community or simply noticing a need and responding.
“Sometimes we want to help, but we don’t know how to help — and this is right here, and it’s available,” said Cheryl Greenwood, a member of the Church, and a volunteer at the centre.
The experience has changed those who serve as well as those who visit.
“The Wembley Outreach Centre has helped us understand that our chapel should not be a building that comes alive only on a Sunday,” Bishop Clark said. “It can be a light in the community throughout the week.”
That light is found not only in the activities taking place inside the building but in the relationships that have grown from them.
What began as outreach has become friendship. A meetinghouse has become a place where people learn from one another, serve together and find common ground.
And in the process, members are discovering that sharing the gospel does not always begin with words.
Sometimes it begins by opening the door.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is something to believe — but it is also something to live.
In Wembley, faith is being put into action — one welcome, one friendship and one act of service at a time.
— Kenya Carroll is the London England Coordinating Council communications director
