Come-as-you-are church offers coffee, discussion

And the preacher doesn’t stand at the front of the church in the pulpit.

Instead, the Rev. Carrie Jena, senior pastor, delivers sermons — she calls them “discussions” — from the middle of the room.

It’s religion in the round.

“This way,” Jena said, “nobody can sit in the back of the church.”

The Gathering isn’t your mother’s church. When the church at 1108 Central Ave., opens its doors for two services Sunday, the congregation will be welcomed by the smell of coffee, and the sound of guitars and keyboards.

It’s part Starbucks, part rock ’n’ roll.

The Gathering, an United Methodist Church outreach, formerly was held in the First United Methodist Church, 120 S. Broad St.

It was formed by Megan Howard as a casual alternative “the upstairs church,” the traditional setting.

Jena took over in July 2009.

While the church has moved down the street and around the corner, its philosophy has the same address, what Jena called “the authentic expression of Jesus.”

Jena said most of the congregation comes from Hope House, the city’s homeless shelter, and downtown high rises, though she said the church also draws from the suburbs.

The congregation is a portrait of the city, the rich and the poor, the black and the white. She said the church is located in the “center of the mission field.”

She added: “We are about the community one person at a time. That’s how it all starts.”

Those in attendance are encouraged to engage in the teaching. Jena doesn’t want her sermons to be one-way conversations.

Before the church was launched, Jena and other church leaders spent an afternoon at McDonald’s surveying customers with this question: “What do you not like about church?”

They took the answers and formed The Gathering. The rules were simple: Don’t worry about what you wear or how you look, just show up.

The church holds 70, and Jena hopes to outgrow the space quickly. If that happens, the church will move, but remain “in the mission field,” she said.

Jena, a former golf professional, taught in California when she felt “a calling” into the ministry.

From golf to God.

“Life wasn’t working for me,” she said. “I knew there had to be more to it. There was like a tugging at you. Something was moving here.”