We're Famous!

Emerging Church Merges with Espressos
By M.I. Torres

Highly regarding conversation and dialogue, the "emerging church" has found its niche in coffee houses. Today’s Christians no longer have to separate daily consumerism and Sunday worship. A group in Tomball has joined the two in order to create a welcoming place for all people.
Main Street Crossing is a coffee shop and event facility located on Tomball’s Main Street. The establishment hosts a well-stocked coffee bar complete with full meal appetizers and desserts. You could walk in on Monday and order a chicken salad wrap and frapaccino. On Friday night, you could play Texas Hold ‘Em with Ken Shuman, the shop’s manager, or hang out and listen to a local musician. Sundays at 4 p.m., you’d find Wellspring, a community ministry that is led in worship utilizing guitars and bongos from the stage and then led in discussion by that same Ken Shuman.

The foundation of Wellspring was set five years ago when Shuman came together with 13 other believers in order to start a church in the area. The idea was to start a traditional church where the founding seven couples and their fellow Baptist believers could grow and reach out to the community. But the group had something different stirring in them, and they weren’t sure what to do or how to go about it. Their research took them to sources covering the postmodern emerging church. But even then, no one had any idea that that was the way they’d go.

“In order to go where we’ve gone, we had to become map makers rather than map readers. It takes a different kind of person to be a map maker. Most people are readers and they want the map,” says Shuman.

A Doctor of Evangelistic Church Growth, Shuman was familiar with the modern way of the Baptist church but not fully familiar with the postmodern. “For some of us, we felt that this was already in us or that God put it in us because we love this postmodern culture.”

The more Shuman and the group studied the postmodern community, the more it made sense to start such a community in the area.

Five years later, Wellspring and Main Street Crossing are still growing and inviting anyone who’d like to join. Wellspring's current community includes 22-year-olds discussing scripture with 60-year-olds. All share a love for the growth of their community as well as their own spiritual journeys. And no matter what age, they have come to agree on a nontraditional church reaching people on all levels of spirituality and faith.

Juli Allen, on staff at Main Street Crossing and an intern studying Wellspring's approach to ministry, sees the church/coffee shop merger as an open environment for nonbelievers and Christians alike. “Instead of separating the secular and spiritual realm that people are forced to do or choose to do, we don’t have to. People going to an emergent church live missionally. We see God and spirituality in everything.”

The Wellspring community tries to keep the setting as unprejudiced as the discussion needs it to be. Members and visitors are free to ask questions.

“It’s a safe place where people can be vulnerable to ask the questions all of us have but are too afraid to ask in a traditional church because we have to stay in a traditional box,” says Allen.

The regulars of Wellspring have grown to depend on such openness to keep their faith edified. When asked what the setting has offered as opposed to a traditional church, group member Diane Napier says, “Once you build true community, it doesn’t matter what happens. You just want to be around them. It gets in your blood. It’s just about being together and feeling safe when asking questions.”

The question-filled discussions have brought people from all walks of life to take a look at what true faith and true church mean to them. Coming from a traditional background, Don Reynolds states, “A lot of things taught in church aren’t necessarily right when you turn around and look back.”

Wellspring makes it a point to welcome such thoughts with open arms and leave them open when faced with these realizations. Many questions are echoed during the staple discussions. Becky Shuman, Ken’s wife, sees the questions as opportunities for everyone to learn. She says, “I don’t have a lot of the questions or issues as everyone in this room, but I might next week. And it’s very freeing to ask those questions. I think it’s really cool that we’re all so different and yet the same.”

Mark Topping, another regular at the home group discussions, agrees with the postmodern ideology and open discussions it allows, stating, “Most of the time in traditional church, you sit back and listen and if you disagree, you have to do it at home. For me, it’s about being here, being together, discussing.”

Rodney Mayfield, another intern who moved from California to be part of the Wellspring experience and a 20-something who is also on staff at Main Street Crossing, differentiates the work at the coffee shop from being on staff at a traditional church. “Kingdom living is so much simpler than what church has taught me.”

Allen agrees and places an emphasis on the opportunity of being involved with a new movement. When asked what realizations she’s had while helping realize Wellspring’s vision, Allen states, “In the Bible, when Paul would arrive somewhere, the first thing he did was build a tent, make some money and then spend his time preaching. Working at Main Street is like my tent. I can hold a job like the rest. I can choose to spend my free time planning sermons, but I’m still human. I’m not an elevated Christian.”

Combining sermons with the daily brew may create the liberated environment these believers seek and invite others into, but some may question if edification is as free to be had when the discussions include so many questions. Allen says yes, adding that she feels both privileged and challenged to be working in a place where she’s accepted for who she is as a Christian and as a seeker. “They ask, ‘Do you pray?’ ‘Why does God exist?’ ‘Who is in heaven?’ They challenge me and ask me these questions and I never was in an environment where that was thought to be okay,” she says.

The Wellspring community feels welcomed by each other and seeks to make all others feel the same when visiting their groups, joining their discussions or looking for a new community. Ken Shuman’s intended church from five years ago has become something he hadn’t planned, but the development is in spirit with the uncertain community that he is now reaching through his ministry. Says Shuman, “I’m not saying I’m right or that I’m doing it correctly. But I am a whole lot better than I used to be.” He treats the growth of his church the way he treats the community -- with open arms.

Main Street Crossing is located at 111 West Main Street in Tomball. Poker Leagues meet on Monday and Tuesday along with local performing acts Friday nights. Wellspring meets at the shop every Sunday at 4 p.m. and holds a home group on Thursdays. For more information, visit www.mainstreetcrossing.com.