Upper Room Assembly and Worship Center reaching out to community
COSHOCTON – The Upper Room Assembly and Worship Center wants to reach people beyond the four walls of its church.
“We believe as a church that we have to serve those outside of the church,” said Pastor Stan Braxton. “Most of the things we do here are to help others.”
Braxton opened the nondenominational church in the former Civic Center, at 331 Main St., in late August. Since then he and the 50 member congregation have already found numerous ways to reach out to the community.
During the fair the church hosted a concession stand, it also is the site for giveaway days organized by MAD (Make a Difference – Coshocton) and will be a distribution site for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. They also have fun events for the whole family like Hot Wheels racing organized by Bryan Casey and Gilly Hanson, and movie nights, which they hope to make regular activities. There also is a youth group for those 12 to 18 (or until you graduate from high school).
“This all started with two families who had the desire to impact the lives of people outside of church,” Braxton said.
Karen Casey coordinates the outreach activities and Braxton’s wife, Nichole also assists with ministry and spiritual community needs.
“I think that if you are comfortable playing with people you will be comfortable praying with them,” Casey said.
Another outreach activity that they did during Halloween was going to a Christian alternative to haunted houses.
“We had people from three other churches come with us and a couple of people even gave their lives to Christ that night,” Braxton said.
People from other churches and the general public are always welcome to attend activities organized by The Upper Room Assembly and Worship Center.
“It’s nice to do things with other churches because we all serve the same God,” Casey said.
Braxton intends to have the building remain a civic center and available for the public to rent.
“The Pomerene Center is working on fixing the outside wall (where the Park Hotel was) and we are paying for the inside wall,” Braxton said. “Once that gets fixed we can use the upper floors too.”
Casey can’t wait for that to happen.
“Teens don’t have a lot to do here so it would be nice to use the space to offer them something to do,” she said.
Anyone interested in learning more about how to rent the first floor of the building for functions or get more information about the church, can call 610-0082, look the church up on Facebook or visit http://theupperroomag.org/.
The Upper Room Assembly and Worship Center holds Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. and its praise and worship service at 10:30 a.m.
“It’s our goal to connect the community to church and God,” Braxton said.
josie@coshoctoncountybeaon.com
Category: Faith
