Bringing the church to people

How do ordinary people with an extreme love for God reach other ordinary people who have given up on the concept of church? They allow the extraordinary love of Christ to flow through them and meet others right where they need it the most.

And that’s just what they do at the Upper Room Worship Center, a young church plant in Lewistown, PA. Pastor Tony Rohrer remarks on the incredible reactions from people who have felt alienated from churches before: “We have heard story after story of how people are blown away when someone actually cares enough to care for them. This in turn connects people with the church because we are the church! It is then a natural progression for them to want to come and learn about this God that values relationship more than a religious institution.”

Upper Room Worship Center began in 2002 as a house group in a Lewistown neighborhood that by October 2004 had grown into an established church plant, meeting on the second floor of a former bookstore. The church’s mission statement captures its desire to be relevant to the surrounding community: “Boldly proclaiming Jesus in the language of the people.” There are two celebration meetings—Saturday night and Sunday mornings—but much of the congregation’s ministry occurs outside of its weekly services.

From its beginning as an offshoot from Cedar Grove BIC in nearby Mifflintown, PA, the leadership has been committed to actively pursuing personal relationships in the community: “We asked our leaders to . . . take people to lunch, invite them over for supper, go fishing, hunting, and to ball games, etc.,” Rohrer explains. “To touch people right where they are at and literally bring the church to them, not expect them to come to the church.”

Even at its young age, Upper Room already has plans to multiply its ministry. “We are currently in the process of raising up a team of people to plant another church. Our goal is to plant our daughter in 2007! I will be working alongside the next church planter and the team in our goal to expand the Kingdom.”

As the church continues to root itself in the community and reach out to those who have never before considered church as a source of meaningful relationships, members of the Upper Room marvel at how God continually brings more opportunities to show extraordinary love toward people as ordinary as themselves.

pictures from top to bottom: The Upper Room Banner, Pastors Tony and Jim, Pastoral couple Tony and Dee Rohrer

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