Making a Connection, One Cup at a Time

COFFEE ’n’ CHRIST to offer new worshiping space for Cherokee Shores community in early 2019

Cherokee Shores, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Texas, is a subdivision in Payne Springs, just outside of Mabank. Larry and Allison Partridge have been ministering to this community since 2009 via The Foundry House, a small house in the neighborhood that serves as a place for neighbors to meet. Whether that’s for after-school tutoring and a meal in the Kid’s Klubhouse or for sharing community and healing at Celebrate Recovery, residents know The Foundry house is a safe place.

But the Partridges – in conjunction with First UMC Mabank and Rev. Dan Gurley – knew they could do more. After a time of prayerful discernment, the idea for COFFEE ‘n’ CHRIST came to be.

With the help of a micro-grant from the North Texas Conference and its New Faces New Spaces initiative, COFFEE ‘n’ CHRIST will begin in early 2019. The Foundry House is in the building phase of the project with plans to create an extra 200 square feet for a chapel to house the service. The plan is to add a coffee bar, classrooms, administrative offices and a handicap-accessible rest room.

Allison Partridge envisions COFFEE ’n’ CHRIST to be a “home-church gathering on Sunday evenings, a very informal, but a spiritually orientated gathering, for our Cherokee Shores neighbors who might not feel comfortable with a traditional church building and service.”

The Foundry House keeps looking toward the future and ways to continue God’s work and minister with the people of the Cherokee Shores neighborhood.

Published: Wednesday, October 17, 2018