The Sunday worship services at Worthy Coffee Co. continue to build a community with people from diverse backgrounds to give them a place to congregate outside of traditional churches.
Worthy Coffee Co. hosted its monthly community Sunday worship event, Sunday, March 24, with Yelm City Councilor and Yelm Prairie Christian Center Pastor Joseph Richardson and his wife, Frankie, leading the gathering.
Following the event, Richardson noted that Worthy Coffee Co. owner Brandi Worthy counted attendants of 13 different churches in-house for the monthly event.
“Brandi, before we started, had also asked everybody how far they traveled. There were some people from Burien, and a couple of our friends came all the way from Vancouver. She also asked the attendants which churches they attended, and there were 13 churches represented,” Richardson said. “You have all these different believers coming from different places to worship together. It was powerful.”
Victor Jamiel, with the Roy Grange and a friend of Richardson’s, previously attended the Worthy Coffee Co. Sunday Worship events. Jamiel, who had attended a previous event and plans to return, said the following morning while talking to Richardson at the coffee business, that the worship opportunities are special.
“The church has been so toxic to people,” Jamiel said. “Christianity has become toxic to some people. So to be able to experience that outside of the walls (of a church), and for someone like me, a person of color who is queer, to be able to come into a setting where none of that mattered was amazing. I could come in and praise and worship God to my understanding along with someone who can worship God to what their understanding is.”
Richardson agreed, and said the Sunday worship events in McKenna have been extremely welcoming to people of different walks of life.
“Everybody has their different place that they’re coming from, but we’re all willing to get together with someone a little different than us, with some different beliefs than us, but we all know that we serve the same purpose. We take it and we run with it. Being able to sing together and harmonize and do this thing in unison, for one, I think it builds confidence and camaraderie in our community. I feel that what took place last night was special. Our community was brought together, and, if anything, it was healthy for us who went.”
Jamiel added, “we’re restitching the fabric of our nation. That’s what it is. We’ve been divided for so long, and this worship night, this isn’t what’s dividing us. That’s what is stitching us back together.”
Richardson said that it’s hard to find available, open space to “just be” in Yelm and surrounding areas. He said when a business like Worthy Coffee Co. allows them to use their space, they’re more than happy to.
“When you create space for people to exist, and there’s no strings attached, they will show up. There’s no stipulations. It’s always just ‘come on in here,’ ” Richardson said. “That’s why these events are full to the door. There’s no expectations. Just be with us. Let’s sing together. Let’s worship God together.
“There were old people, young people, babies, middle-aged people. It was good,” Richardson added. “I love seeing the kids in here with us. Some of them are just like ‘is it over yet?’ But I remember being a kid and doing that stuff, but it did something for me. As I grew up, I realized that was a good thing for me. There was no shame in the room. It was welcoming, free, and you got to be amongst everybody.”
Jamiel said experiencing a worship setting that was outside of the “four walls of the church” is what Christianity and Christ originally stood for.
“It was about all these different ethnicities, people from different aspects of life, being able to come together and set the atmosphere of praise. It did not matter about your gender, nationality, age — none of that mattered. That was an experience that I’ll never forget,” Jamiel said. “I’m glad that these worship events started. As someone that isn’t a Washington-born resident, who grew up in church and is looking for a worship type of setting where I can be me, with no type of judgment, my experience was magical. It was perfect. It wasn’t about your Jesus or your God. It was about all these different voices and people coming together for one purpose — to worship together.”
The environment at Worthy Coffee Co.’s Sunday worship event created a friendly, welcoming environment for everyone in attendance, Jamiel said.
“That’s what we need to try to get back to — to stop dividing everyone. You can go to any church you want to, but we all have one belief in a higher power that we connect to. How we connect to it every month or so at Worthy is through music,” Jamiel said. “Nobody in there had shame in being a believer of faith. They’re not ashamed to be a Christian.”
