Making space for God: the new Watershed Church in Traverse City offers a place for individuals and families to build a relationship that transcends daily life.
Led by a young and dynamic pastor, Bryan Berghoef, the church meets for Sunday evening coffee and conversation sessions at The Village at the Grand Traverse Commons. Drawing 10-20 people, up to 30 if children are counted, the church has been holding the meetings there since February. The goal is for the young church to expand to Sunday morning worship services by the fall, with a location yet to be determined although an abandoned chapel on the Commons grounds intrigues Berghoef.
The Watershed Church brings a new Christian Reformed denomination to the area that is geared to both unchurched and people searching for a Bible-based gathering.
"I feel good about how things are developing — we've got some people who are really committed to Watershed as being their church and we also have some who are just checking things out,” said Berghoef, a Holland native and 2005 graduate of the Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids. "And we want both.”
Berghoef and his wife, Christy, have three young sons and moved to the area in the fall of 2005, finding it a good fit for their
family and faith. They spent the first nine months settling in and getting to know the area, with Berghoef meeting with pastors and working through ministry goals to lay the foundation for the new church. The denomination had identified Traverse City as a growing area with many unchurched residents.
"We have this adventurous spirit and starting something from scratch appealed to us versus walking into something,” said Berghoef, who also has an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in English literature.
Having a scholarly inclination with a thirst to delve into the Bible's roots, Berghoef also launched a Torah Club, which meets Thursday evenings at the Horizon Books Shine Café. Thirteen adults attend regularly and will work through all five books of Moses in one year. The club, which began with four attendees in January, listens to portions of the scripture in Hebrew, even though most do not understand it, and then discusses what they have heard and read.
"My feeling is that people are really hungry for this,” said Berghoef, who began studying classical Greek while still at the University of Michigan after he discerned his calling to ministry.
Nick and Paula Pulver of Traverse City are regular attendees at both the Sunday evening discussion sessions and the Torah Club. Devout Christians who moved to the area last summer, they were pleased to find what they term an authentic faith community at Watershed.
"Watershed is off to a great start, it is made up of a group of believers who truly want to know God,” said Nick Pulver. "We don't go to our Sunday evening gatherings out of duty or because it's routing. We go because we want to know God, know more about God and grow in God with others who are faithful, true to themselves and committed to the pursuit of God.”
Another commitment of the Watershed Church is to extend the blessings they have received to the community. Pointing out that the there are more commandments to love and bless the stranger more than any other command, Berghoef wants his church and members to live that. To that end, they held a free community skating event at Centre ICE last month that drew 80 people.
"So our own focus is not on how can we get more people in here for an hour on Sunday but it's more about what we do all week,” he said. "We want to be a church that is part of God's Kingdom and how can we be a part of it.”
"We talk about how do we open our eyes around us to the real needs,” added Berghoef. "There are a lot of ways to bless someone, not like, 'Here, I'll tell you what to do.'”
For more information on the Watershed Church, see their Web site at www.watershedtc.org.