St Isidore’s Episcopal Church feeds bodies, minds and souls developing small worship groups in a variety of places from cafés to gyms to laundries.
St. Isidore’s is a church built without walls but with a set of wheels that allows it to bring faith and food to several small communities of worshippers north of Houston, Texas. Some meet at a Taco Bell or a Panera Bread, others at a laundromat. Central to the mission is the Abundant Harvest food truck, which serves as a focal point for developing Christian relationships while alleviating both physical and spiritual hunger.
“I think people need to be nourished body, mind and soul,” said the Rev. Sean Steele, who started St. Isidore’s in 2015 as a church plant through Trinity Episcopal Church in The Woodlands, Texas. It now supports eight distinct faith communities totaling about 80 people, as well as its Abundant Harvest ministries. “Feeding and eating is a huge part of everything we do.” …
Steele isn’t the only Episcopal priest enlisting a food truck to disseminate meals and a gospel message, nor is he alone in the church planting trend of holding spiritual gatherings outside of traditional church spaces. But his work is receiving national attention partly for his deliberate blend of outreach and Episcopal traditions, preferring not to minimize sacramental connections.
“There’s something to do with how we eat and who we eat with that says something about how we relate to God …
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Image from ENS