September 18, 2019
What’s up with newfangled downtown church?
BY DIANE NEWBERRY
Yes, Evangel – the church that took over Fezziwigs’ former location – will be operating a full time downtown coffee shop.
According to Pastor Cory Phillips, this has been one of the biggest questions he has received from Garrison residents squinting through the doors of the newly opened church. Phillips said they will be open six days a week, serving coffee from Bismarck’s Mighty Missouri Coffee Co., with proceeds going towards overseas missionaries and opening more Evangel campuses. They hope to have the shop up and running by mid-October.
With that out of the way, however, Phillips would like the community to know more about the space’s spiritual goals.
Evangel, which is a church in the Pentecostal tradition, has been a Bismarck institution for 97 years. This long history might seem at odds with their modern look, but Phillips said that at its heart, Evangel is traditional.
“Times change and church can change, but it’s still the same message we’ve been preaching for hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years,” he said.
Evangel doesn’t have stained glass, an organ or traditional hymns. Congregants aren’t expected to wear a suit and tie. This is intentional.
“We went with the more modern contemporary look because there’s a whole generation that just have never gone to church, have never experienced it,” Phillips said. “We want them to feel at home here. When you walk into our church, it looks modern, it looks comfy, it looks inviting.”
According to Pastor Cory Phillips, this has been one of the biggest questions he has received from Garrison residents squinting through the doors of the newly opened church. Phillips said they will be open six days a week, serving coffee from Bismarck’s Mighty Missouri Coffee Co., with proceeds going towards overseas missionaries and opening more Evangel campuses. They hope to have the shop up and running by mid-October.
With that out of the way, however, Phillips would like the community to know more about the space’s spiritual goals.
Evangel, which is a church in the Pentecostal tradition, has been a Bismarck institution for 97 years. This long history might seem at odds with their modern look, but Phillips said that at its heart, Evangel is traditional.
“Times change and church can change, but it’s still the same message we’ve been preaching for hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years,” he said.
Evangel doesn’t have stained glass, an organ or traditional hymns. Congregants aren’t expected to wear a suit and tie. This is intentional.
“We went with the more modern contemporary look because there’s a whole generation that just have never gone to church, have never experienced it,” Phillips said. “We want them to feel at home here. When you walk into our church, it looks modern, it looks comfy, it looks inviting.”
