TimesLeader.com

March 5, 2008
‘Not a building, but people’

Steamtown Church welcomes 174 at first service

Ben Freda / Abington Journal Correspondent

SCRANTON- A new church has arrived in downtown Scranton. It’s not inside a church building, but instead, inside the grand ballroom of the Red Carpet Inn and Suites. Steamtown Church, a Christian, non-denominational church, hosted 174 at its grand opening on Sunday, March 2.

Team leader Dennis D’Augostine conducts a worship service Sunday at the grand opening of the Steamtown Church, corner of Mulberry Street and Franklin Avenue in Scranton.

Abington Journal/Ben Freda

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The Steamtown Church offers a new approach to teaching the Bible by revealing Bible passages on a projected screen. Dennis D’Augostine, team leader and co-founder of the Steamtown Church, gets churchgoers involved by asking them questions about faith in God. The church also provides contemporary Christian rock music performed by a band and offers community in a comfortable atmosphere.

“We believe that church is not a building, but people,” said D’Augostine. There are three other pastors of the church: lead pastor and co-founder Peter Fox, lead teacher Matt Miller and pastor of community ministries, Scott Durcharme. The church offers a supervised nursery during Mass for infants to age three for parents attending. The church also has a room for children ages three to 10, called Kidzone, where Rachelle Durcharme, lead teacher at Kidzone, and other teachers off fun and easy-to-understand ways of learning Bible studies.

Teachers also put on puppet shows for the children and let them work on arts and crafts. Steamtown Church runs the Coal Mine Youth Center, formerly the West Side Boys and Girls Club, which has a gymnasium for teens to play basketball, and for children’s clubs and bible study groups to meet.

Upcoming events from the Steamtown Church include a bowling party at Idle Hour Lanes in Dickson City on March 8 from 3 to 5 p.m. There are also Fresh Start classes beginning March 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Borders, Dickson City. On April 5, there’s a Financial Freedom seminar from 1 to 3 p.m., led by financial planner Ron Paull. He will show how to manage finances with biblical concepts in mind.

Steamtown Church in Scranton was created to provide a sense of direction and to help people connect. “Seeing a need for people to live enriched lives and a place to worship in the heart of the city,” was a reason, said Scott Durcharme. “We’re a church in the city that cares for the city,” said Demetrius Walton, outreach coordinator. Hopes for attendance at the grand opening were 150 people, according to the staff, and 174 attended.

Steamtown Church, is on the corner of Mulberry Street and Franklin Ave. in downtown Scranton. Service is at 10:30 a.m. with refreshments just prior at 10 a.m. The web site is www.steamtownchurch.com.

Lead teacher, Miller said, “It’s nice to see a church …about people and their needs. The atmosphere is informal but professional. The refreshments are actually refreshing, to say the least.”

“We’re a church in the city that cares for the city.”