Noah Filipiak is the senior pastor of the
Barefoot Church at 2312 East Michigan Avenue.
He does not conduct his ministry in bare feet.
Although it would be kind of cool if he did.
But he doesn’t. At least he's wearing shoes the day I meet him at Lansing’s
Gone Wired Café.
An energetic young visionary, he looks more like he just stepped off the winner's podium at the
X-Games than out of a pulpit on Michigan Avenue. While I listen to him talk about his beloved church and parishioners, I can’t help but wonder how someone with such a conservative Christian up-bringing ended up starting a church that offers such a unique, hands-on approach to worship and community development.
The "barefoot" in his Barefoot Church actually comes from a story in the Bible where Moses is standing barefoot before the presence of God at the burning bush.
“Church is not a once a week experience, but a life lived out in constant worship before God, barefoot in His presence,” says Filipiak.
In other words, he thinks church should be more than just a couple of songs and a sermon for one hour on Sunday. It should be an every day outpouring of unconditional love and support throughout the community.
And community is what Pastor Noah Filipaik and the Barefoot Church are all about.
Know Thy NeighborFilipiak lives on Lansing’s
Eastside with his wife. The Barefoot Church grew out of a meet-the-neighbors, backyard BBQ Filipiak and his wife put together at their apartment complex in 2006.
It soon developed into two very organized community groups on the east and southeast sides of Lansing. They later launched a third community group on the southwest side, and are now in the process of starting two more.
These community groups meet once a week to share a meal, worship and fellowship.
Knowing that most church-at-home groups tend to fizzle-out without a more traditional environment, they opened their 3,000 square foot Michigan Avenue facility for Sunday services in April 2008.
“What we’ve tried to do is sort of embrace both worlds,” says Filipiak. “We teach that church happens in your community group. People have many needs beyond the traditional worship structure. I’m not saying we should throw those things out, but rather incorporate the traditional church experience with community, fellowship and caring for needs. That’s what we’ve tried to embody with our community groups.”
Several excellent neighborhood programs have grown out of the church's grassroots efforts. One program began in the summer of 2007 at Foster Park, just a couple of blocks north of the church, on the corner of Foster and Kalamazoo.
“At the time, we noticed that there were all of these kids at the park just hanging around," says Filipiak. "We wondered, what it would be like if we just showed up with some pizzas, played basketball with these kids, maybe had a Bible study with the ones that are interested?"
Filipiak and his community group made up fliers promoting their Thursdays at Foster Park program and passed them out. The response was overwhelming—more than 40 kids showed up at Foster Park.
“So many times kids get into trouble mostly because they have nothing to do, and many of these kids lack resources,” says Filipaik. “So we spent the summer, once a week, playing tag and kickball with the elementary school kids, or flag football and basketball with the high school kids. We would come together, have pizza, and try to talk about life and how much God loves us and values us.”
Outgoing Outreach
During the winter, Filipiak and his community group sponsor a Teen Night for the neighborhood kids. Teen Night continues the positive reinforcement the kids receive at the park over the summer, and also gives them an opportunity to channel their cabin fever toward more constructive activities.
“During this time, we try to maintain a ratio of two adult leaders to three teens, because we really want teens to know they are valued,” says Filipiak. “For the adult leaders, it becomes a mentoring connection, similar to a Big Brothers, Big Sisters kind of thing. Once you build trust, you can act as a role model and help them build better lives. It’s one of the more rewarding things we are doing for the neighborhood.”
It’s through the connections with the kids that the group gets to know neighborhood families. These on-going community relationships allow the church to provide much-needed transportation for one family, or furniture for another.
All of these neighborhood programs were developed by Barefoot’s Eastside community group, but the long-term vision is to extend these programs to the church’s other community groups located throughout Lansing.
On Thursday nights, the Barefoot Church lends its facility to a group that sponsors
Open Mic Night, a tradition started by
Michigan Homegrown Music, one of the building’s former tenants.
Open Mic Night gives Lansing area musicians a great venue for showcasing their music.
Although not officially a Barefoot Church program, Open Mic Night makes it possible for the church to partner with local musicians to put on benefit concerts to raise funds for clothing drives and various other causes.
Buying LocalAnother part of the community involvement picture for Filipiak is supporting local businesses, especially on the Eastside. Whenever possible, the church holds its meetings at Gone Wired Café, and they just started a book club through the Everybody Reads Book Store next door.
They do the same with community organizations, partnering with the
Allen Neighborhood Center on neighborhood initiatives.
“We want to be a place in this community where, if the church was removed, the neighborhood would notice,” says Filipiak. “We want to be a light for the community because that what Jesus called us to be.”
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Rick Steele is a local freelance writer who has written for many local and regional publications. He can be reached
here.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Noah Filipiak at Barefoot Christian Church on Lansing East Side
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie