Scum of the Earth Church

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Church in US
Scum of the Earth Church
CountryUS
DenominationNon-denominational
Websitescumoftheearth.net
History
Founded2000 (2000)
Founder(s)Mike Sares, Reese Roper
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)Jessi Heilmann

Scum of the Earth Church (SOTEC or Scum) is a non-denominational Christian urban church located in Denver, Colorado's arts district, in that city's Lincoln Park neighborhood.[1] Its name is taken from 1 Corinthians 4:11-13, which includes Paul the Apostle's statement, "We have become the scum of the earth." As of 2023[update], the Denver church was led by Senior Pastor Jessi Heilmann.[2]

SOTEC's founding aim was to create a ministry to young individuals who perceived themselves as outcasts, and therefore might not feel welcome at traditional Christian churches, individuals including goths, the pierced and tattooed crowd, punk rockers, and skateboarders, and it has attracted these, as well as the poor and homeless, ravers, and urban artists (and diverse other groups including students and academics, and immigrant and blue-collar families)[3]. Currently, the vision of Scum of the Earth is to be an outpost on the perimeter of God's kingdom seeking redemption in Jesus Christ. SOTEC uses a wide array of methods and activities to communicate its message, including bible study groups and podcasts, ministry programs to meet material and relational needs of congregants (food, shelter, guidance), artistic expressions that include exhibitions of art and poetry, as well as various other classes, groups, and activities.

Its pastors and others have described SOTEC as being evangelical in its theology, perspectives, and approach to ministry, and the church is a member of an association in the United States, the Alliance for Renewal Churches. Its impact extends beyond its local church ministries, in that its name and focus have drawn wide attention, leading to its being a point of discussion in relation to the Emerging Church movement, and in other venues discussing modern Christian ministry to young people and in urban settings.

Denver

Leaders of record are:

Seattle

Scum of the Earth Church - Seattle, Mission Statement "We don't compromise the Gospel, but we focus on the condition of the heart and not the appearance of the packaging". This sister church is described as having been founded by John Swanger.[8] Leaders of record are:

Swanger holds three ordinations. Ordained Minister through Ministerial Fellowship (AKA The John G. Lake Society), Ordained Evangelist through Cross & Clef Ministries and Ordained Pastor through Alliance for Renewal Churches (ARC)

This sister church officially closed its doors in 2015.[citation needed]

Description

Scum of the Earth Church, in Denver

Scum of the Earth Church, also known as SOTEC, or simply Scum, is an urban church located Denver's arts district and is described as a local Christian church unaffiliated with a denomination,[4]: 9.2 [citation needed] although it is a member of a church association in the United States, the Alliance for Renewal Churches.[6] SOTEC's pastors and others have described SOTEC as being evangelical in its theology, perspectives, and approach to ministry.[5][9] The parent church is located as of 2023 in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.[10]

In 2006, Bob Whitesel, in preparation to write Inside the Organic Church, described his "first encounter" with the church as seeing a "parking lot was filled with urban youth playing basketball, skateboarding, smoking, or just hanging out. And while I have visited organic churches across North America and England, the congregation assembled here was one of the edgiest.[4]: 9.1  He goes on to describe SOTEC's congregants ("audience") as being the

[u]rban poor, homeless, disenfranchised youth, [g]oths, skateboarders, urban artists, immigrant [and] blue-collar families, seminary students/professors, and diverse social classes throughout and around Denver.[4]: 9.2 

Rather than on the broader of these demographic descriptions, the church, at its founding, indicated concern for specific disenfranchised groups, e.g., skateboarders, goths and others with piercings and tattoos, and punk rockers.[11] In 2007, SOTEC was described by Sean Cronin and Naomi Zeveloff of Westword, who noted that most present at their visit were individuals in their 20s, most with piercings and tattoos, further reiterating the church's draw of the homeless, and of "punks, ravers ... people who might otherwise feel isolated from typical Sunday morning services."[12] These observations were echoed by English observers from The Economist, John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge, whose 2009 catalogings included "homeless people, punks, skaters, and ravers" and "bikers, gays and dropouts."[13][14]

The church's pastor, Mike Sares, was quoted by CBS's Lee Cowan and John Kreiser in 2006 as saying that SOTEC had looked "to build a place where folks who didn't fit in other church settings would actually feel welcome";[15] the CBS report continued that "Scum of the Earth uses many tools to accomplish that goal, including podcasts ... creative writing ... cooking and sewing classes, comic book ... and bible study groups, [and] exhibitions of poetry and art by church members ..."[15] Sares is noted as saying that the message is not new, though the approach is: "It's just church ... It's not nearly as radical as you think it is - I mean there's no moshing during worship."[15]

Westword's Cronin and Zeveloff go on to describe SOTEC service content:

The preacher may have looked punk rock, but he didn't espouse it in his sermon. Instead, he hammered repentance through the story of Bathsheba. In that biblical tale, King David sleeps with a woman he spies bathing. When he finds out that she's pregnant, he orders her husband killed. Later on, he realizes the folly of his ways. God only forgives him when he gives himself fully to his creator,[12]

concluding that SOTEC was "no frills" but "not radical either," "not a free for all, [and] not a fundamental redefinition of what Christianity should look like"; they conclude their piece, writing that at SOTEC, "tattoos and piercings do not a liberal make" and that "joy of Scum" was that it allowed individuals to pursue their faith regardless of appearance, or place of residence.[12]

The church has been described as "emergent" or placed within the movement of "Emergent Church[es]" by those reporting on it,[12] and by Brian D. McLaren, a former English professor and contributor to "The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives" (2003).[15][16]

History