HISTORY
The Feast began as a dream in the minds of lead planters Caleb and Fran Borchers in the Fall of 2012. The Borchers moved to RI in 2010 for a two year apprenticeship (with Bruce and Janet Bates) in church planting. At the end of that time they were approved by their church planting coaching network, Kairos Church Planting, to go plant a church. They had fallen in love with the West End of Providence and moved into the Armory District in September 2012.
Over the first two years, a small team came together to give birth to this new church. During that time The Feast Church met regularly for Bible study, meals, service projects, community connection, and living life together as followers of Jesus. After establishing a strong community identity, The Feast Church spent most of 2015 intensely preparing to begin weekly services. The Feast Church then launched on October 18, 2015. The church has continued to grow and mature since that time.
In the spring of 2019, the Blackstone Valley Church of Christ joined with The Feast Church in order to serve God together. With this change, Bruce and Janet Bates joined the leadership team, bringing with them their decades of ministry experience in Rhode Island.
Jesus told the following story about who God is. This story is a key part of our church's identity. We want to be a place of welcome, where there is always an empty seat waiting to be filled. Here is the story, about a God who wants his table to be full!
“When one of those at the table with [Jesus] heard [his teaching about hospitality to the poor and outcast], he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.””
An early video we made about the beginnings of The Feast Church.