Church or Community Center—Why Not Both?
Feeding the Poor and Spiritually Needy in Northeast Pennsylvania
Typically, community centers and churches aren’t the same thing. But Restored Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, isn’t a typical church.
“We recently gutted and remodeled 75 percent of our church building so that we can function like a community center Monday through Saturday,” said Tim Walker, lead pastor of Restored Church. “And it just so happens to house our church on Sundays.”
Volunteers will work for six hours preparing boxes of groceries and then work three more hours to serve guests during a food distribution.
Humble Roots
Originally from the Detroit, Michigan, area, Tim moved to Pennsylvania to attend Clarks Summit University in 2008. During his time as a student there, Tim met people of Wilkes-Barre in 2010. A student in the pre-seminary program, Tim began volunteering in Wilkes-Barre, about a half hour away from campus. He worked with the homeless community, people in addiction recovery, and fatherless teenagers.
“As they became my friends, they often would say to me, ‘Hey, Tim, there are some okay churches around here, but we’re their charity project, not one of them.’”
He and fellow student Dan Nichols saw the great need in Wilkes-Barre and shared a vision to reach the poorest neighborhood—not to make those people a project, but to treat them as people God loves. Because He does.
“We want them to feel like they are seen, heard, valued, known, and loved here. That they are important,” Tim said.
Restored Church began as a church plant launched from Baptist Bible Seminary’s Project Jerusalem in 2012 and joined the GARBC that year. Today, Tim Walker and Tim Morris, discipleship pastor, work together to lead a church that is “in the city, for the city” and where there are “no perfect people allowed.”
“From day one, we have been a church primarily of and for the poor. We are strategically located in the poorest neighborhood of the city,” Tim said. “They are not clients to be served. They are guests to be welcomed.”
All in all, that’s a nice sentiment—few churches would disagree with the vision. But when it comes down to actual programming and weekly schedules, what does that look like in downtown Wilkes-Barre?
Amanda Potechko is baptized at Restored Church, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Amanda now serves those who are in the same situation she was in when she came to Restored Church with a physical need. Now serving as a trained volunteer, Amanda is a disciple maker who is reaching others with the gospel.
Seeing and Meeting Needs
Restored Church recognized the food insecurities in the city when COVID-19 arrived on the scene. The church partnered with FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) for an emergency food distribution and gave out over three thousand emergency meals during the lockdown of March 2020.
A couple years later, when the local rescue mission closed, it asked Restored Church to consider starting a regular community food distribution. So in May 2022, the church did. In the last three years, Restored Church has served more than 1.5 million pounds of food, “to the point that we have now become the largest food distribution in eastern Pennsylvania.”
In addition to giving out food on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month, the church partners with local and national nonprofit organizations like Touch the World, Ruth’s Place, the Commission on Economic Opportunities, and the Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank, as well as other churches and community schools.
Each distribution typically supplies about 20,000 pounds of groceries and requires 30 to 50 volunteers. Some of the volunteers were once guests—like Amanda, who connected with Restored Church based on a physical need but then found her spiritual needs were met too.
Volunteers pray with any interested guests who come for food distribution two days a month.
Spiritual Food Too
While a large part of its mission is to serve the people of Wilkes-Barre and meet the community’s needs, Restored Church is not just a food bank or community center.
“Our vision is giving every man, woman, and child repeated opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Regularly meeting the physical needs in the Wilkes-Barre community provides opportunities for sharing the gospel. And it’s not just about the content of the service, giving food, and sharing the gospel. It’s about how the church serves.
“We intentionally give them the VIP treatment,” Tim said. “When they are served by people who love Jesus and love them, there is a distinctiveness to how well we love them and how joyfully we serve them so that they look at us and they say, ‘If that’s what following Jesus is, I want that. I need that. I crave that. I’m missing that.’”
In 2024 Restored Church saw a record number of baptisms and is excited for the future.
Restored Church has a vision to expand beyond its current efforts to additionally launch an after-school program, provide job training and placement, teach English as a second language, and help men reintegrate into the community after prison.
“While finding Jesus doesn’t change all of your circumstances,” Tim said, “it does change the anchor and foundation you have in the midst of crisis, trauma, and need.”
The work can be challenging and heartbreaking, Tim said, and Restored Church might not be what many consider a typical church. But it’s all worth it to show people a better way forward, hope for the future, and a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul.
Ben Toll delivers groceries at a curbside pickup during an emergency food distribution in March 2020.
Emily Gehman is a freelance writer and editor. She teaches English and Communication at Grace Christian University, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
