Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Redemption Church Bristol

Building Jesus-Shaped Community in Bristol, PA

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by Gary Alloway

Editor’s Note: Redemption Church of Bristol was approved by Mosaic Conference’s board as a member congregation and will be welcomed at Mosaic’s 2025 Fall Delegate Assembly. 

Redemption Church of Bristol (PA) was founded in 2009 with a mission to breathe new life into Bristol Borough. Bristol is a historic riverfront community with a history beginning in 1681. By 2009, Bristol had emptied out, with chronic poverty issues and a main street that was 50% vacant.  Redemption was founded not only to create a new church community, but also to be the presence of Christ in the neighborhood and help all of Bristol to flourish again. 

Easter brunch with the Redemption crew. Photo by Susan Alloway.

 
After 16 years, God has done amazing things in Bristol! We have been able to help start a coffee shop and a street festival. We have rebuilt houses and helped church communities come back to life. We have walked with neighbors through trials and celebrated over Little League victories.  

We call ourselves a community of sinners and skeptics and have always tried to make spaces for those on the margins, both economically and spiritually. We have created everything from a tea shop philosophy group (PhilosTea) to a bakery bible study (Donuts & Devotions). Our goal is to build a Jesus-shaped community, where all people can rest and grow in the love of God. 

Easter Sunrise Service on the Delaware River in Bristol. Photo by Gary Alloway.
Fred and Augie share in communion together. Photo by Gary Alloway.

Redemption began moving towards Mosaic in 2021. While we had always had relational connections to other churches, during the pandemic, we began to long for something more formal to belong to. We have always structured ourselves as an Anabaptist community, but during those tumultuous years, the historic foundations of the Mennonite church seemed all the more valuable.   

We also wanted to have relationships with churches and leaders that were different from us. We have learned so much from both the historic congregations of Mosaic and the younger immigrant communities. We appreciate the history, vibrancy, and relational depth of Mosaic Conference. We have loved having a community that is bigger than ourselves.

Scotty leads our Ash Wednesday service at Naked Brewery. Photo by Gary Alloway.
Planting new trees at our meeting space in Bristol. Photo by Gary Alloway.

We covet your prayers as we formally enter into the Conference as a member. Redemption has never been a community that is afraid of risk-taking or missional adventures, and we hope we can share the fruits of these endeavors with the larger Mosaic community.   

We also pray for stability and long-term growth that can help Redemption be grounded for the future. And we hope these two goals never crush each other. What does it mean to follow the Spirit out in new ways, but also build something that can last? We would love your prayers in this tension.  

We long to always uphold the core Anabaptist value of keeping Jesus at the center of all things. We aim to be the aroma of Christ, or as we like to say, “We aim to stink like Jesus together!”  Please pray that we can keep Jesus at the center of all that we do. And pray we can live out our mission to build a Jesus-shaped community, where all people can rest and grow in the love of God. 

Gary Alloway

Gary Alloway is a pastor and church planter of Redemption Church of Bristol (PA), and also serves as a Leadership Minister with Mosaic Conference.

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To share your thoughts or send a message to the author(s), contact us at communication@mosaicmennonites.org.   

Naked Ash Wednesday 

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by Gary Alloway

Over the past two years, Redemption (our church) has hosted a book club at the local brewery. We have discussed everything from Flannery O’Conner to Walter Wink, trying to engage with books that give people wider perspectives on faith. And since our local brewery is called Naked Brewery, book club is affectionately known as Naked Book Club (*clothes required*).   

Part of the reason the book club has worked is because we have been hosted by Crystal the Bartender. Crystal loves us. Crystal is for us. Crystal has become a personal friend. Crystal is our best evangelist for the book club. Crystal wouldn’t call herself a Christian, but she is our person of peace, that weird person Jesus speaks about in Luke 10, who will apparently receive you indefinitely when you go out on mission.  

So when Ash Wednesday came around this year and we had a scheduling conflict at our church building, we asked Crystal if we could have the service at the brewery. She got excited about it and said “Sure!” And thus was born the first ever Naked Ash Wednesday.   

Crystal, a bartender at Naked Brewery, and a “person of peace” for Redemption Church of Bristol. Photos provided by Gary Alloway.

It should be said, Naked Brewery is in a 19th-century building in Bristol and like many old Bristol buildings, the basement is about as spooky as can be. Ceilings are low, river stones protrude from the walls, weird nooks lead you into darkened corners. It is a perfect place for an Ash Wednesday service. It is a perfect place to remember your mortality. We invited people to come early for a last beer before Lent. And then we remembered that we have come from dust and to dust we shall return. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. 

Participants in the Naked Ash Wednesday service led by Redemption Church of Bristol, at the Naked Brewery.
Participants in the Naked Ash Wednesday service led by Redemption Church of Bristol, at the Naked Brewery.
Participants in the Naked Ash Wednesday service led by Redemption Church of Bristol, at the Naked Brewery.

As we emerged from the basement, Crystal asked, “Do you have any ashes left? You might need to get everyone up here?” We gave ashes to a few people and probably could have given them to more. Honestly, our sheepishness was more the limitation than any sort of hostility to our presence there. It seems that the longstanding symbols of the church still have meaning and resonance in an age of secularism.

As we packed up, Crystal was anxious to know how the service went and excited to hear of its success. And then she gave us another indefinite invitation: “What about next year? You guys want to do it again? Should we book this as an annual tradition?” 

Jesus tells us that when we find the person of peace, don’t move around. Stay put and be present to the work of God in that place. So it sounds like we are on the hook for next year.  It sounds like this was the first of many Naked Ash Wednesdays.   

Gary Alloway

Gary Alloway is a pastor and church planter of Redemption Church of Bristol (PA), which is a Mosaic Partner in Ministry and was founded in 2009.  Gary serves with his wife, Susan, and his children, Augie (9) and Rosey (7), who deeply love pretzel dogs from the Bristol Amish Market.  Gary has a passion for Philadelphia sports, crossword puzzles, and for seeing broken people connect to the amazing love of God. 

My Narrative of Inadequacy, Flipped Upside Down

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by Gary Alloway

Growing up, I was a kid who was a good at everything but never excelled at any one thing. I was a committed athlete, but never a star. I was a good student, but there were always a few students above me. I had friends, but others were more charismatic. Since I never had my own “thing,” I always saw this as a weakness in myself.  

When I was 16, God got a hold of my life, and I chose to follow Jesus. At age 18, in a moment of doubt and desperation, I heard God speak the words, “Serve me.” I consider those two moments to be my points of calling. I gave my life to serving God and helping broken people find Jesus.

And yet, for much of my young adulthood, I wandered. I wandered intellectually, trying to find how my beliefs held together. I wandered theologically, exploring everything from evangelicalism to Orthodoxy. I wandered between non-profit ministry and pursuing an academic career, and somewhere in the midst of this, I got a business degree.

At age 24, I was in seminary and not sure what I was doing with my life. I still felt like I was good at a little bit of everything but was not excelling at any one thing.  

One day, God turned this narrative on its head. I was talking with an old friend, and a light came on. Jesus took the narrative of inadequacy and said to me, “You are exactly who I need you to be.”  

Suddenly, I looked again at pastoral ministry and realized that this is a job that requires being good at a little bit of everything rather than being good at one particular thing, especially in the local church. What other job requires public speaking, counseling, budgeting, and knowing the basics of building repair? What other job changes so drastically from day to day … I may be planning a liturgy at one moment and planning a community meal in the next. What other job provides new challenges in every season, often ones that I could never foresee?  

I attended an academic seminary. I remember a professor, who had served the church for many years, say, “If you really want to use your brain, go into pastoral ministry, not academics.” He was right. For someone whose brain likes to wander in a million directions, pastoral ministry never runs out of things to think about. For someone who gets bored easily, pastoral ministry provides something new in every season. For someone who is good at a little bit of everything, but fails to have a specialty, pastoral ministry is a perfect fit.  

I often get exhausted by the ever-changing, never-settled state of the local church. But if church work ever gets boring, then I will probably be ready to move on. So, today I celebrate the local church, with all its chaos and challenges, and am thankful God made me just as I am. 

Gary Alloway

Gary Alloway is a pastor and church planter of Redemption Church of Bristol (PA), which is a Mosaic Partner in Ministry and was founded in 2009.  Gary serves with his wife, Susan, and his children, Augie (9) and Rosey (7), who deeply love pretzel dogs from the Bristol Amish Market.  Gary has a passion for Philadelphia sports, crossword puzzles, and for seeing broken people connect to the amazing love of God.