LOWELL, N.C. — While some fill up pews on a Sunday, others are gathering at the North Main Kava Bar in Lowell.
"We are here for a purpose," Bambe Johnson, the co-owner of the Kava Bar, explained to WCNC Charlotte.
Johnson said for many people in the LGBTQ+ community finding a place to fit in is hard.
"The church brings in those that are maybe outcasts or aren’t well received in other places," Johnson said of their services.
She said their goal is to ensure everyone feels loved, an approach that can come with lots of pushback from the community, but now they’re providing a different kind of service with hopes of helping heal people.
"One of the greatest crisis in humanity is spiritual homelessness and we want to provide a cure for that," Priest Castello Vore said.
Vore said he wants to help people who are struggling in the shadows.
"The art and the movement of conversation that flows through this space gets people that don’t understand us to hear our stories," said Vore.
Vore said those stories will bring us all closer no matter how unique or how isolated.
"It will bring healing to the world," said Vore.
A world he said is a lot stronger together.
"The welcome on our sign is not just on that sign, it's in our hearts," Vore said.
Services will be held at the bar at 1 p.m. on Sundays.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
