Fort Worth resident Claudine Marion loves to tell the story of “the miracle on Broadway,” also known as Broadway Baptist Church’s Agape Meal.
Every Thursday night for 30 years, the Near Southside church has opened its doors to people in need of a warm meal, fellowship and worship. The weekly breaking of bread over tablecloth-lined tables and ceramic dishes aims to create a place of welcome and belonging between congregants, people experiencing homelessness and volunteers.
Marion, who has attended Broadway for over three decades, has participated in the Agape Meal since its founding. Today, she is one of several congregants and clergy reflecting on the growth of the ministry as it hits its 30th anniversary milestone.
“We are all beautiful and broken. The Agape Meal welcomes us where we are, as we are, with simple gifts, good food and sacred contacts,” Marion said during an April 27 service.
History of Agape Meal
Inspiration for Fort Worth’s Agape Meal derives from a ministry then-Broadway Senior Minister Stephen Shoemaker and a group of congregants experienced during their visit to the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C.
The group returned with the idea of creating a ministry where the rich share a table with the poor for a meal and worship. A year later, the Agape Meal was born.
Inside the church’s fellowship hall, volunteers offer a meal with ceramic dinnerware, silverware and cut flowers. At the beginning of each feast, bread is passed around the table as guests tell the person next to them, “God wants you to have this bread.”
Attendees of the Agape Meal are experiencing homelessness or other financial challenges. The ministry is an opportunity for guests to be seen and listened to, said Billie Wilks, former worship leader for the meal and now a volunteer.
“We knew their names and they knew ours,” Wilks said. “The roll call goes on and on. Strangers and guests became friends and family.”
As Fort Worth’s Southside changes, ministry stays
At the turn of the century, many homes in the Near Southside neighborhood were demolished and businesses and places of worship moved to other parts of Fort Worth. Community leaders had a vision for redeveloping Fort Worth’s Historic Southside neighborhood in the early 2000s, but it never gained traction.
As the community has been fundamentally changed, former leaders of Broadway Baptist Church decided to stay, said Senior Pastor Ryon Price.
“When we could have gone elsewhere, the people who came before me chose to stay,” Price said. “What I think the Agape Meal has been to us is this prayer, this privilege of showing to us not only how to stay, but also how to belong and how to be present.”
Now, 30 years and 200,000 meals later, the ministry’s volunteers come from congregants in other churches across the country with a goal to feed and build relationships with people in need, said Peter Nelson, director of community ministries and partnerships for the church.
“That does not happen by accident,” Nelson said. “First and foremost, it is a testimony to God’s faithfulness.”
For three decades Marion has volunteered at the Agape Meal, wearing an apron with the ministry’s logo and a smile — and she doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.
“We are assured, if only for a little while, that we are not alone,” Marion said, “to taste and see that God is good.”
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at [email protected]. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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