For people searching their faith and asking big life questions, Rodney Neufeld offers a safe place to do so in what he calls Night Church. 

"The name for Night Church came to me through prayer. It came to me off of night school and I thought of people like myself. People who ran from church, ran from God, and in my 30s turned back. When we want to upgrade our education, later on, we go to night school. Just like that, this is a second opportunity," says Neufeld, leader of Night Church and youth leader at Abundant Life Church. 

The recent worldwide pandemic has many people asking big questions about the world and their faith, their ideas about God. That is what Neufeld is hoping to expand on in his evening services. 

"I was raised in a Christian home but I ran from God. I also felt like I never got the answers that I needed when I asked the question. It was 'because Jesus said so,' or 'it's in the Bible.' It always felt incomplete."

Neufeld held his first Night Church on July 7 at his home church, Abundant Life on Plessis in Winnipeg. It runs each Wednesday during the summer and starts at 7:00 pm. 

"It's an interactive thing. It's not just me up there preaching and it's not your normal church. I engage throughout the talk and we have a question and response time afterward," he says. 

Neufeld tries his best to use language for everyone, especially those who didn't grow up in a Christian community. 

"Every week I address matters of faith and paint a loose picture for people. It's up to the person if they desire to move further."

Night Church has had Bibles donated by Give the Word for people who want one to take home afterward.

"My first topic was 'Who is God?' My job is to introduce people to God and allow them to start to explore that. I shared a list of who God is and who He is not to try and address some of the more common misconceptions people have about Him."

On the first night, one attendant was bold enough to ask 'Why does God let people/children die?' and Neufeld did his best not to just give a pat answer.

"We do play music but there is no singing. There are a lot of artists out there that are Christians and they're presenting their faith in the music. I didn't want it to be intimidating. If you're not a believer and you walk into church and there are people singing and words on a screen, it's awkward."

Neufeld says he and his wife worked hard on the outline for Night Church together with the intention of making it as comfortable for people as possible, including those that have never set foot in a church before.

"I want to reach out to people that have those questions or run from God, or people that don't know what happens inside of that building and are curious, or people that have been hurt. I just felt this calling that I needed to do something."

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