The Table Public House Is Open for Business

In an emotional ceremony including tear-filled goodbyes, many people gathered in late June to mark the closing of the Table Public House, a unique Christian Reformed Church neighborhood ministry in southwestern Denver, Colo.

“At that event we experienced the depths of the impact we’ve had in this community over the past 13 years. It was a tremendous celebration of life while simultaneously full of grief,” said Craig Broek, who codirects the ministry along with his wife, Jeanine Kopaska Broek.

But then in early September, quite a few of those who were on hand for the closing showed up to sip a brew, eat a sandwich, and later attend a worship service that included the Lord’s Supper at the facility, which has experienced a new life that is impossible to ignore.

“It was amazing. The Lord showed up in a major way. A group of investors came forward this summer to help out. We are now back in business,” said Craig Broek. 

The Table Public House is an outgrowth of The Table Community Church and The Table Urban Farm, which the Broeks founded in the Overland Park neighborhood of southwestern Denver in 2011.

Located in a former Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, the Table Public House opened in 2019 under a leasing arrangement. But as the cost of the lease increased, the operators of the drop-in food, drink, and community meeting space determined they could not afford to keep it going and it would have to close, said Broek.

However, around the time in which they held the closing ceremony, their landlords, with whom they had been trying to negotiate a sale, called to say that they were willing to drop the asking price.

“That conversation produced a price we felt we could work with. That led to a board conversation that led to a resurrection of hope,” said Broek.

From the start, the Table Urban Farm has been a nontraditional ministry community. Its focus has been to gather people from the nearby area who want to help plant and harvest food, mostly in front- and side-yard garden plots donated for that purpose by local residents.

The growers distribute their produce free of charge to schools, in parks, and in other settings. In addition, they have met in homes to share meals and have conversations on a range of topics. People who have been drawn to The Table are generally not regular churchgoers or even believers. Rather, they have been attracted by the chance to help plant and harvest vegetables and fruit for the local community and then to spend time together.

“The Table is not just about food, but about life,” said Broek in another CRC News story. “We do church in nonchurchy ways. We bring in the divine in ordinary ways.”

In 2020 they refurbished the VFW hall into a coffee shop, tap house, eatery, and church meeting space that, Broek said, enabled them to have a public and permanent presence as well as to extend hospitality to their neighbors in a brand-new way. 

“It gave us access to the community on a daily basis throughout the year, something we had not had before,” he said.

When the issue involving the lease came up earlier this year, leaders of The Table needed to find a way forward.

“The process we engaged in to try to buy the Table Public House was like riding a roller coaster, to say the least,” said Broek.

Nonetheless, they felt all along that God was with them.

“One constant we have experienced is the sense that God continues to bless this work and reiterate our call to it,” wrote Broek in a fund-raising letter.

The landlords had originally asked $2 million for the more than 5,000-square-foot building, but they eventually agreed to sell it for $1.7 million. The Table was able to raise $1.2 million of that, and financed the remaining $500,000. Now, Broek said, they are seeking “kingdom-minded” people to invest and to help pay off the loan. It’s been slow going, but they remain optimistic that donors will see the value in this work of faith.

“I never would have thought something like this would have been possible. I’m grateful to those who have been willing to support us in our efforts,” said Broek.

Among other things, he added, he and his wife have worked to develop a ministry that has several unusual aspects, ranging from growing produce and giving it away, to gathering with people to speak with them at their pace about the Christian faith, and now to have a permanent place in which to gather.

People now drop in throughout the day for coffee and for meals of sandwiches, wraps, and burgers. Beer is on tap, and currently a group meets to sip a brew and talk theology. At some point, Broek said, they hope to use their full-service kitchen to offer cooking classes to people in the community.

The space is also used once a week for worship that includes the Lord’s Supper and messages about Scripture in which everyone has a chance to offer comments and reflections.

“So often people tend to think of church as being just one way,” said Broek. “The Table has provided us an opportunity to think creatively and to give the CRC a chance to see a different way in which a church can be.”