Detroit-area Church Offers Drivers A Curbside Moment With God

SOUTHFIELD, MI—You’ve got your breakfasts and dinners at fast-food drive-thrus. Maybe you get your morning coffee via a curbside window, too. But your daily prayer?

The Rev. Chris Yaw would like to help you out with that. His church, St. David’s Episcopal Church along Twelve Mile Road in Southfield, will offer drive-thru prayers to motorists starting this month. The drive-thru prayer service is just his church’s way of helping not only his parishioners, but anyone who might want to take a moment to talk with God.

“Surveys tell us that nearly everyone prays and nearly everyone wishes they could pray more,” Yaw said. The church has offered something similar for Ash Wednesday over the past three years. Last year, some 250 drivers stopped by for ashes and a prayer.

“It’s a natural continuation of that,” said Paddy Jones, the church’s administrator. “We thought, what about the rest of the year. People’s lives are just so busy.”

The church’s location at the corner of Southfield and Greenfield roads, as well as its driveway off of the Southfield Road, make it a perfect place for the ministry. People can pull into the drive, have a moment of prayer with Yaw and be on their way. If traffic backs up, there is a parking lot around back. And too much traffic? “That would be a wonderful problem to have,” said Jones.

The drive-thru prayer service will be 4 to 6 p.m., each Wednesday, beginning next week, Sept. 13. The church plans to offer the service through mid-November.

Image courtesy of St. David's Episcopal Church