Scum Of The Earth

SURPRISINGLY, I actually really enjoyed the night service here. If you’re looking for people who are interested in being honest about who they are and the fact that they don’t have it all together, this is the place for you. I’ve been to 4 – 5 churches in the past 4 years and Scum of the earth is the only church, Ive been to that felt real. Also, the only one that people seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me. I was invited to hang out with a bunch of people after church and I had SUCH a great time. I haven’t been excited about going to church in over 7 years, and I can’t wait to go back. :)

Visited from California. Scum seemed like a very hip, artsy, genuine church full of people wanting to draw closer to God. I was really impressed by their artistic expressions of worship. The atmosphere is very home-​like and community oriented. People seem friendly. They were welcoming to lots of homeless people. They served breakfast together and loved on one another in the basic needs.
Worship was really intimate. Had an acoustic guitar and two vocalists. The artistic approach towards liturgy was unique and different. They sung hymns, had a call and response and even held hand while reciting the Lords prayer.
The message was good. That sunday we talked about legalism. And how sometimes their anti-​legalism may in fact be a little legalistic. That was great introspection from the pastor. He broken down the message by first talking about a personal story from his childhood. Then we moved into the passage, then expounded and talked about how it applied to the community.
As for atmosphere. The bathrooms were so decorated! It was amazing. Such a creative expression of worship. There are lots of art collections on the wall. Light decors, bike decors and all sorts of other things.
Children’s ministry seemed really precious. Small, intimate.
The whole feel of the church was unique. Different. almost punk/​hipster/​indie.
loved it.

I like how one gets indirectly accused for «blacking» things out of the Bible when the church and it’s unquestioning followers are doing it themselves. Whether they want to admit it or not they are doing the same thing.
For instance in Exodus it states that you can sell your daughter into slavery and allow her master to rape her.
Or another passage in Exodus where it states that you can rape a virgin but you must marry her and pay her father a dowry of virgins
And my last example, in Leviticus it states that you can rape your female slave and be forgiven but the slave must be punished.
The first example comes from Exodus 27−7−10, second example, Exodus 22−16−17 and third example is Leviticus 19−20−22
If you sincerely believed that no blacking out is taking place then you are completely brainwashed.
Sure, there are lots of people who want to live their holy books out to a tee but if you pull any of the examples I listed here and countless more you are going to be living out a very lengthy prison sentence in any civilized country. You might be able to get away with it in a complete theocracy but I do thank the Heavens I am not in one!

Scum is our Denver home and we miss it terribly. It’s the most amazing community of people I’ve ever had the privilege to be a part of… if only there were a Nashville branch! Lots of people here commenting on services and individuals they spoke with. To me, church is the community, not the Sunday service and not the opinion of one person you happen to encounter. Even staff members have different opinions on certain things. It’s part of Scum accepting us all as we are. If you’re looking for honest, real community in Denver, nobody does it better than Scum!

Scum is a great place. I sometimes feel it suffers from people’s ideas of what it’s going to be like, and then it doesn’t meet those expectations and people aren’t happy.
We’ve been going for 3 years on and off, and it’s the only church in denver that we’ve felt at home. Met many great people and love the sermons. I love that you never know what it’s going to be like. With a rotation of speakers & worship leaders, if you didn’t like it one week, try a few more before writing it off… chances are next week will be totally different.

Some of these reviews are pretty lengthy. I’ll try and keep mine short.
Basically, Scum is a great place to get started in Denver if you’re all alone in the Old West. All of the good friends I have in Denver I have because of Scum. Don’t like going to church? That’s OK. They are NOT going to judge you for that. They will meet you where you are and accept you if you don’t see eye to eye with them.
So stop by one Sunday and tell Mike that Tall Paul sent ya!
P. S. Also good to meet people who play MTG.

There is a definite need for a church like Scum in every area, not just Denver. There will always be those fringe believers who would never go to church unless they could come wearing fishnets, come barefoot, or even come with a heavy, alcohol-​induced swagger. You can walk though their doors knowing that even if your medications haven’t been keeping you under absolute control, or even if you just finished shooting up or smoking a joint, the people there will never judge you.
In my mind, this is what a church should be. It’s more of an emergency room than a country club. The people who show up there show up for a remedy. Sometimes it’s just to remedy their stomachs (they serve a meal during every service, and thus the homeless make up a healthy chunk of the congregation), and other times it’s to remedy spiritual pains.
I first came to the church in dire need of fellowship. I was new to town and had no real friends to speak of, other than a couple people I worked with. I wanted to find a church to plug into, other Christians to discuss my faith with, and a pastor who took interest in me and knew me by name. After a couple quick conversations with some staff members, I felt like that was very possible.
However, my expectations slowly dissolved after I joined their men’s small group. Never in my life have I felt so uncomfortable. These men definitely had no interest in hanging out with one-​another, and similarly had no interest in me. Frankly, they were rude and closed-​off, and never discussed anything outside of the essentials with me.
I continued to attend the services every Sunday, and men’s group every week, however, it proved impossible to make a connection, even after I extended myself over and over again. The leadership I made connections with moved away, and the revolving-​door policy the church encourages with their staff made it even harder to plug in. Though the leadership had great relationships with each-​other, the average attendee came to service alone and left the service alone.
Even Mike admitted during one of his sermons that Scum can be a very lonely place.
This was definitely my experience with the church. Eventually, I gave up trying to forge connections with the others there. (Which was a shame, as every single person there I knew had to be ridiculously fascinating.) Though I’ve made a few acquaintances through the church, I have very little to show for all my effort. Sadly, there are still a lot of lonely people sitting in their pews. My hope is that someone finally decides to reach out and make a meaningful connection, instead of just asking the newcomers if they filled out a visitor’s card.
I recommend at least visiting this church, just to see for yourself how diverse sincere worship environments can be. However, I suggest bringing a friend with you, as most of the people there are very timid and are a bit afraid to say hello. I feel like this attitude was distilled, unintentionally, in most of the people who go there.

I have been going to Scum of the Earth church for about 10 years. We are filled with many broken people trying to find their way. We are a church that does not pretend to have it all together. While not for everyone, all are welcome.
If you are looking for a polished, pretty church whose services are over produced and that will entertain you, a church whose Worship is like a rock concert with laser lights, a church that with doctrine based on what is politically correct, take a black marker to the parts of the Bible they don’t agree with, or that will avoid things that are controversial, a church where everyone has it together, then Scum of the Earth Church is probably not for you.
If you are looking for a church made of real people, who recognize and don’t try to hide their flaws, trying to serve God and their community, a church with music that is honestly seeking a heart of worship, a church that tries to look at the bible as a whole, without exclusions to find the heart of God, a church that will try to answer hard question, even if the answers are not popular, a church that accepts everyone equally including their flaws (sometime we are known to ignore everyone equally; we are working on it), then Scum of the Earth Church may be for you. Come check us out.

I love Scum. I truly do. I’m not quite sure when the other reviewer attended and had his negative experience, but that bums me out that he thinks so poorly of my church home.
I can’t say that I’ve ever been to a church that is more genuine and welcoming than Scum. The evening service starts off with a time of worship, followed by a community meal, and then onto the teaching segment. The worship band is never «flashy», which adds to the charm and humble nature of this church. Pastor Mike’s teaching is from the heart and is easy to understand.
Scum’s church building is at 9^th and Kalamath. It is from the late 1800’s and was shut down by Denver’s code enforcement. Scum isn’t having financial problems as the other reviewer mentioned; but when the city closes your doors after being in a building for a couple of years, then there is a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to reopen those doors — yes, there will be some need for donations. Currently services are being held at other locations in Denver.
In fact the money that churchgoers give regularly is invested back into the community in the form of homeless outreach, and other neighborhood projects. The staff raises their own support.
Like I said at the outset, I love Scum. Every week I drive an hour to attend!