Our Daily Show Interview! Confluence Faith Community First Alton Service November 30th
ALTON - There’s a new church in Alton with a unique mission.
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At 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, you can experience the first official service of Confluence Faith Community at The Conservatory in Alton. Lead Pastor Kyle and Lay Minister Peggy shared that they wanted to create a space that’s welcoming to all, healing for those who need it, and focused on building community through Christ.
“The question that we have in Confluence is, how can we come alongside and walk with you and not hurt and maybe build what you wish the church could have been when it was hurting you?” Kyle said. “What was the thing you wish that the church would have been? What do you think the church should have been? We’re trying to get people in those places and even empower the people to then take charge of their own stories.”
As a United Methodist Faith Community, Confluence Faith Community is “a church for people who are hurt by church or don’t like church,” Kyle explained. They want to connect with people who still have “a profound sense of meaning and purpose and community that we want to work towards,” but might not find that in a traditional church.
Kyle and Peggy have been working with a launch team for the past year to develop Confluence Faith Community. Services are planned for 2 p.m. every Sunday at The Conservatory. They will also meet at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays at Post Commons and in the evenings at congregants’ houses on Thursdays for a book study.
The church is a unique experience for the launch team, many of whom have been involved in the faith community for years.
“For myself, it feels like healing,” Kyle said. “I said yes to this call to be a pastor years ago, but this is the first time I’ve felt alive doing that work.”
Kyle and Peggy shared that they have their own experiences with church hurt. They hope Confluence Faith Community can “meet people where they are” and help heal those who have had difficult experiences. They emphasized that they are focused on connecting with God and each other.
“Just because I’ve been in church doesn’t mean I have been void of all the hurt that church can be,” Kyle added. “Oftentimes, what I find is it’s not Jesus who’s hurting me. It’s not the faith itself that’s hurting me. It’s people who are enacting what they think Jesus is or what they think faith is and the way that they put it forward. It’s people. We’re hurt, broken people, and we hurt each other.”
Their goal is to avoid this hurt in the future and help people repair their relationships to Christianity and God.
As they prepare to launch on Nov. 30, both Kyle and Peggy look forward to welcoming the Alton community to The Conservatory for their first service. They hope the experience is as exciting for the congregation they are building as it is for them.
“I think this launch of Confluence is helping make church more relevant for people who might just not feel that connection,” Peggy said. “I think we’re starting something big.”
For more information about Confluence Faith Community, visit their official website at ConfluenceFC.org.
