Coffee is being used in churches for more than just a Sunday morning wake-up.

Coffee, whether in bars, areas or houses, can be viewed an outreach ministry by many churches.

“(Coffee's) become part of the culture and we wanted to help people assimilate when they come here as well,” said pastor John Nuzzo of Victory Family Church.

Victory Family Church in Cranberry Township has a coffee area that seats 200.

“People can just find a place and sit around and hang around and visit,” said Nuzzo.

The area is used to welcome new guests, have small Bible discussions and for general group gatherings.

“Anyone who is a first-time guest, they are able to take their friends and family with them for a free drink in the coffee area,” Nuzzo said.

If the new guest does not want a plain cup of coffee, they can get cappuccinos, lattes, smoothies, macchiatos, Italian sodas or almost any other specialty coffee.

With hundreds of visitors each Sunday stopping by to grab a cup of joe, Victory hired full-time cafe manager Madeline Petrus in June.

The rest of the coffee area is run by volunteers, who also greet new guests to help them feel comfortable in the church.

“Coffee is very much a social thing,” Petrus said. “‘Let's chat over a cup of coffee,' how often to you hear that or have people do that?”

Petrus said coffee is a daily part of many people's lives, and so integrating it into the church helps spread faith throughout the week.

“It's not like you come into our God time here on the weekend and then go home,” Petrus said. “We are interested in helping people grow in their walk with the Lord.”

Nuzzo agrees Victory strives to bring together the family and the community to make religion a daily event.

“We try to make our relationship with God about our everyday life and not a place or event that's unique,” Nuzzo said.

North Main Street Church of God in Butler also uses its coffee bar to build relationships.

“It's an outreach tool to try to communicate God's word or God's message to the community,” said congregation member Dan Plaisted.

Plaisted helped lead the coffee bar construction project, which opened in January 2009.

The bar was built in an alcove off the sanctuary where the church library previously was located.

The church decided to add the coffee bar as an outreach ministry.

“The message is the same — Christ is our lord and savior — That's never going to change, but how you communicate that or how you project that to the people, whether they are in the church or not in the church is always changing,” said Plaisted. “You've got to stay up with the times.”

Live Out Loud Community Church takes coffee and religion to a new level.

Without a building, the church meets at Ztown Cafe in Zelienople or in the homes of its congregants to have coffee.

“We were trying to connect with people who would not normally come into a traditional church building,” said pastor Mark Sentell.

Sentell prayed for a year before he decided to start a coffeehouse church.

“Coffee's great alone, but it's even better when shared with someone else, same as faith,” Sentell said.

The members of Live Out Community Church also enjoy coffee with a cause.

The congregation purchases fair-trade coffee such as Kiva Han in Pittsburgh, so that the villages where the coffee is grown are sure to see a portion of the proceeds

“We want to make the world the kind of place God would want it to be,” said Sentell.