My favorite questions

Over the past few months of starting a new church, I've received many questions. Some of them were humorous, and others of them were more theologically inquisitive. All of them were sincere and thought provoking. After praying about it, I've felt the Lord leading me to share some of those questions and responses as it may help you to better understand who The Way is as a church of Jesus Christ.

Q) The Way is kind of a dumb name for a church. Why call it The Way?
A) Our greatest goal as a body of believers is to move beyond a philosophy of religion which simply encourages you to attend church services. We, instead, put more emphasis on actually living our lives in the way that Jesus lived His life on Earth. We understand that this focus on living the way that Jesus lived is something that will always be our first priority. With that in mind, it seemed only fitting that we consider a name like The Way, as it not only represents our most primary core value, but it also speaks to the truth that we as a group of Christians believe that the way of Jesus is the best way to live.

Q) The advertising for The Way seems to repetitively communicate verses that describe the churches that are cited in the book of Acts. Why is that?
A) We feel that those churches being mentioned in Acts chapters 2 and 4 represent a high standard of unconditional love, selfless giving, authentic worship, and great commitment to the teachings of Scripture. In light of that, we can think of no better description of what values the church of Jesus Christ should have. Therefore, we make it our practice to remind ourselves regularly of what a church that gave birth to a global movement of faith looks like...devoting ourselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...to the sharing of goods, giving to anyone as he has need, etc. (Acts 2:42-45). In so doing we believe that God will add to our number daily the number of souls being saved (Acts 2:47).

Q) Are you Catholic or Protestant?
The Way strives to live into a faith practice which precedes both Catholicism and protestantism. Doing our best to model ourselves after the Church of Jesus Christ which was founded in the first century, we simply answer that question by stating that we consider ourselves to be in every way a part of The Bride of Christ, standing shoulder to shoulder with every person and organization who calls out for salvation in Jesus' name. In as much as the honor of being part of The Bride of Christ allows us to serve our Lord beside both Catholics and Protestants of all denominations, we are delighted to grow and serve with all believers. Yet we choose to not define ourselves in such terms. We are simply a church who strives in all things to live the way of Jesus.

Q) On your website it is stated, "The Way will live on a shoe-string budget so that the needy of our community won't have to." What's that about?
A) It is our understanding that followers of Jesus Christ have a responsibility to care for people who have needs. Throughout Scripture the practices of God's people are stated to include things like caring for widows and orphans, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting those who are in prison. The Way has an unwavering commitment to regularly doing these things. What's more, we are so committed to doing these things as often and as much as possible that we have made financial policies within our faith community to better position ourselves to steward the money that God brings to us in a manner which best empowers us to assist those who have needs. In short, fifty cents of every dollar that The Way receives in tithes and offerings goes directly to people who have need. Living on just 50 cents of every dollar that The Way receives has dramatic impact on the church's budget. But our church family feels that living on more than half of our tithes and offerings robs the needy families of our community of what God may want to do in their lives through our church. Therefore, we have decided to live on a shoe-string budget so that more needy families in our community don't have to.

More to come next time...
Grace and Peace be with you.