Tell me about The Way

I received an email from an old friend with whom I had lost contact today. In the email she asked me to describe The Way and our mission among other things. I feel led to share some of my reply with you, as it was a great opportunity to share in clear terms what it is that we're all about. Here's part of my reply:

"As for the new ministry, I started The Way back in September. And while this may sound obligatory to say, it's the church of my dreams. To answer your question in very specific terms, our mission is to be the Acts church of our community. Our charter was taken straight out of Acts chapters 2 and 4. In short, we aspire to "keep to Scriptural teaching, to the practice of breaking bread and praying together, and doing our best to meet the needs of others". One thing in particular which tugs on our hearts is that the Christ followers of the first century were clearly known for the way that they served the Gospel ministry by not only spreading the Word but also by specifically taking care of each others needs. That is the goal that we reach for. Where as there are churches who want to grow and grow bigger and bigger to become a beacon of Christianity in the community, The Way wants be a mechanism in the community leading by example that the Kingdom of Heaven can come on Earth when we simply focus on the practices of the Christ who said, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for just one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did also for me."

These values manifest themselves in our worship gatherings as we take time during our service to discuss matters of prayer for the entire congregation as well as needs that are personal to those both inside, and outside, of the The Way. We then have some form of Sciptural teaching and praise and worship together. These values also manifest themselves behind the scenes in our financial practices as we allocate 50 cents of every dollar that we ever receive in tithes and offerings to be given directly to people who have needs. Along the way in our brief history we have had the joy of helping people leave abusive situations by financially empowering them to start over, provide an automobile so a struggling single father could get to his job and provide for his daughters, make food provisions for a number of families, among many other stories.

Quite frankly, it's been the most holy and liberating experience of my life. The Way has allowed each staff member and each parishoner the opportunity to stop using their financial contributions to invest in buildings and start using their financial contributions (as well as every other aspect of their participation in the ministry of The Way) to invest in people's lives. And God has blessed us all richly along the way.

We meet at Latrobe Elementary School in the bandroom for now, though we will soon be moving to a new space because we've outgrown it. We meet on Sunday mornings at 10:30am. We'd love for you to join us sometime. Come to LES and enter the door which faces Irving Avenue."

Grace and Peace be with you.