Good afternoon friends of The Way Church!
I wanted to take a quick minute to update everybody on the great things God is doing at The Way Church and to thank you for being a part of this journey!
Our First Salvation: There are so many things I could start this newsletter off with but nothing excites me more than seeing people find Jesus Christ! On Sunday February 18th The Way saw our first person received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. This person is battling a serious health issue and by God’s grace was invited by one of our core members to this service. The sermon was on Jesus asking His Father to forgive those who persecuted Him. This dear lady heard the gospel and asked Jesus to forgive her of her sins and to be the Lord of her life! This is what you are supporting when you pray and give to the Way. We want to thank you for caring for us and for being with us as this church gets started and established! We are asking God for this to be the first of THOUSANDS that will come to Jesus through The Way Church. If that sounds like a crazy request remember how big our God is!
Membership Class: The Way will be holding our first membership class on Sunday March 24th. This will be a time for people who feel called to make The Way their home to hear what it means to be a member of this church. Right now I am anticipating about 15 people to be in this initial membership class. In this class we will review the expectations of membership that really boil down to giving back to God, through The Way Church of our Time, Treasure and Talents. We expect people to attend services when they are able. It is so important to attend regularly and to also be involved in a discipleship group as well. This would also include being engaged on social media to help spread the word about what God is doing at The Way Church. We expect members to give of their treasure. We leave the dollar amount up to them and the Lord, but it is important to contribute faithfully and with a cheerful heart to support the ministry of the Way Church. And we expect members to give of their talents. We want everyone to get involved with something. It could be MISSION Kids! , greeting, cleaning or other ministries that emerge as the church grows. We are so excited to see a strong core group developing at this early stage in our history and to confirm our calling to The Way Church in membership.
Moving Closer To Launch Sunday: 4/28/24 is approaching faster than I could even imagine. Every year seems to move just a little bit faster than the year before! We are making great progress as we look to officially launch in the Spring. We want to invite all of our supporters to visit with us on April 28th if you are in the area and are able to. I know that many of you have home churches and may have obligations to your home church and may not be able to attend. But if you are available, we would love to have you with us as we launch officially. Each person who is receiving this letter has helped in some way to make The Way Church possible. If you are available we would be honored to have you with us on Sunday April 28th.
First Outreach: The Lord has impressed upon me a vision to begin a monthly community pantry. I am still working out the details and am not 100% of how we will do this but I believe we will focus on baby items and things that people in our community need help with in this difficult times. My vision is to utilize the park right next door to our church (we literally share a parking lot!). If the weather is nice we will set up at the pavilion at the park and just invite the community to come out and take what they might need. This is a way for us to first and foremost show the free love of Christ to the community. It is also a way for us to start making connections with people that may not be connected to a church and ultimately Jesus. I believe we will have one Thursday evening a month dedicated to this pantry outreach and will also let people know that anything we have left over will be available on Sunday mornings as well, no strings attached. They are welcome to come before or after service and ultimately we hope this will be a road that leads them to begin attending service to hear about Christ. Please pray for us and if you would feel led to donate to The Salt & Light Pantry please send us an email at info@thewayonline.org
Our First Baptism Service: We currently have four people who have expressed the desire to be baptized in water as a symbol of their commitment and in obedience to Jesus Christ. We are waiting to hear back from the Y in Wadsworth to see if we would be able to use their indoor pool for an hour or so on an upcoming Sunday afternoon. This is such a great encouragement to see a handful of people growing in their faith like this! I will keep everyone posted with what we are doing in this regard as soon as I get a final answer. God is moving!
I just want to thank you all so much for taking the time to read this, for praying for us and for the financial support that you have given. By God’s grace The Way is growing stronger in every category one step at a time. This spark is growing into a flame and we are truly asking God for a wildfire of His Holy Spirit to emerge from The Way Church. If you are reading this newsletter, you are a part of this ministry. We cannot thank you enough!
Have a wonderful day and if The Way Church can care for you in any way please send us an email or reach out to Pastor Steve at 330-703-2158 any time.
God bless you!
In Christ,
Pastor Steve and The Way Church