Community Life in The Way church in Manchester & Salford

Jesus was clear about what his followers would be like.

They would love God; they would love their neighbours (believers and unbelievers); they would go and make disciples.

Within The Way, we aim to live this out personally and corporately.

Our communities meet to love God and one another, eating together, discovering Jesus together, and praying and caring for one another.

They engage with those around them to introduce them to Jesus and also serve local people together, particularly the poor, marginalised, and vulnerable.

The following snapshots are based on the sort of community life you might experience in The Way.

Community

Seven people sit around a table one evening at the home of one of the group, eating a meal and sharing about their lives that week. They finish the meal with bread and wine, and then begin to worship together and pray for one another’s lives, and for those whose lives they impact as they follow Jesus every day.

Two of them then lead the group in looking at the Bible and initiate an in-depth discussion amongst the group as a whole. This leads into how they can practically live out what they are learning and support each other to do that. The evening ends with a chat about an activity to serve the local community they are involved in that week.

Serving

Over the course of a Saturday morning, families from across the local area arrive at the community centre. It is a welcoming space where food and drink are available and people can catchup alongside their children playing. During the morning, a job club meets upstairs, whilst another group go out to pick up litter in the nearby streets.

Some of the volunteers are from The Way and they stay on afterwards to meet and eat together as this the only time of the week that the majority of the group can easily be together due to work and family commitments. Over time they are often joined by others from the local area.

Prayer

It’s 7am on a Tuesday morning and people are drifting in, and toast and coffee are on the go, although some of them bring their breakfast with them. The talk is mostly about the Easter event that they are planning to run with help from other people based at the nearby local authority community hub.

This morning, as every Tuesday, the group are meeting to pray not just for the forthcoming event but for all those whose lives they are involved in, and for all the regular activities in which they are involved in helping local people in need, especially the one supporting those with mental health challenges.

Engaging

Two members of the community have been getting to know a lady they have met and talked to a number of times in a local coffee shop, and eventually, praying for her. This has resulted in her wanting to meet up with them on a regular basis to find how and why their lives have changed and whether this is relevant to the challenges of life she faces.

This relationship has progressed to the point where the lady has invited a number of friends to join her in discovering Jesus together, and a regular group has formed. Today, she is leading the discussion, and the two community members join in with the group.

Together

Although each of our communities has its own unique character and vision, we are joined together as one church with a common culture, and a shared desire to love Jesus and make him known.

We regularly join together to catch up, to hear all the stories of what God has been doing amongst us, to celebrate Him, and pray together.

We are not united around doctrinal agreement on everything (outside of our fundamental beliefs), or every facet of church practice, but around “one pursuit, one obsession, one goal, and one grand purpose: to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ” [Frank Viola].