WHO WE ARE
We Are the Broken Seeking a Life Changing God Together.
We are men and women who have been broken by life, by our sins, by what others have done to us, and what we have done to ourselves and others. We are educators, addicts, pastors, mechanics, accountants, the unemployed and the disabled. We were lost and wandering but are finding new life and new purpose in relationship with God, each other, and the community around us. We are on a grace-filled journey of reintegration into the life of God and His purpose for our lives together.
OUR VALUES
God
He is the attraction of our hearts, the center of our attention, and the object of our worship.
We have fallen in love with the God that is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We worship him in simplicity – sometimes with music, sometimes in silence, sometimes through prayer, sometimes through confession, but always with a growing sense of how amazing he is. We are joyfully learning how to arrange our lives around His desires and plans for us.
Matthew 22:37-38
The Body of Believers
We love, support, and care for one another on our common journey to become like Jesus and serve Him in our world.
At The Simple Way the church is a gathering of people who are learning to live life with God at the center of everything. We are not perfect, but we are learning how to be authentic and vulnerable about our struggles and to look to each other for encouragement and grace as we are drawn into an ever-deepening experience of life together with God.
The Lost and Wandering
We never lock eyes with someone who doesn't matter to God.
Lost people matter to God, therefore they matter to us. We actively seek to share the Good News about Jesus among our family and friends, in our apartment buildings, neighborhoods and work environments. We do this lovingly, thoughtfully, and with urgency because we believe that Jesus alone can bring the deep joy and life satisfaction that we all seek.
OUR MISSION
We build communities of people who are growing and active in their love for God, each other, and the lost and wandering around them as we prepare for the 2nd coming of Jesus.
OUR PRACTICES
Simplicity
Our passion is the pursuit of the transforming presence of Jesus. We practice reading, understanding and applying the Gospel to our lives. We share and bear each other’s burdens. We encourage each other to follow Him in the way of sacrificial love for each other and the lost and wandering. We pray, we fellowship, we eat, and we depart, sent together to love the world around us as we were loved and nurtured in our gathering.
Small Contexts
The Simple Way Network churches meet in homes and small spaces. The New Testament church was born in a room and exploded through the Roman empire meeting primarily in the homes of believers. The church took on the form of a family. Deep intimacy, accountability, and mutual dependency developed as believers learned how to live out the Way of Christ in their families and communities. We seek to recapture these dynamics by practicing our faith so that every attendee enjoys a supportive yet challenging environment within which to grow in Christian character and service.
Sabbath
We embrace the rhythm of rest established at Creation and modeled in the life of Christ and his followers throughout history. The Sabbath is an invitation to stop trying to save ourselves through work, achievement, and posturing, and to rest in the goodness of God and his provisions for our lives. This is the essence of the gospel, and for members of the Simple Way, Sabbath practice is a tangible demonstration of our faith that God alone is our salvation.
Multiplication
The purpose of the church is to be fruitful and multiply; outreach is its heart. Jesus began his ministry with a simple invitation, “Follow me” and then taught his followers how to serve, how to heal, how to teach and sent them to do the same with others. We follow the example of Jesus by utilizing tools, activities, and methods which any apprentice of Jesus may use to disciple new believers and start new churches.
Prayerful Dependence
Jesus declared “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:4). Prayer is our confession that apart from Christ our efforts will prove fruitless to advance his kingdom. Indeed, prayer is our confession that this is God’s work and not ours. We are only stewards and channels of his grace into a broken world. Therefore, we seek the wisdom, direction, and empowerment of the Holy Spirit in every decision, action, and outreach.
Scripture
At the foundation of all we do is devotion to the reading and application of Scripture to our lives. The Bible is the voice of God to our hearts. It is the entry point for understanding his will and desires for our lives. We believe that its message is sacred, and we encourage members and attendees of the Simple Way to embrace the practice of listening to Scripture as the foundational first step to a relationship with God.
OUR BELIEFS
The Simple Way Network embraces the 28 Fundamental Beliefs as expressed through the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
OUR AFFILIATION
The Simple Way Network is one of more than 150,000 churches comprising nearly 20,000,000 members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.