Pathway Church

Today we worshiped at Pathway Church, Moon Campus, Gilmary Center, 601 Flaugherty Run Road, Coraopolis, PA 15108, 724.843.6381, www.lifeatpathway.com, Chad Agnew, Campus Pastor.

Scripture – Acts 15:13-35

"When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

“ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ — things known from long ago.

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

Greetings.

We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.

After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.

But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord."

Bob’s thoughts:

At Easter we received a postcard inviting us to worship at this church (see, someone does respond to the mailings).

The complex is spread out a bit and we were a little later arriving than we had hoped. We wandered around the buildings to where I had noticed some people standing; it turned out they were blocking the sign directing toward worship. We were greeted by a few people during the service; I thought with a smaller congregation we would stand out more.

A lot of the modern churches don’t display a cross, but this service was in the gym of a Catholic retreat center and there were a number of cross banners on the wall. I appreciated them, whichever entity was responsible. During Communion there was a cross displayed on the screens.

I did not need my faithful earplugs and thought the praise worship was enjoyable. Also I could hear the words over the music. I particularly enjoyed the keyboardist as she smiled through most of the praise songs.

The sermon was well developed with good Scriptural references. The main points from Acts 15:15-35: the church was from Jewish law and tradition and met to see how to incorporate the Gentiles into the faith. There were some who wanted to burden the Gentiles with the very load from which Christ freed them. In their meeting they came to agreement on a few specifics that were acceptable to all without compromising their core beliefs. Perhaps the mainline churches should look closely at this idea. Standing for nothing does not grow churches.

Jan’s thoughts:

This campus of Pathway Church meets at a Catholic retreat center, so I imagine the weekly set-up and tear-down takes considerable dedication and work. It also meant a tour and seeking signage was meaningless, which worked out well since we arrived just about start time.

Still, there were worshipers outside who welcomed us as we entered, and additional greetings once we were inside where the pastor and several other gentlemen were setting up additional chairs.

Although not an order of worship, the bulletin is colorful and full of just about any sort of information one might want about this church. They are surely a busy group with all sorts of inviting events.

The music was excellent. In spite of sitting as far back as possible since we fully anticipated needing earplugs, but neither of us did. To me this is proof that the power of the music is not in the volume but in the words (which were large and white and readable even on gorgeous and colorful backgrounds) and the emotion with which the song is presented.

The message about “Essentials” was part of a series called “Real Church: Going Viral – A Teaching Series in the Book of Acts.” After opening with the replay of the viral video “Charlie Bit My Finger,” the points of the message were made: Christ’s sacrifice of His rights for our good is our standard and when we voluntarily limit our personal freedom, our sacrifice demonstrates maturity. We must lift our eyes beyond ourselves because letting go of self-interest is true freedom.

I was glad to participate in Communion, but the format was new to me. The words of institution and prayer were the same, but when the people went forward to partake, the elements were sitting on a table and everyone simply took a piece of bread and a cup, went back to their seat, and, as instructed, partook of the bread individually and the cup communally. I’m not sure yet what I think about that.

I appreciated meeting the pastor’s wife afterward, who is also a blogger, and am anxious to visit her blog.

Our prayer for this church:

Lord, we pray we all learn to embrace truth, consider others, and choose unity in Christ. Amen.