We are a village of friends joining Jesus Christ in mission in East Hollywood, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. It gets messy at times, but we love it!  For us, being Jesus’ church is about a way of life, not showing up to religious meetings and events.  Commitment to Jesus also is something we live out together in community.  It takes a village to raise a disciple, a child, a marriage, etc. Hence the name of our group: Way of Life Village.

Our adventure began when a wonderful little outward-minded church in Hollywood, CA sent some of its members to “go love those who will never come to us.”  We were the ones they sent out that day.  Later God added others to our group, and now they also are living out this way of life with us. Everyday we bless and are blessed by lost, broken and hurting people in this city by simply living among them and being where they are.  We listen to them, eat with them, serve them, and learn from them.  We go in weakness, relying on the hospitality of the people we serve, and on Christ himself to be our strength.  It’s hard but simple to live like this.  God sent us to be his voice and presence among people who desperately need to hear about God’s loving rule through Christ and see what that looks like demonstrated in their neighborhood, not in our church buildings.  Simply put, they wouldn’t come to us so we went to them. 

We used to think that if we could just get our neighbors, coworkers and friends to “go to church” with us, then we could introduce them to Jesus.  Now we’re realizing the opposite is true for a growing number of people in LA: when we introduce them to Jesus who is already in their midst, then they get to become his church wherever they are.  We’ve had to re-learn what ”church” is along the way, and we’re re-discovering this Jesus.  He really is freaky at times when you come to think about his great power and love, but he’s so amazing, and so worthy of our full devotion.  Others need to know him, too.

God sent us to live among the people of E-Ho (East Hollywood), one of the most densely populated and diverse neighborhoods of L.A. in terms of its cultures, languages, ethnicities, and countries of origin. Walk in any direction and you hear up to seven languages. Walk in any other direction and you hear a different seven. We regularly cross multiple cultures in a single day.  The people of E-Ho also are really diverse in their religious backgrounds and yet so many have these things in common: a) they are spiritually curious but want nothing to do with Christianity or organized religion, and b) they deeply care about making a difference in this world but think churches won’t.  Here we have opportunity to re-present Jesus to people despite the church’s bad reputation, and invite them to join Jesus in a cause greater than ourselves.  We often catch ourselves thinking and behaving like missionaries, even though we’re ordinary Jesus-people with regular jobs.  We often don’t know what the heck we’re doing, but God’s Spirit seems to be revealing just enough for every step we take. 

We are using this blog to share both the ups and downs of this adventure, and the stuff we’re learning along the way. As you read along, our desire is that you will be moved to pray with us for the people of E-Ho, and live more intentionally together for Christ in your own community as a way of life.