What To Expect When Visiting

Entering into a new place for the first time can be quite an intimidating experience. Entering somewhere that claims to be a “church” makes things a little stranger. We hope to give you a small picture of what to expect if you were to join us for one of our gatherings. We know that this won’t make things completely easy because there is still the element of the unknown.

Here are a few things that we hope will ease things a little bit…

We’re in a warehouse

As you drive up to our building, you will probably notice that we don’t meet in a typical church building. We meet in an out-of-the-way warehouse that probably needs to be marked a little better (someone recently stole one of our signs!). Our space is actually a decent representation of our community. Its not all that attractive on the outside, but we’re pretty sure when you get inside you will find a very inspiring space. As people we are not much different. We might not be that pretty on the outside, but we think that God has given our community a beautiful heart for Him and others.

A Focus on Mission to Others

We make a conscious effort for our worship gatherings to be sure to have an emphasis on how we are called to be a church that cares for others before ourselves. Different aspects of our gatherings are intentionally focused on this important part of being a church. If we are truly to be “a church for the sake of the world” it must be seen not only in the way serve throughout the week, but also in the way we worship on Sunday mornings.

A Great Worship Band

We think we’re pretty lucky to have a group of musicians who are very gifted and also enjoy leading our community in an inspirational worship time.

A Connection to Christianity Over the Centuries

In most of our services, our liturgy (order of service) will include a reading, prayer or something from the Christian tradition that is from the past. Our desire with this is to celebrate the different ways followers of Christ who have gone before us have worshipped.

The Bible

For us, the Bible is the primary authority that shapes us for how we live as a community in the world. We believe that the story the Bible tells, while sometimes hard to fully grasp, gives us a glimpse into the love and compassion of God. Our reading of the text and preaching from the narrative each Sunday is a reflection of this value.

Hospitality

We pray that when you enter our space you’ll be impressed with the warmth of the people you meet here.

Authenticity

Our community is the “what you see is what you get” kind of atmosphere. We make an effort to be a rather transparent community that wears their heart on their sleeve.

Casual and comfortable

It’s likely that it is not necessary to say this since we meet in a warehouse but we will anyways, “there is no dress code.” If you want to wear a three-piece suit, a dress or jeans, shorts and t-shirt it doesn’t really matter. You are free to dress as you are comfortable. We know that some traditions feel that you should “wear your best” for a church service. While we see the value in this, we think God is a lot less concerned about our dress than he is the state of our hearts.

Community

People often say that the centerpiece to our Sunday morning is community. Whether it’s the 5-10 minute conversation/greeting time in the middle of the service, worshipping together or even a Q & A time during the message we understand and want to practice the fact that we are in this “faith thing” together.

Space

While community is important, we want to give space to people to engage our community on their own terms. We pray that you will find our community a place where you can safely explore faith without being beaten over the head. It does not mean we don’t call each other on the carpet when needed. It just means that we work hard to respect people’s place in life and try to give room for authentic and healthy living.

Art

More than likely you’ll notice a lot of really diverse and exceptional art on the walls when you come in. We use our space as an art gallery and concert venue for the local and greater Philadelphia artists and bands. This is a way for us to be a blessing to the world around us and allows us to simply try and be representatives of Jesus Christ in our world. While people who do not call The Well their church home do much of the art, we do have a number of gifted artists in our community. Often, you will see some of our artists painting during the service.