10:10 a.m. on Sundays
Located in the Union Project
801 N. Negley Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
We are seeking to be a people who do not go to church but are being the church everyday. As a community we are seeking to engage the Creator God and our culture in ways that are meaningful and reverent.
We are a part of a rich historic Judeo-Christian heritage and seek to honor and incorporate the ancient practices of those who have come before us. We desire to honor God’s purposes, plans, and perspectives first and foremost. We long for people to contribute, partake, and share who they are in worship.
We are striving to be receptive to the needs of all people because we believe that the spiritual life hinges on an earnest search for God. We place high value on creativity because we believe that God is creative and that being made in God’s image and likeness means we are creative beings as well.
Our Worship Gatherings are…
…Experiential: During our gathering we seek to create a space where distractions and facades may be removed and the community may discover and experience God’s presence in worship. Depending on the week this may occur in any of a variety of expressions, such as in song, painting, writing, prayer, movement, or silence, feel free to participate! There are often some art, prayer and play spaces for children and adults throughout our worship space. Feel free to move around and enjoy!
…Intergenerational: It is our desire is to create a place where people of all ages are invited to share in the full life of the Open Door. This includes infants, toddlers, and adolescents. Children are a blessing to our community and we desire them to be full participants in our worship of God. We believe that old and young have a great deal to teach and offer one another. If at any time during worship you need to change a diaper, feed or play with them you may do so in the Atrium or the Café, but we welcome their voices even if it is crying. During some part of the worship gathering the kids ages 3-11 will participate in an age appropriate time of learning. As they leave we will pray for them and bless them in their time of learning.
Monthly Worship Rhythms…
**We will be taking a 3 month sabbatical from doing dinner together on Second Sundays while our worship design team takes a fresh look at the goal of worship, our worship practices, monthly rhythms, worship time, and seeks to make some prayerfully discerning adjustments for 2012. Please pray for us in this time of discernment. Additionally, we will be engaging in some community conversations during the message through the fall before Advent.**
We believe that worship is to be Spirit-led, reverent, rooted in the history of the church, authentic, participatory, experiential and ultimately lead to transformation. Since worship is so multifaceted and holistic, we have different worship rhythms for each week of the month.
On the 1st Sunday of the month, we follow a more traditional and liturgical feel with historic prayers, creeds and readings, reminding us of the rich, ancient and historic faith we are a part of.
On the 2nd Sunday of each month we eat dinner together because we believe a meal together provides an opportunity to grow in friendship, to build trust, and ultimately for Christ to work through us in those relationships. This is our communion meal on that week, so bring a dish to share!
On the 3rd Sunday of the month we embody our value of innovation and pray together through a variety of stations that are created by people in the church. These prayer stations create space for us to listen and pray through art, readings, our bodies, the Great traditions, silence, music, touch, scripture, video and even taste. If you want to create a prayer station the sky is the limit!
On the 4th Sunday of the month we create some space for encouragement by hearing from one another about the work of God in our midst through our stories, struggles, testimonies, reading scripture and sharing prayer concerns. Once again bring a reading, your stories and concerns to share so we may practice encouraging one another.
