Oct18
First baptisms
2:30 PM · 40th Street boat launch, Allegheny River
Three people, one cold river and a lot of towels. Then back to the lodge for the 4:30 and cake.
A letter from the pastor
October 2026 · Lawrenceville
Dear Lawrenceville,
Five Sundays ago about forty of us carried eighty folding chairs into the old lodge hall at 4110 Ashworth Street, set them in a half-circle and had church. Last Sunday there were sixty-three people in those chairs, nineteen of them under twelve, and Walt ran out of soup bowls.
We are a new church, which means we have no building, no choir and no history to point to. We have a reading from the Bible, songs played on a borrowed piano, a sermon of about twenty-five minutes, bread and wine every week, and soup in the back room afterwards.
We started this church because Leah and I love this neighborhood, and because most of our neighbors have never once been invited to church by someone who lives on their street. So this is that invitation. Come once, at 4:30 on a Sunday. If it is not for you, I will still be glad to have met you, and I will still wave from the porch.
So far
Five Sundays in
Counted honestly. Walt stands at the door with a clicker he bought at a hardware store on Butler Street.
September 13 to October 11, 2026
631
people on an average Sunday
- 1Including the babies, who Walt counts twice for luck.
- 2Bought used from a Bloomfield parish that closed in 2025.
We'll post these every few months, the slow months too.
Where we meet
An old lodge hall with the bar roped off
Lodge 41 was built in 1923 by Croatian steelworkers as a social club. It still hosts polka night on the first Saturday of the month and a pierogi sale every December. On Sunday afternoons we rent it for four hours and carry everything in from Isaac's van.
We meet at 4:30 because the hall is free then, and because it means you can sleep in, have a slow Sunday and still have supper with us afterwards.
- Step-free entrance on the side alley
- Street parking on Ashworth and 41st
- Buses 91 and 93 stop at Butler and 41st
- Kids' room upstairs, with a stair gate
Each week
The whole church calendar fits on one card
Sunday gatheringSundays 4:30 PMEveryone
Songs, a reading, a sermon of about twenty-five minutes, and communion every week. Done by 5:45.
Get connectedSoup supperSundays 5:45 PMEveryone, free
Two pots of soup and bread from the bakery on Butler. Bring nothing. If you insist, bring napkins.
Get connectedTuesday tablesTuesdays 6:30 PMGroups of 8 to 12
Dinner in four homes across Lawrenceville, Bloomfield and Polish Hill, then an hour with that Sunday's reading.
Get connectedThursday prayerThursdays 7:00 AMAnyone up early
Thirty minutes at the corner table of the coffee shop on Butler Street. Isaac buys the first round.
Get connected
Why this neighborhood
Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Coming up
The next few weeks
Add to calendar
Oct24
Ashworth Street porch sweep
10:00 AM · Meet at 41st and Ashworth
Leaves, gutters and a few porches for neighbors who can't manage them.
Nov3
Launch team night
7:00 PM · Isaac and Leah's, 44th Street
Chili, the budget, and what we've learned in two months.
Nov26
Thanksgiving at the lodge
2:00 PM · Lodge 41
We do the turkey. You bring a side, or nothing. Nobody eats alone.
Nothing in that category this month.
Come Sunday at 4:30
4110 Ashworth Street. Look for the chalkboard sign. Soup afterwards.