CHURCH ON THE AVE
WORSHIP
We worship on Sundays at 10am at Chapel on The Ave . If you join us for worship, here are some things we hope you’ll experience:
A hospitable community that takes an interest in you and your story. Worship and preaching that engage your mind and heart. Music that draws the best from a variety of traditions. And the chaos that comes from trying to involve our kids in our worship and fellowship.
We hope that you’ll join us for worship. And that you’ll stick around for lunch and make a few friends. But mostly, we hope that you’ll experience the goodness of God, the love of Jesus and the peace of the Spirit in the shared life of our community.
If you’re driving to church, street parking is free in the U-District. Visitors, those with young children, and the elderly are also welcome to use our parking garage. We're also only a block and a half away from the new U-District Link light rail station!
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Church on The Ave is a confessional church in the Reformed tradition, though our community gathers people from a wide variety of faith backgrounds. Along with Christ’s Church worldwide, we affirm the Christian faith as it is summed up in the historic creeds. In addition, we affirm the following fundamental truths:
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God’s creation is fundamentally good and points toward the goodness of its Creator.
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All people are created in God’s divine imagine and have inherent dignity and worth.
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All people sin, alienating themselves from God, one another and the rest of Creation.
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God’s solution to the problem of sin was to come in the person of Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection make reconciliation possible.
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All who confess faith in Jesus are adopted as children of God, forgiven of their sins, blessed with the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, and joined to a worldwide body of believers, Christ’s Church.
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As Christians, we are called to announce and embody his peaceable Kingdom. This means sharing the good news about Jesus widely in both word and deed.
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One day, Jesus will bring his Kingdom in all its fullness and put an end to death, pain, injustice and suffering.
OUR COMMUNITY
At Church on The Ave we aspire to be a multi-generational, multi-ethnic community of Christians who, in our worship and our shared life, embody and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus in and beyond the University District. We worship in the heart of the U District at Chapel on The Ave. To learn more about who we aspire to be, have a look at our Values.
We currently have several small groups and book groups meeting regularly. If you're interested please contact one of our pastors.
KIDS AT CHURCH ON THE AVE
Jesus once said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” At Church on The Ave, we take this seriously. We love our kids and we want them to love Jesus.
Children are encouraged to join the adults in worship for as much of the service as their parents deem appropriate. We seriously don’t mind the interruptions that are bound to come with this. That said, there is a nursery available for the littlest ones. Children ages 3-8 are also sent off with a blessing before the sermon for their own time of age-appropriate worship and learning.
STAFF
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Calvin Chen
Calvin hails from both Chicago, IL and Taipei, Taiwan. Before seminary in Vancouver, BC, he briefly attempted to become an opera singer then worked in campus ministry with undergrads in Madison, WI. He enjoys volleyball, cooking, and being snobby about coffee and tea.
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Sharon Kim
Miss Sharon is our rockstar children's ministry coordinator. She holds a master's degree in secondary education from UW and also teaches middle school math for Seattle Public Schools. When not basking in her celebrity among the children of CoTA, she enjoys salsa dancing and boba shops.
Ashley Van Dragt
After completing seminary and a brief pastoring stint in Ann Arbor, MI, Ashley and her husband, Geoff (below), moved to Seattle to plant a campus ministry. Along with pastoring the campus ministry, Ashley and Geoff are raising their two sons, some ducks and chickens and now a new church community.
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Geoff Van Dragt
After several years living and working in Latin America, Geoff attended seminary, leaving with a Master of Divinity degree and a wife (Ashley). He’s been in Seattle since 2011, doing campus ministry and learning the culture of the PNW. Geoff has no hobbies because he has two young sons.
Bryan Chisholm
Bryan coordinates musical worship and musicians at CoTA. He's an accomplished jazz and classical pianist with a degree in Music Business who writes many original arrangements of hymns and contemporary praise songs for our community. He's also an expert shuffleboard player and trivia enthusiast.
CONTACT US
You can find us at Chapel on The Ave:
4130 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105
We receive mail at the following address:
Church on The Ave
PO Box 85012
Seattle, WA 98145
Our pastors can be reached at the following email addresses:
Pastor Ashley: ashley@churchontheave.org
Pastor Geoff: geoff@churchontheave.org
Pastor Calvin: calvin@churchontheave.org
Donate
Church on The Ave is a new church plant and relies, in part, on the generosity of a wide network of supporters. If you would like to support the ministry of this community, you can do that here:
Alternatively, you can send a check (made out to “Graduate Christian Fellowship” with “Church on The Ave” in the memo line) to the following address:
Church on The Ave
PO Box 85012
Seattle, WA 98145
Thank you so much for supporting this growing community!