Our Mission

Through the Spirit at work among us, we are a diverse community that is inspired by hope, restored through recovery, and empowered by our gifts shared in life together. Ultimately, we exist to participate in Christ’s servant ministry seen in our caring for the social, economic, spiritual, and mental wellbeing of the Steel Valley and beyond. 

We are partakers of what God is doing in our community, our region, and in the world.

Eighth Avenue Place seeks to join the Holy Spirit in bringing together God’s people regardless of racial, economic, and denominational lines.

In a spirit of Christian unity, we seek to be a witness to the entire Steel Valley and beyond to the love and power of Jesus Christ. That witness could include; having a cup of coffee with a stranger until they become a friend, helping a child develop a love for reading, serving and eating a meal with our friends from Homestead, and worshipping the Lord with others from across Western Pennsylvania.

Although we identify ourselves as a “missional congregation“ in the United Methodist tradition, Eighth Avenue Place seeks to expand common definitions of what the Church is thought to be in North America.

• Wherever the Spirit gathers God’s people together, even over coffee – there is the Church witnessing to God’s kingdom!

• Where the Word of God is preached and the Sacraments are celebrated, especially with people of various cultures – there is the Church witnessing to God’s kingdom!

• Whenever the hungry are fed, the sick and addicted are healed, and hope is restored – there is the Church witnessing to God’s kingdom!

• When the minds of children are formed, teenagers get their hands “dirty” planting flowers, and systems of injustice are challenged – there is the Church witnessing to God’s kingdom!