Way Collective began out of seeing a need for deep change at the heart of how spiritual communities gather.

Recognizing that so much of religion -- especially American Christianity -- was contributing more to the exclusiveness and oppression in our world rather than the inclusiveness and solidarity we desperately need right now, we decided to get constructive with dreaming up a new model for religious community.

What quickly emerged was the vision for a living and sustainable community model that rallied around shared practices and values, rather than beliefs. Essentially, we began building a new model, asking what it would look like if not only the space we held together when gathering and the practices we engaged in were intentionally uprooting from Christianity's colonial past, but also how would look if the systems and structures that buoyed its life were as well.

So, we started gathering weekly for Dinner & Dialogue at a local brewery, and the rest is history. Eventually, we took out the pews in a historic sanctuary, set up dinner tables in the configuration of a circle, voted in a new sociocratic (consent-based) community decision-making model, and are not only dreaming, but living into what spiritual communities could look like into the future together.

Our community has decided to both root ourselves in a loving and liberating form of contemplative Christian practice, and embrace a deep pluralism that welcomes many perspectives both religious and non-religious. No matter who you are, no matter what you believe or don't, you are welcome here.

Birthed out of a community called First Christian Church Santa Barbara that has deep roots in loving and caring for Santa Barbara for over 130 years, Way Collective is a new movement within the larger movement of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) that is embodying a way of living in the world that works for wholeness: the way of connection, curiosity, collaboration, creativity, consciousness, and compassionate action.

We find that any religion that shifts to the mode of self-preservation is moving in the wrong direction, and our time is in need of a little creativity like this.

In today’s divisive religious and political climate, Way Collective holds to the idea that we are actually able to bring more beauty in our world when we choose each other. We seek to live fully engaged and transforming society in Santa Barbara for the common good. 

By inhabiting the ancient wisdom tradition of Christian spirituality, as well as drawing from the other great ways and disciplines, we are a community that is welcoming to people of all beliefs, backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, perspectives, and convictions. Together, we hope to embody a new possibility for spiritual community today, one of unity and hope amidst division and despair. Come hang with us!