Parkway United Methodist Church at 5801 New Territory Blvd. in Sugar Land, Texas, is known for two Sunday worship gatherings built around modern music, biblical teaching, and open community. Its ministries extend from nursery care and a licensed preschool to adult small groups, neighborhood service projects, and Scouting units, all guided by the mission to “Demonstrate God’s Grace to inspire a hope-filled journey with Jesus.”
Two Sunday Gatherings Centered on Grace
Worship is held at 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. in the Worship Center at 5801 New Territory Blvd. Coffee and donuts are available for anyone who arrives early, and both services combine modern music, Biblical teaching, and an open community.
Holy Communion is served weekly at an open table. The welcome is explicit: there is no one a person can be that makes them any less welcome to receive Communion. Clothing is casual, so visitors can wear what is comfortable.
The purpose of gathering is to be sent out afterward to live in the way of following Jesus, with the worship service focused on practical living rather than headlines or election cycles. The congregation’s worship is also available through its YouTube channel.
A Grace-Filled Community That Holds Difference Together
Parkway is a community of all kinds of people following Jesus together. People bring different backgrounds, experiences, seasons of life, and stages in their faith journeys. They also think, speak, vote, and interpret the Bible differently. Scripture study is a place where all doubts are welcome, and faith is approached as something that grows through living rather than merely agreeing with ideas. Parkway holds these differences within a grace-filled, loving community because it continues to live and grow as followers of Jesus.
Children Begin in Worship, Then Move to Class
Children are part of the worshiping community. Young children are welcome in the nursery during the 9:00 a.m. service, where they receive a Bible story and time for play.
At 10:30, kindergartners through third graders and the 456 Preteens in fourth through sixth grades begin with their families in worship. After the opening prayer, they may leave for Sunday School and return in time for Communion. Students in seventh through twelfth grades likewise begin in worship and then join Student Ministry, except on the first Sunday of the month, when they remain for the entire service.
- Birth through Pre-K: Sunday School and chapel during the 10:30 a.m. service in the Worship Center.
- Kindergarten through third grade: Sunday School in Ministry Center rooms 126/128 after the opening of worship.
- 456 Preteens, fourth through sixth grade: Sunday School in Ministry Center room 143 after the opening prayer.
- Seventh through twelfth grade: Student Ministry in The Den after the opening prayer, with a return for Communion.
Children in Pre-K and younger celebrate the Bible during chapel, bring in the Light of Christ, offer their giving, hear a Bible story, and close with prayer. The teaching is designed to feed imagination, encourage creativity, and give children tools for incorporating faith into daily life. All paid staff and volunteers working in nursery, children’s, or student ministry are trained and background checked.
Wednesday Study for Children, Students and Adults
An adult Bible study group meets from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in Ministry Center rooms 126/128. Its focus is building community and reading through the Gospels together. Each meeting includes checking in about life, reading a section, and discussing what was read from the different perspectives around the table. It is not a group for experts, but for people who want to discuss the Gospels and build community.
Children from birth through third grade meet for Parkway Kids Bible Study from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in Ministry Center room 170. A parent must be serving or attending Bible study, and cheese pizza is provided. Fourth through twelfth graders have 4:12 and the Student Worship Center, where worship, small-group time, fellowship, games, and dinner are combined. Younger students share games and fellowship with older students but have separate lessons.
Student Night Out is a monthly gathering for students in fourth through twelfth grade to sit around a table, talk, and spend more time together. Volunteers who work with children and students complete Safe Sanctuary screening and training, reinforcing the church’s commitment to a safe place for them.
Grow Groups Across Life Stages
Grow Groups are Parkway’s small-group discipleship ministry. Groups of about eight to 12 people meet weekly or every other week across different life stages, with the aim of deepening friendships, knowledge of Scripture, and impact in the world. Many studies are designed for people who want conversation and community rather than expertise or extensive homework.
- The Grace Gang gathers after the second Sunday service in the Worship Center Cry Room for Scripture discussion through tradition, experience, and reason, fellowship, and care for one another.
- Step-by-Step includes singles, couples, empty nesters, and families with older children. It meets after the second service in Ministry Center Club 123, uses contemporary issues with a text and video, and designs each study to have no homework.
- Young Families gathers during the second service in the Ministry Center Chapel. The group includes families in their thirties whose children join Sunday School at the same time, with occasional evening social events.
- Women of the Word, open to women of all ages and life stages, meets most Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in Ministry Center rooms 126/128 to study the Bible and know and love Jesus more.
- Tuesday Tailgaters meets at 7:00 p.m. in the Ministry Center Connection Point. Couples and singles study the Word, support one another, serve together, and gather for a social night between study series.
- The Ryan Group meets for breakfast and a book-of-the-Bible study every Saturday at 7:30 a.m. at Avalon Diner in Stafford.
- The Hatfield Group meets online on Tuesdays from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Couples and singles study Christian books and Bible studies, often with a video, and celebrate completed studies with dinner.
The men’s ministry also gathers a few times each month for breakfast and Bible study. Whether the gathering is a Sunday Cry Room group, a Thursday class, a Saturday breakfast, or an online study, the recurring pattern is conversation, Scripture, and fellowship.
Mercy Beyond the Churchyard
- Meals for families between homes: Four times each year, Parkway volunteers rotate among an interfaith network of congregations and local civic clubs to provide dinner every night for a week to families who are between homes. The work is done with Fort Bend Family Promise, which helps families develop plans for safe, affordable housing, build confidence and skills for long-term independence, and connect with other local services. Family Promise also provides referrals and temporarily houses families in what it calls static housing.
- Second Mile Mission donations: Once each quarter, a truck stands in front of the Worship Center for donations to families in need. Accepted items include gently used furniture, clothing and household goods, along with canned meat, vegetables and fruit, peanut butter, beans, children’s snacks, cereal, and macaroni and cheese.
- Home Repair Crew: A group of volunteers goes into the community to provide maintenance and repairs for neighbors who need help with their homes.
- Creative Dreams Outreach Center: Parkway supports this Stafford-based ministry through events and donations to its Dream Closet, including clothing and hygiene necessities. Creative Dreams serves financially disadvantaged and foster youth ages 13 to 18 through arts exploration, physical activity, caring adults, and basic life-skills classes.
- Taking It to the Streets: This annual intentional mission project replaces regular Sunday worship with a day of being the church throughout the community.
Scouting and Shared Space
Parkway charters Family Cub Scout Pack 616, BSA Troop 38, BSA Troop 638, and Pack 1680. In partnership with the BSA, these units help prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices by putting the Scout Oath and Law into practice. The church also provides meeting space for area Girl Scout troops and other Scout groups when space is available, making its facilities part of a wider network of youth and family activities.
A Preschool with Chapel, Music, Movement and Spanish
Parkway Children’s Day School has served preschoolers since 2010 as a licensed day school for children ages two through five, including a Kinder Bridge class. It seeks to meet spiritual, social-emotional, and educational needs through daily routines that build independence, creativity, problem-solving, and confidence. Play supports fine- and gross-motor development, while structured interaction helps children form friendships and relationships with adults.
The program’s distinctive mix includes chapel, physical education, music, and Spanish. Chapel uses short, age-appropriate Bible stories, prayers, songs, and movement to help children express themselves to God and grow in love and care. Children also learn that Jesus is God’s son, their friend and Savior. Music instructor Jachin, who also serves as Parkway’s worship leader, teaches the three-year-old, Pre-K, and Bridge classes; two-year-olds take Music and Movement with the physical-education teacher.
Zoo Phonics begins in the two-year-old classroom. Children learn letter sounds and phonemic awareness through hearing, seeing, speaking, moving, and touching, with animals drawn in letter shapes and corresponding body signals. Spanish language and culture are introduced at age three through words, phrases, numbers, songs, seasons, letters, counting, body parts, foods, shapes, colors, days and months, and common phrases such as “please,” “thank you,” “hello,” and “goodbye.”
Before- and after-school options include Extended Day from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, plus Science Club, Kid Fit, and Dance and Art Club for the three-year-old through Bridge classes. Club classes meet once a week and are capped at 14 children. The school office is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with tours scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
During the school year, children can also take part in the wider church’s Sunday worship and Children’s Ministry, allowing families to participate together in a family atmosphere rooted in God’s grace.
Gardens, Giving and Common Ground
A quieter part of church life is Parkway Gardens. Pastor Justin leads a garden walk after the 10:30 a.m. service during June, giving the congregation another way to spend time together beyond the worship room.
Parkway also makes its spaces available for community use through a facility rental process. The General Budget supports day-to-day operations, while the Benevolence Fund helps meet needs that would otherwise go unmet. In-person Sunday gifts can be placed in baskets near the Worship Center entrance; online giving is available at parkwayumc.org/give, through the Parkway phone app, and through stock or mutual-fund gifts, which are sold for their monetary value.
The church’s teaching and welcome are joined by a willingness to serve in practical ways: through meals, repair work, donation drives, Scouting, early education, community groups, and shared facilities. For Parkway, demonstrating grace is not confined to Sunday worship. It is a daily pattern of following Jesus, caring for neighbors, and giving people room to belong.