Pathway Community Church gathers on Carroll Road on the northwest side of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where roughly 3,000 adults, students, and children arrive each weekend for worship. The church is known for two things at once: the scale of its weekend gatherings and the deliberate way it makes smaller rooms available for people who want them, from an upstairs environment called The Venue to Life Groups that meet in homes across the city. Its mission statement, taken from John 10:10, reads Leading people into a full life found in Jesus Christ, and Pathway belongs to the Missionary Church USA denomination, which is headquartered in Fort Wayne.
Two Rooms, One Weekend: The Worship Center and The Venue
Pathway worships on Saturdays at 5pm and Sundays at 9am and 11am. The Worship Center on the main level holds the larger congregation, while The Venue, an upstairs environment reached by the stairs from the lobby, pairs live worship led by a band with teaching streamed from the Worship Center. People who want the full Pathway weekend teaching in a more intimate setting are welcome there any Sunday morning, and Saturday evening on the main level is the other quieter option in the weekend rhythm.
Services run about 70 minutes, though they can stretch between 60 and 75 minutes. The teaching is described as Bible-based, Christ-centric, and applicable to daily life, and the worship music is deliberately diverse, mixing modern songs with traditional hymns. Communion is celebrated once every two months, usually on the first full weekend of the month, as a shared meal of thanks among people who are doing life together rather than a small token passed at the front of the room.
Finding the building is straightforward. The church sits just east of Lima Road and is easy to see from Carroll Road. Both parking lot entrances come off Carroll Road: the one near the Shearwater addition gives the shortest walk to the south side doors closest to Carroll Road, and the second entrance, east of Shearwater near the athletic fields, playground, and maintenance barn, serves the north doors and the cafe lobby. Guest parking is available on either side of the building.
Pathway makes room for people who need language support. Translation and transcription run during live services through Polyglossia in English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Chinese, Burmese/Myanmar, Hindi, and Dari. A sign language interpreter serves most 11am services in the Worship Center, with a section reserved at the front right of the room. The Ukrainian community worships together at the 11am Sunday service, and more than half of its regular attendees also speak English.
Every gathering is streamed at PCCFW.tv at the same hours. During the week, services and messages are posted on the Pathway YouTube channel, and the sermon library is organized by series, topic, speaker, and scripture, with written GodTime devotional notes that families and groups use alongside the message. The PCC at Home app keeps the same content in one place.
Before the Sunday morning services, Pathway gathers for prayer. Most Sundays the group meets from 7:45 to 8:30am in The Gathering, at the back of the cafe lobby on the main level, opening with a short devotional and moving into open prayer for the church, the weekend services, and the ministries. On the last Sunday of the month that gathering shifts to 10:15am in the Connection Room, near the back of the cafe lobby on the right. After services, Prayer Team members stand near the stage and are glad to pray with anyone who wants to talk or be prayed for. The church also takes part in a 21-day prayer and fasting journey with the theme of less noise and more Jesus.
KidCity: Three Towns for Babies Through Fourth Grade
Children's ministry at Pathway is called KidCity, and it is organized like a small town with three neighborhoods that meet during the Saturday 5pm and Sunday 9am and 11am services.
- TinyTown, infants to 2 years. At TotTime, toddlers hear a Bible story reinforced with simple songs and the truth that God loves them, then enjoy playtime and supervised activities. Two-year-olds gather for 2's Clues storytime along with structured activity centers and worship songs. The truths TinyTown children are meant to carry home are that God made them, God loves them, and God is great.
- MidTown, 3, 4, and 5 year olds. Preschoolers visit KC's Place, a special large group experience where Bible stories come alive through drama, creative teaching, and music. Afterward, small group leaders take the children through an interactive lesson that includes prayer, sharing, structured activity, and creative games. MidTown songs include Touch the Sky and Reach Up High, and the goals are simple: God made me, God loves me, God wants me to obey, and Jesus wants to be my friend.
- UpTown, kindergarten through 4th grade. UpTown brings the Bible to life through energetic worship and drama in The Clubhouse for kindergarten and first grade, and Studio 24 for second through fourth grade. After large group time, small group leaders shepherd children through discussions that reinforce the weekly Big Idea. Weekly key concepts, a monthly memory verse, and a monthly core virtue help the lessons stick.
First-time families are asked to stop at KidCity Guest Services, on the main level just outside the entrance to KidCity, where a staff member or volunteer hands out a welcome booklet, gives a quick tour of the child's area, and completes registration in about five minutes. Visitors receive nametags and pickup receipts, and no one enters a KidCity room during a service without a staff or volunteer badge, parent ID, or pickup receipt. Two screened and trained volunteers must be present in any room before it opens to children, and every volunteer completes reference checks, a limited criminal history background check, and area-specific training. Families are asked not to bring a child who has had a fever, vomiting, a non-clear runny nose, diarrhea, rash, eye infection, persistent cough, or any other contagious illness within the previous 24 hours. One-on-one volunteers also walk alongside children with special needs, and KidCity volunteers serve in areas such as storytelling, safety, tech, setup, and first impressions.
Project 5, Impulse, and Impact: A Track for Every School Age
Fifth graders have their own environment called Project 5, located in the Student Ministries wing past The Venue, reached from the main lobby by going upstairs and turning left. The games, worship, and teaching are built for them, and like every environment for kids and students, each child joins a small group. The room functions as a bridge to middle school.
On Wednesday evenings, Impulse gathers 6th through 8th graders at 6:15pm. Students check in in the downstairs lobby, where signs direct them to the north side of the building, then head up to The Venue for singing and a Bible message before breaking into small groups. The evening wraps up around 7:45pm, and youth pastors help new students find a group that fits. Impact follows the same pattern for 9th through 12th graders at 7:30pm, with small groups finishing around 9:15pm. Small group leaders in both environments work with students of the same gender week by week, and the church places a premium on those close relationships between caring adults and students.
On Sunday mornings, Weekend Impulse meets at 9am and 11am in the Impulse Room in the student wing for a Digging Deeper format, where 6th through 8th graders explore God's Word, grow in Bible literacy, and learn to apply Scripture to everyday life. College students have a dedicated Pathway ministry as well, and the retreat culture of the student ministries includes weekends away at places such as Timber Wolf Lake and Gull Lake for worship, small groups, and time with friends.
Life Groups and the UP, IN, OUT Rhythms
Pathway describes itself as a large church, but it works hard to place people inside smaller circles. Life Groups exist for every stage of life, whether someone is single, married, new to faith, or has followed Jesus for years. Groups meet weekly or biweekly, in homes, at the church, or online. Three rhythms shape how they operate: UP for growing a relationship with God, IN for growing relationships with each other, and OUT for growing engagement in the mission of Jesus.
Groups that meet on the weekend gather in the lobby at a groups kiosk, and anyone attending online can reach the Life Groups team by email. Hosts open their homes for conversation and snacks around the weekend teaching, and trained Life Group leaders guide groups through discussion questions that follow the weekend message. Pathway also offers a spiritual gifts survey to help people see where their strengths fit in serving.
For people at earlier stages, the Next Steps environments form a clear path. Intro is for anyone new to Pathway. Life at Pathway is the class where membership begins. Baptism is described as an outward sign of an inward choice to follow Jesus. Rooted is a ten-week community experience that teaches seven rhythms for a healthy relationship with Jesus, and Alpha is described as a safe place for honest conversation about life's biggest questions and the Christian faith.
Women's Bible Studies and Men's ManDay Monday
Women's Bible studies meet at the church from September through May in four weekly slots: Monday and Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30pm, Wednesday afternoons from noon to 2:30pm, and Thursday mornings from 9 to 11am. Limited KidCare for infants through grade 5 is available with pre-registration on most of them. Groups study a purchased guide, and each one needs at least one trained leader.
Other gatherings include Mom2Mom, a monthly Tuesday morning gathering for mothers of young children that includes a cost for childcare, and Women's Coffee and Conversation, which meets Monday mornings from 9 to 11am in the Pathway cafe lobby with no sign up and no agenda beyond coffee and company. Women's One Night brings women together for live worship, teaching from Pastor Amanda Miller, and table conversation, and a first-time moms class serves women who are expecting or have an infant from birth to four months.
Men's ministry is built around ManDay Monday, where men gather in the worship center for teaching and then break into table group discussions. Table leaders guide the conversation, and the stated aim of the ministry is to call men to spiritual leadership in their homes, to service others, and to live an authentic, Christ-centered life.
Marriage, Parenting, and the Merge Class
Marriage at Pathway is taken seriously as a Christ-centered covenant, and couples work through it in stages. The premarital class is called Merge, an eight-week series with large group teaching, small group time, and the leadership of seasoned coach couples that addresses common challenges in marriage from a biblical perspective. Engaged and seriously dating couples can take it, and it is also used as an approved premarital program.
A Pathway wedding requires pastoral meetings, a marriage assessment survey using Prepare and Enrich, completion of Merge or another approved premarital program, and regular attendance at Pathway. Building use costs $750 with a refundable portion, a pastor honorarium starts at $200, a wedding coordinator is required, and tech fees apply. Before marriage, couples are asked to refrain from cohabitation and sexual intimacy, in line with the church's stated belief that marriage is a one-flesh covenant union between a man and a woman and that sexual relationships outside of marriage are sin. Pastor Gordon Knapp handles premarital meetings, and an officiating pastor contacts the couple about a month before the wedding to discuss the ceremony, get to know them, and settle the wording of the vows and ring exchange.
The Family and Care team also supports parents through First Time Moms classes, men's and women's groups, and family environments designed to make room for life together.
Care and Support: Food Pantry, Helping Hands, and Healing Groups
Care and Support is the branch of the church built around the idea that a church stands together in seasons of need. It runs a year-round food pantry that provides food, cleaning supplies, and toiletry items to Pathway families and neighbors facing unexpected or difficult circumstances. Assistance requests can be made by form or by phone, and donations can be dropped off at the pantry attached to the back of the maintenance barn between the garden and the playground, where an outdoor donation box is available around the clock. A Pathway Garden on the church grounds produces hundreds of pounds of fresh food each year for families in need, and volunteers can help with planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting. Financial assistance is also available to people who have attended Pathway for at least six months, and the Helping Hands ministry sends fix-it volunteers to the homes of elderly people, widows, single moms, and people with disabilities who cannot complete projects and maintenance themselves.
The support group roster covers a wide range of seasons. The Anxiety Class is an eight-week environment combining clinical insight and biblical truth for people navigating anxiety or supporting someone who is. The Breast Cancer Community Group meets the first Thursday of every month for a year, starting in a large group and then moving into smaller groups for discussion, prayer, and encouragement. Celebrate Recovery meets Tuesdays from 7 to 9pm in The Venue and has been a Pathway-supported ministry since 2008, a confidential 12-step program built on eight principles from the Beatitudes, with worship and teaching followed by gender-specific groups. DivorceCare is a 13-week series for people going through separation or divorce, and GriefShare is a grief recovery group that also hosts a special session for people who have lost a spouse. A group for women facing infertility, miscarriage, and infant loss meets monthly, and separate 13-week Trauma REBOOT courses for men and women combine practical teaching with supportive community for people working through past trauma.
Beyond groups, the Care Team keeps a referral list of local counseling agencies and treatment programs and helps people find an individualized referral, directs the financial assistance team, and coordinates Meals Ministry, a visitation team that encourages people in nursing homes and those who are homebound, a card team, and a funeral team. Pastors can plan and officiate funeral or memorial services at Pathway or another location. A staff member is reachable after hours through the office number for medical emergencies, a death in the family, or other immediate crises.
True Vine: Adoption, Foster Care, and Care Communities
True Vine is Pathway's adoption and foster care ministry, and it works to equip and support foster and adoptive families and vulnerable children in the community. Since 2012 the church family has invested more than $870,000 in vulnerable children and families, welcomed 49 children into families through adoption support, committed more than $148,000 to orphan care around the world, and directed more than $90,000 toward the needs of local children and families.
The Care Communities model matches a foster family, adoptive family, or host family with a team of six to eight people who offer emotional, spiritual, and practical support, with volunteers assigned to a family no more than a 15-minute drive away. True Vine also partners with New Mercies Ministries, a gospel-centered organization providing supportive connections, safe housing, and restorative services for women and families, and it runs a meal team and an event team that help adoptive and foster families in practical ways.
Missions Around the Grounds and Around the World
Missions at Pathway is organized as Reach Near, Go Far, and Start Here, with a strong emphasis on what happens on the church's own property. The food pantry, the garden, the Giving Tree, and Helping Hands all run on volunteer teams. The church has also adopted Southwick Elementary, a preschool through second grade school in an under-served community, and volunteers help with gift wrapping, field trip chaperoning, teacher appreciation meals, field days, and a fall festival and game night.
Local partners supported financially and through relationships include Redemption House, Four:10 Ministries, A Hope Center, Hope Alive, Christian Community Healthcare, Fort Wayne Rescue Mission, Blessed Portion, YFC CityLife, Inasmuch Ministry, Lifewise, RemedyLIVE, Fort Wayne Adult and Teen Challenge, Circles of Indiana, PrayerWorks, The Refuge, International House, and Inspiration Ministries. Globally, Pathway supports missionaries and gospel-centered organizations in seven countries, including in the United States, and members join short-term mission teams that serve alongside national and international partners.
Loved, Changed, Called: What Pathway Teaches
Pathway holds to the doctrine of the Missionary Church denomination and summarizes its teaching in three identity statements that shape its ministries. LOVED: the church is loved by Jesus, who died for us, so people can know they are chosen, beloved, forgiven, able to love others, and invited into loving community. CHANGED: the Holy Spirit changes people, producing the fruit of the Spirit, abiding peace, and a shift from a focus on self to a focus on others. CALLED: God calls people to obedience, to making disciples, to serving, to using their gifts and passions, and to extending his glory.
The church's stated response to Jesus has three parts: admitting to God that they have lived apart from him, believing that God provided a personal relationship with Jesus through his death and resurrection, and choosing to make Jesus the king of their hearts and the leader of their lives.
The doctrinal statement held by the church is thorough and explicitly Bible-based. The Bible is affirmed as God's Word and the supreme source of truth. God is affirmed as Creator and Ruler, existing eternally in three co-equal persons. The person of Jesus Christ is affirmed in the absolute deity of Christ, his virgin birth, his substitutionary atonement, his bodily resurrection, and his literal return. The Holy Spirit is affirmed as equal with the Father and the Son. Humanity is described as made in the spiritual image of God but marred by sin. Salvation is affirmed as a gift of God received through faith in Jesus Christ, with eternal life beginning at the moment a person receives Christ by faith. The church is affirmed as the visible and universal body of believers, and baptism and the Lord's supper are affirmed as the two ordinances, serving as visible signs rather than means of salvation. Marriage is held to the historically Christian view of a one-flesh covenant between a man and a woman, with sexual relationships outside of marriage regarded as sin. Eternity is affirmed as real existence either in union with God or separated from him.
From a Middle School Gymnasium to Carroll Road
Pathway's story begins with four Fort Wayne families who committed in 2001 to pray together for a year, seeking God's direction for a new church on the northwest side of the city. One year later, in early 2002, the church opened its doors for the first time in a middle school gymnasium. In 2007 the congregation moved into its current facility at 1010 Carroll Road, and expansions followed over the years. Senior Pastor Ron Williams, one of the founding families, teaches in a style that is practical, relatable, and easy to understand, with a heart for people to encounter Jesus and grow deeper in relationship with him. Brian Beall serves as executive pastor, and the senior leadership team also includes executive directors of spiritual formation, next generation, weekend experience, family and care, and operations, along with a worship director. A team of elders, selected according to the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, upholds the integrity, vision, and mission of the church and holds the leaders and staff accountable to it. The church's ongoing vision refrain is one mission, one vision, for every one.
Serving at Every Level
Serving at Pathway is organized in three tiers. Step In opportunities are flexible and entry-level, with low time commitment and low training, spanning administration, adoption, care, facilities, first impressions, marriage and parenting, and missions. Step Up opportunities require some training or a specific skill, including professional advisors and referral teams in care, creative media, film and photography, KidCare team members, KidCity storytellers, safety and security roles, production and technical positions, and worship team members. Lead Out opportunities involve ongoing training and spiritual maturity as people shepherd others, including the prayer team, support group facilitators, KidCity small group leaders, Life Group leaders, men's table leaders, and high school and middle school small group leaders.
The teams behind those roles are numerous: First Impressions greeters, ushers, and coffee team; KidCity caregivers and storytellers; the production team; worship arts; safety and security; facilities; church online hosts; and care teams for meals, cards, visits, and funerals. Pathway also holds professional advisers in law, counseling, medicine, and finance who advise the Care Team and refer people to resources.
Your First Weekend at Pathway
Services are held Saturdays at 5pm and Sundays at 9am and 11am, both in the Worship Center and upstairs in The Venue, and all three are streamed live. Services last about 70 minutes. Attire ranges from casual to business casual, from shorts and flip-flops to slacks and dress shirts, so no one needs to dress up. Parking is free and convenient through two entrances off Carroll Road with guest spots on either side of the building. Translation and transcription are available during live services, and a sign language interpreter serves most 11am services in the Worship Center with a reserved section at the front right. Children are welcome and welcomed well: KidCity registration for a first visit takes about five minutes at Guest Services, and pre-registration is available for all three weekend services. The church office at 1206 E. Dupont Rd., in the Pine Valley Shopping Center next to McDonald's, is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30am to 4:30pm, and the church can be reached at 260-469-4444. Giving is available online, through the PCC at Home app, by text, and in offering boxes in the lobby, worship center, and The Venue. Life Groups, Bible studies, and care ministries all run through the week at Pathway on Carroll Road, where a congregation of thousands meets each weekend and a web of groups, ministries, and service surrounds every gathering.