Zoe Story
What is Zoe – Livable Church? In 1989 seven friends returned home from a short-term mission trip to Mexico. After experiencing the combustion of faith, hope, and love that often begins in such settings a new determination was made. We would begin to live as long-term missionaries in our own culture and place. With the support of a generous local church (Midway Christian Center), we began as an outreach to the region hoping to live with the same closeness and faith as we had on our missionary journey.

Although Zoe had seasons of tremendous growth both spiritually and numerically, we kept running into the same dilemma. The wider our reach became regionally, the more difficult it was to maintain our togetherness in the day to day. Our gatherings would have several hundred people but it was impossible for us to be together in daily life, let alone work together as a common team in the world.

In 2002 Zoe leaders made a radical decision. If we were to live out our faith together as missionaries in the day-to-day it would require living together in the same neighborhood. After some very difficult transitioning Zoe has begun to experience many of the wonderful fruits of our shared life together.

Here’s just a few of the blessings our collective (Zoe - livable church) is growing to experience as we live out our faith in the 20 block core of downtown Tacoma Washington:

1) Each day we partner in our jobs, our play, our civic life ... well, all of life for God’s kingdom to become more evident in our local community.
2) Each day the community gets to experience what the church looks like, how we relate, without ever having to enter a building for a “service.”
3) Each day we are able to share from our gifts, strengths, and passions to help each other when we’re in need.
4) Each day we become more intertwined with other people who have redemptive hopes for the place we live.  The idea of “The Church of Downtown Tacoma” as one united body is getting closer.
5) Each day we are strengthened and encouraged to live in faithful love even though we inhabit the darkest places.  We draw strength from seeing that we are connected to others who are counting on us to build a trusting reputation collectively.  We also know they may join us in that place at any moment to call out our deepest desire to live in love. 

It is not as perfect as the picture painted, but the joys we experience far outweigh the pain we suffered dying to our flesh as we tried to hold on to old paradigms.