Exchange community

The Exchange Community, under the guidance of Pastor Ted Torreson, has taken a different approach to church. Members make a point of telling others, "We hope you never go to church again in your lives." Torreson distilled this to mean, "We don't do church. We are the church."

Elaborating on The Exchange Community's Facebook page that declares that they are "a church for people who don't like church," and that they are "not about religion [but] about Jesus," Torreson said, "Religion, generally speaking, is a system of theology and work meant to gain access to God by what we do. ... A true Christian faith is not about what we do, but who we are -- what Jesus has done."

The church holds what they call "missional communities." These are groups of people who live near one another and gather together "for the sake of [Jesus'] mission -- for sharing His love and sharing His story with the people around them." The close-knit gatherings, generally held in individuals' homes and in parks, allow people to learn to better follow Jesus and to love others. They are a means by which people become connected "and experience true family and what true neighboring is like."

The Exchange Community has not abandoned the traditional church setting, however. On Sunday mornings at 9 and 11 a.m., they gather at Creative Edge for worship services that entail an opening, a welcome, a praise band, a Bible message and a ministry specifically for children that includes an age-appropriate message, activity and snack.

Yet even their Sunday gatherings are distinct from how many people have come to "do church." Torreson preaches "dialogically," going through a Bible passage verse by verse, as well as receiving and asking questions and allowing a dialogue among congregants. He views Sunday morning time as training for how to understand the Bible and love other people.

At the core of The Exchange Community are two Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:21 states, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." And 2 Corinthians 5: 14-15 says, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."

"The Greater exchange of 2 Corinthians 5:21 leads us to make the lesser exchange of 2 Corinthians 5:14-15," Torreson said.

The church has exchanged the trappings of religion for relationship with Christ.

"Anything that is religious that's not about Jesus, we try to get rid of it," he said. For Torreson, that even includes the clothing people have come to associate with religious leaders. When people attend worship services at The Exchange Community, they see a pastor with a beard, baseball cap and "normal everyday clothes." No one feels inferior in their setting, Torreson asserted. "We're completely 'come as you are.'"

They are, however, discipleship-focused, believing that their mission is to become the people God intended, and to do that, they are committed to removing barriers that keep people away.

"It's all about Jesus," he said.

One thing Torreson said he noticed about Jesus' ministry is no one walked away from His presence unchanged.

"I try to model my life and my ministry after Jesus," he shared, "and He said to 'come as you are.'" Thus, those who are part of The Exchange Community say to others, "I love you, and want you to be part of the family," and they welcome everyone to participate in the greatest exchange of all: their weakness for Christ's strength.

More information is available by visiting theexchangecommunity.org.

Pertinent address: 160 Enterprise Lane, Jackson.