Maryse and her husband Peter love attending Centre Street Church. Maryse started attending Central Campus nine years ago. She met her husband there one year later. After a while, Maryse and Peter felt drawn to a nearby community of young families at NW Campus. Read as Maryse shares some of their story with us.

“My husband and I started attending Centre Street Church nine years ago because we loved the mission of CSC as a whole, the Bible-based teaching, and the emphasis on discipleship and expanding the kingdom of God. Three years ago, we started attending NW Campus because it was closer to where we lived, and there were a lot of young families attending  – we could really feel a sense of community there. There is such an authenticity about the people here. I remember hearing Pastor Lawson Brown preach, and he was just so raw and honest about his story and his heart for the church. There is also such an emphasis on intergenerational gatherings, rather than kids meeting only with kids, or seniors only with seniors, for example. It’s about everyone of all ages sharing community together. It’s so cool that we’re still meeting people with such genuine hearts. When Peter and I got married, we started a small group for young married couples in our home. Today, we continue to meet couples at NW Campus, and we’re being intentional about building community and connecting with these young married couples. There are so many different pathways to get connected here. We’ve learned that when you put effort into relationships, that’s when they begin to thrive.

In February of last year, I lost my dad in a plane crash. It was two days after our third child was born. It was such a hard journey. I still specifically remember going to church about one or two weeks after. During worship, my husband and I were sitting off to the side and Pastor Lawson came and put his arm around me – it was such an intentional moment of him saying, “I care about you and I’m here for you.”

After the service, we chatted with another couple that had experienced loss and people randomly started coming up to us and praying for us. It was so authentic and spontaneous. We felt an immense amount of love and support. That speaks volumes to me about this church community.”