Teresa Wakeen has launched a new worshipping community at the Crossroads Center, a social services outreach agency in Detroit. She leads three mid-week prayer services and one Sunday Singing Circle and Prayer service, along with a monthly family worship event that follows the Messy Church model.
With New Mission Field designation in the Diocese of Michigan, Wakeen has received ongoing mentoring support from the diocese. She has created a support network of missioners, clergy and lay volunteers and takes her congregation to other church events, along with welcoming and engaging the diocesan network to Crossroads. She joined a TEC Genesis Church Planting Group cohort and receives ongoing training, both nationally and locally. Her plans include continuing to build the core leadership team in the congregation, while developing a Board and formal fundraising capacity; the Church at Crossroads has just been awarded a Mission Enterprise Zone grant.
Wakeen has seamlessly woven theoretical models of congregational development into her daily relationships with congregants and stakeholders. She understands that relationship is at the heart of evangelism, and that shows in her relationships across the diocese and within the Crossroads’ community.
