Five questions

Pastor Scott Mealey

Church name: The Pool

Location: Moncton, New Brunswick

What’s your church mission statement?

Welcoming an orphaned generation into a biblical community through an honest demonstration of a Jesus-filled life.

What makes your church unique?

There’s a guy who comes to our Thursday night service. He has never really attended church and his primary religious experience was in Wicca. He was basically abandoned to his grandparents after his parents divorced. He’s cautiously embracing the call of Jesus, but struggles with many questions. He recently confessed to me that he feels unworthy, so I told him the story of the prodigal son (he had never heard it before). At the end of my account, he responded with misty eyes, “Thanks, that really helps.”

What was a defining moment for your congregation?

We had just selected the members of our new spiritual advisory team. When I looked over the names, I realized that five of the six people were new Christians who had been baptized by our church. The sixth had, seven years prior, been abandoned by her husband while pregnant with their second daughter and then tried to take her own life. I thought, “Oh good! We’re finally the kind of church we’ve wanted to be.”

If you could choose a famous Christian to come and speak, who would it be and why?

The Apostle Paul. He would understand three of the dominant situations we experience: how to bring the gospel to an irreligious society, how to establish a healthy church community with people who have never “done church,” and how to integrate/respond to people those with a churched background. Does anyone have his email address?

What does it mean for your church to be evangelical Anabaptist?

Among other things, it means the way of peace is a standard way of doing life. We resist the urge to impose truth on someone and instead offer invitations in concert with each person’s process and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We challenge a culture that’s quick to call for coercive means to solving problems.