ABOUT E3

East End Ecclesia is a new church start located in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh with a vision to establish small, Gospel formed, missional communities throughout the Pittsburgh region. E3 is an evangelical church that draws from many different Christian traditions. We seek to be a church that is progressive and innovative in our methods and structure, while remaining true to the historic biblical faith and retaining a rootedness in the rich traditions passed down through the Church over the centuries.

E3 is a plural elder led church. The function of E3's eldership is to equip the church members to grow in Christ, grow in sound doctrine, and to flourish in their calling as missionaries of the Gospel. The eldership also gives direction for the vision and mission of E3 along with oversight for the multiple Gospel Communities making up E3. 

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In a plural elder led structure no one elder holds authority over the others, so there is accountability built into the structure itself. At E3 we like to say that there is one Senior Pastor of our church, and that is Jesus. The elders are called by God, affirmed by members of the church, and appointed by the church eldership. 

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How the leadership structure functions within E3:​

E3 is organized by multiple Gospel Communities unified together to make up one church (E3). Each Gospel Community will have a leader/facilitator that will function much like a pastor to that community. In many ways the Gospel Community will function like a small church. Each Gospel Community will be connected with a "Worship Gathering" which will be a weekly worship service in which the different Gospel Communities will gather together for public worship. The elders of E3 will give oversight to the multiple Gospel Communities, provide training and equipping to the Gospel Community leaders, and will give general direction to the church as a whole along with the formation and running of the worship gatherings. 

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For more information on the biblical basis for our leadership structure please check out this pdf. file written by Alexander Strauch: (Biblical Eldership.pdf) 

​​​Our beliefs are rooted in the foundation of God's revelation within the Holy Scriptures and informed by the ancient creeds, confessions, and faithful teachings of past saints. 

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As a church we hold the 66 books making up the Old and New testament Scriptures as the only absolute and final authority concerning the beliefs of the church. But we do not believe that we are to approach the Bible in a vacuum, separate from the shared understanding of the scriptures held by Christians throughout the history of the church.

So we also hold to the ecumenical creeds of the early church (Apostles' creed, Nicene creed, and Athanasian creed).

We at E3 also hold the core foundations (Solas) of the Reformation as a formative guide to our understanding of the Scriptures which include: Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Sola Gratia (grace alone), Sola Fide (faith alone), Solus Christus (Christ alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (The Glory of God alone). 

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For a list of our core doctrinal beliefs CLICK HERE.

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For an article on the nature of the Gospel CLICK HERE.

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For an article on the centrality of the Gospel CLICK HERE.



For an article on what it means to live missionaly CLICK HERE.

As a new church start we are in the process of forming as a church. We believe that the local "church" is a community of people, redeemed by Christ, united by His Gospel, living together on mission for His Glory. Currently we are forming our "church" by establishing a missionary team of people called to help make the vision for E3 a reality. As we move toward establishing the core ministry environments of E3 (Gospel Communities and Sunday Worship gathering), we are meeting weekly on Saturday evenings to build our community and learn together about the vision for E3 and what it might look like to be a church formed by the Gospel, living on mission where we are.

E3's Elders: