Welcome to ZAO!

It can be daunting to check out a new church. Thanks for taking the chance to get to know us. We've compiled helpful information and FAQs on this page. If you have any further questions, we'd love to hear from you! Connect with us here.

 

What to Expect on sundays

We have a laid back environment at Zao MKE Church. We want to create authentic community of belonging, which means we need everyone to bring their most authentic selves! Wear what you feel good in (our pastors usually wear jeans), bring your coffee or snag some from the refreshments area, and have a good time!

  • Our in person and streaming services are at 10am every Sunday and tend to finish around 11:30am.

    You can find us in person at 2319 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee WI 53211.

    You can find us streaming here on our website, on our Youtube channel, or on our Facebook page.

  • Zao has a laid back vibe with an emphasis on music, teaching, and community. We usually start at 10:05 to give folks a chance to settle in, which people do by grabbing coffee, tea, or hot cocoa from the refreshments bar and chatting up their neighbors.

    Each Sunday our worship band gets us started with a few songs, before we have a community testimony and the passing of the peace. After another song we have a reading from the scriptures and a teaching from one of our pastors. Then we have communion, a time for giving, and finish with music and upcoming announcements.

  • Kids are welcome in all spaces at Zao MKE Church! If your littles don't want to hang in the pews, they are welcome to play quietly in a space set aside in the worship space with kid sized tables, toys, coloring items, etc.

    If you prefer, you can take any kiddos to our supervised nursery. We aim to staff the nursery with at least 2 trained adult volunteers each service, and there are check in/check out and contact procedures so that we can be in touch with you if any need arises.

  • Our main floor and worship space is wheelchair accessible by a hand crank lift. For those who prefer, the entrance to the worship space has two sets of 3 stairs.

    All of our services have live ASL interpretation in person and online, and our online services are captioned.

    If there is a way that we can make our community more accessible to you, we want to know! Please contact us here with any questions or to let us know how to accommodate your accessibility needs.

General FAQ

  • That's cool! There is no belief requirement to be a part of Zao MKE Church, and many people here believe different things. In fact, we trust that church starts with belonging, and belief is much more fluid. What you believe might change while you're at Zao, and that's okay too!

  • Nope! We believe that belonging is more important than fitting in, and that belonging comes from having spaces to be authentically you. Come with your wonderful self and discover loving community. You might find lots of people like you, or lots of people not like you, and either way, we hope you find a deep sense of authentic belonging.

  • YES! Lots of churches have a kind of bait-and-switch thing going on when it comes to sexuality and gender. Some churches say that you are welcome, but then expect you to go back into the closet, tell you not to pursue romantic and sexual relationships, or exclude you from leadership. We think that's pretty toxic, and we wish churches would be more upfront about the limits of their "welcome."

    At Zao MKE Church, we don't just welcome, we affirm and celebrate LGBTQ+ people. Our pastors are both queer and trans, our leadership team is majority LGBTQ+, and we intentionally talk about our faith from a queer perspective. No bait & switch! Though we don’t mind a #ThirstTrap here and there 😉

  • We believe that rooting ourselves in the life and teachings of Jesus requires us to take seriously the call to justice - not just in how we talk about God, but also in how we live our lives and interact with structures of injustice. You can learn more about our justice work here.

  • Zao is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. We love our Wesleyan heritage, and the tradition's call to both personal connection to God alongside the holy work of justice in the world. Being a part of a denomination connects us to history, resources, and community that we wouldn't have if we were independent.

    But it's also hard work, especially when the denomination is struggling to be faithful as an institution - including the call to full LGBTQ affirmation in the church. We currently feel that it is our role to keep pushing the United Methodist Church towards a more liberated, queer-affirming, anti-racist future, and so we work hard to model by example while we advocate from within.

  • Zao MKE is a "church plant," meaning that it was started from scratch pretty recently. Church plants are a vital part of growing God's kingdom into a new future, because they have a unique opportunity to ask the question "what should the church look like if we could start over?"

    Pastor Jonah started Zao MKE Church by connecting with folks that were frequently

    marginalized in church spaces and dreaming together about a Jesus-rooted, justice-centered, radically inclusive spiritual community. Over the years, we've outgrown the living room where we started, but we still have that same questioning, experimental spirit. We hope we never stop asking what church could and should look like and approaching community with prophetic imagination and hope.