Way Collective

Way Collective A contemplative community for love and liberation. // Connection • Curiosity • Creativity • Collaboration • Consciousness • Compassionate Action

This is a community for people looking to unite for the common good in an increasingly divisive world. We are a community both rooted in and improvising upon the Christian wisdom tradition by focusing on communal practices, values, and wisdom rather than beliefs. Whereas too many forms of religion are contributing to the fragmentation of our world, we come together to practice connection, curiosit

y, collaboration, creativity, consciousness, and compassion...all for the common good. Our gatherings emphasize building friendships, transformative experiences, and having deep conversations about relevant topics that inform and inspire us all to live with more beauty, wholeness, depth, and urgency. All are welcome regardless of background, belief, orientation, or conviction. Come hang with us and join this movement for love and liberation in Santa Barbara and beyond!

Most of us have been told that somewhere out there is a singular purpose, destiny, or calling we are supposed to discove...
06/17/2026

Most of us have been told that somewhere out there is a singular purpose, destiny, or calling we are supposed to discover.

But what if that story is making us anxious, exhausted, and disconnected from the life that is actually here?
This week on the Way Collective Podcast, I sit down with my good friend, author and public theologian Damon Garcia () to talk about his new book, You Don't Need a Calling: An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto for a Life of Purpose. Together we explore vocation, worth, capitalism, rest, spirituality, and what it means to live a meaningful life without constantly trying to become somebody. Damon argues that purpose is less about discovering a grand destiny and more about showing up faithfully to the life in front of us.

Listen to the conversation NOW on the Way Collective Podcast.

And if you'd like to continue the conversation in person, join us THIS Monday evening. 06/22, as we welcome Damon for a special book release event at . We'll explore themes from the book, hear from Damon directly, have some delicious food and drink, and open space for conversation around purpose, meaning, work, spirituality, and how we might live more freely in a culture obsessed with productivity and achievement. Get tickets at the link in bio!

Hey Way Collective,We’re looking forward to gathering tomorrow evening for week two of our summer series, Turning to the...
06/17/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re looking forward to gathering tomorrow evening for week two of our summer series, Turning to the Sacred, as we reflect on the sacredness of community.

When many people hear the word "church," they think of an institution, a building, or a set of beliefs. But at its heart, what if “church” is just one way of organizing human community around shared stories, symbols, practices, and hopes. It's one way that people gather to remember what matters, to care for one another, and to make meaning together in the midst of life's beauty and difficulty.

Tomorrow night, we’ll de-churchify spiritual community by exploring how intentional community can become a sacred practice in its own right. Not because communities are perfect—they certainly aren't—but because there is something profound that happens when people choose to show up for one another over time. We'll reflect on how contemplative community creates space for belonging, listening, encouragement, and transformation, and why gathering around a table may be one of the most ordinary and sacred things human beings do. In a culture that often pulls us toward isolation, community can become one of the places where we most clearly encounter the depth and value of life itself.

If you’ve ever wondered why gathering together still matters in an increasingly disconnected world… if you’ve experienced the gift of being known, supported, or challenged by others along the way… this will be a meaningful night to come to the table and continue the journey together.

Dinner is at 5:15 and Dialogue is at 6:15.

See y’all tomorrow!

Peace,

-Tim

Hey Way Collective,We’re looking forward to gathering tomorrow evening for week two of our summer series, Turning to the...
06/17/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re looking forward to gathering tomorrow evening for week two of our summer series, Turning to the Sacred, as we reflect on the sacredness of community.

When many people hear the word "church," they think of an institution, a building, or a set of beliefs. But at its heart, what if “church” is just one way of organizing human community around shared stories, symbols, practices, and hopes. It's one way that people gather to remember what matters, to care for one another, and to make meaning together in the midst of life's beauty and difficulty.

Tomorrow night, we’ll de-churchify spiritual community by exploring how intentional community can become a sacred practice in its own right. Not because communities are perfect—they certainly aren't—but because there is something profound that happens when people choose to show up for one another over time. We'll reflect on how contemplative community creates space for belonging, listening, encouragement, and transformation, and why gathering around a table may be one of the most ordinary and sacred things human beings do. In a culture that often pulls us toward isolation, community can become one of the places where we most clearly encounter the depth and value of life itself.

If you’ve ever wondered why gathering together still matters in an increasingly disconnected world… if you’ve experienced the gift of being known, supported, or challenged by others along the way… this will be a meaningful night to come to the table and continue the journey together.

Dinner is at 5:15 and Dialogue is at 6:15.

See y’all tomorrow!

Peace,

-Tim

Hey Way Collective,We’re excited to gather this evening as we kick off our summer series, Turning to the Sacred — a seas...
06/10/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re excited to gather this evening as we kick off our summer series, Turning to the Sacred — a season of listening to one another's stories and exploring the many ways people encounter a sense of sacred presence in their lives.

In a world that often feels rushed, fragmented, and weighed down by current events, many of us still carry an intuition that life is somehow more than the sum of its difficulties. We find ourselves moved by beauty. Awakened by love. Drawn into moments of connection, wonder, gratitude, or meaning that seem to point beyond themselves. We may describe those experiences differently, but they often leave us with the sense that something important is happening beneath the surface of ordinary life.

Tonight, we’ll begin this journey together by reflecting on what it means to turn toward the sacred. Throughout the summer, members from our community will share stories from their own lives and the practices, experiences, and encounters that have helped them stay connected to what matters most. Rather than searching for one definition of the sacred, we’ll explore the many ways it shows up — and how cultivating awareness of it can help us live with greater presence, compassion, and depth in every season of life.

If you’ve been longing for reminders of beauty, meaning, and connection in the midst of a complicated world, this will be a meaningful night to come to the table and begin the journey together.

Dinner is at 5:15 and Dialogue is at 6:15.

See y’all this evening!

Peace,

-Tim

Hey Way Collective,We’re excited to gather this evening for our monthly Community Night Dinner & Dialogue and potluck, a...
06/03/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re excited to gather this evening for our monthly Community Night Dinner & Dialogue and potluck, as we take some time to reflect together on the mystery series we’ve been exploring over the past six weeks.

Over the course of these conversations, we’ve wandered through some big questions — the mystery of existence itself, the mystery of the present moment, the mystery within ourselves and others, and the contemplative path of unknowing. Along the way, many of us have found new language, new questions, and perhaps a few new ways of relating to life that continue to linger long after Wednesday night has ended.

Tonight, we’ll create space to revisit those reflections together. What are you still carrying from the series? What resonated most deeply? Where do you find yourself uncertain, curious, or wanting to explore further? Please come with any questions you might be carrying, and I’ll offer a brief introduction, and then we’ll move into a larger community conversation before gathering around our tables for dialogue. Rather than introducing a new theme, this will be an opportunity to listen, wonder, and learn from one another as we look back on the journey we've shared.

If you've been wanting to revisit a question, share an insight, or simply hear how these conversations have landed for others, this will be a rich evening to come to the table and continue exploring together.

Dinner and potluck begin at 5:15, and Dialogue will follow at 6:15.

See y’all soon!

Peace,

-Tim

Hey Way Collective,We’re looking forward to gathering this evening for week six of our conversations on Mystery, as we r...
05/27/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re looking forward to gathering this evening for week six of our conversations on Mystery, as we reflect on how mystery relates to the path of unknowing.

Over these past weeks, we’ve been exploring mystery not as a problem to solve, but as a different way of relating to reality — one that softens certainty and opens us to presence, wonder, and humility. But tonight, we’ll move a little deeper into what happens internally when that posture begins to take root within us.

Tonight, we’ll reflect on how mystery can open an inner space of unknowing — a quiet awareness that we do not have to grip life so tightly all the time. Not because the practical world disappears. We still have bills to pay, errands to run, people to care for, meals to make, and responsibilities to carry. But when that deeper awareness of mystery opens within us, something shifts. We begin to realize that beneath all the noise, conclusions, and pressures of daily life, there is another place we can return to — a more spacious and grounded posture that reminds us we do not have to control or explain everything in order to be fully alive.

If you’ve been feeling exhausted by the pressure to constantly figure things out — if you’re longing for a deeper inner steadiness in the middle of ordinary life — this will be a meaningful night to come to the table and continue the journey together.

Dinner is at 5:15 and Dialogue is at 6:15.

See y’all this evening!

Peace,

-Tim

Hey Way Collective,We’re looking forward to gathering this evening for week five of our conversations around Mystery, as...
05/20/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re looking forward to gathering this evening for week five of our conversations around Mystery, as we turn our attention toward the mystery of the present moment.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve explored the vastness of the big mystery, the practice of relating from mystery, and the invitation to encounter mystery within ourselves and others. But all of those reflections ultimately lead us back to the same place: the mystery of this moment. The present. The living edge of reality where everything is always unfolding, changing, and becoming something new.

Tonight, we’ll reflect on how the present moment is not just a passing slice of time to endure or rush through, but the very place where life is continually emerging. In many ways, the contemplative life is simply learning how to become available to that reality. To notice that beneath our distractions, anxieties, and constant anticipation of what’s next, there is something quietly sacred about being here at all. Not in a sentimental or escapist way, but in the recognition that every moment carries depth, value, and the possibility of transformation.

If you’ve been feeling scattered, pulled in a hundred directions, or disconnected from your own life as it’s actually unfolding… this will be a meaningful night to slow down, come to the table, and explore what it might mean to truly inhabit the present together.

Dinner is at 5:15 and Dialogue is at 6:15.

See y’all this evening!

Peace,

-Tim

Hey Way Collective,We’re looking forward to gathering this evening for week four of our series of conversations on Myste...
05/13/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re looking forward to gathering this evening for week four of our series of conversations on Mystery, as we continue circling around what it means to live from a posture of contemplative unknowing.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored how mystery reshapes the way we relate to the world — softening certainty, opening space for wonder, and inviting us into a more participatory way of knowing. But tonight, we’ll bring that reflection a little closer to home by considering what it means to encounter the mystery within ourselves and within one another.

So much of life is spent reducing ourselves and others to fixed identities, conclusions, and roles. But contemplative wisdom reminds us that every person is more than we can fully explain. Each of us is unfolding, changing, becoming — carrying depths, contradictions, longings, and possibilities that cannot be neatly contained. When we begin to approach ourselves and others from that place of mystery, something shifts. We become a little more curious. A little less reactive. A little more capable of meeting one another with wonder instead of assumption.

If you’ve been longing for a deeper way of relating — one rooted less in judgment and more in presence, humility, and compassion — this will be a meaningful night to come to the table and continue the journey together.

Dinner is at 5:15 and Dialogue is at 6:15.

See y’all this evening!

Peace,

-Tim

Hey Way Collective,We’re excited to gather tomorrow evening for our monthly Community Night Dinner & Dialogue — and this...
05/06/2026

Hey Way Collective,

We’re excited to gather tomorrow evening for our monthly Community Night Dinner & Dialogue — and this month, we’re doing something a little different with a community open mic night of sharing.

One of the beautiful things about a community like this is that every person carries a story, a perspective, a creativity, or a voice that can become a gift to others when it’s shared. Tomorrow night will simply be an opportunity to make a little more room for that together.

Throughout the evening, Way Co folks are invited to share songs, poems, stories, reflections, readings, music, or whatever else feels meaningful to bring into the space. Nothing polished or perfect is required — just a willingness to show up and offer a little piece of yourself to the community. These kinds of nights always have a way of surprising us with connection, laughter, depth, and those small moments that remind us why gathering together matters. If you haven’t signed up, but woul dlike to share something, please sign up at the link HERE.

We’ll also be sharing a Mediterranean potluck together, so feel free to bring a favorite dish, side, dessert, or drink to contribute if you’d like. It should be a really special evening of food, presence, creativity, and community.

Dinner and potluck begin at 5:15, and our open mic gathering will follow at 6:15.

See y’all tomorrow!

Peace,

-Tim

Address

1915 Chapala Street
Santa Barbara, CA
93101

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Way Collective posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Place Of Worship

Send a message to Way Collective:

Shortcuts

Share