about us


We are a community committed to following Jesus, who believe the word of God is living and active and deeply experience the love and presence of God by His Spirit. We believe our faith in Jesus is best experienced with others, promote life-change to be more like Him, and should empower us to use our gifts to love and serve the people around us both locally and abroad.

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Living Word Community (formerly Philadelphia Gospel Temple) originally is an outgrowth of the Welsh Revival of 1904. It also has roots in the 1906 Azuza Street “Outpouring of the Holy Spirit” in Los Angeles, California. At the time of great revival in the country of Wales, two women, one black, and one white, who were part of a house church in East Lansdowne, PA were holding street meetings together on North Broad Street in Philadelphia and praying for a similar “spiritual awakening”. In the early 1920’s these two prayer partners traveled across the ocean to investigate the revival in Wales, and as a result of their visit , a team of four pastors and prophets came to Philadelphia to report on the current move of the Holy Spirit in Wales. In 1927, an Apostolic Church congregation was organized in East Lansdowne, that eventually relocated to Center City Philadelphia in 1955. From this visit Philadelphia Gospel Temple was formed which officially changed it’s name to The Living Word Community 1977.

We are people who work to be transparent about who we are. We believe the Bible is the ultimate truth and genuinely apply it to our lives to experience the best God has for us. We are united as a family, we live in honest community and we all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

We believe this community of believers has been called to build CommUNITY through the enriching quality of ethnic diversity in answer to the prayer of our Lord “That His Body be brought into complete and perfect unity with Jesus and one another to let the world know that He (Jesus) was sent by God the Father” (John 17:23). It is our goal and deepest desire to be a reflection of our Lord to the world, that the world may believe! Remembering that the world gets its picture of the Lord from us (The Church), we believe it is for such a people (a Bride) that Jesus is waiting to return. As we continue our journey on the paths God Leads us, we look to Him and give Him praise and thanks for the privilege of being a part of this unfolding of His marvelous plan.

Closeup shot of a group of businesspeople holding hands together in solidarity
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