A little over a year ago, Michael Newton told God he was done with pastoring a local church. He had found joy and purpose through running a food truck, The Main Ingredient (TMI), and developing a culinary program at a local high school.
Both of those placements allowed Michael to teach students, aspiring chefs and neighbors in recovery what it meant to follow Jesus through the everyday rhythms of entrepreneurship and service.
Then God disrupted his plans. Michael had been serving as co-pastor at Mosaic, a church plant in Detroit, that for various reasons closed. In processing what was next, Michael called his mentor, Reverend Mick Veach of Kentwood Community Church, and told him he didn’t want to lead a church. “Bring someone else in to plant something,” he said. “I’ll be their number two.” Mick agreed to pray about it, but asked: “If God calls you to do it, will you say yes?”
“I said, ‘Of course if God asks, I’ll do it.’”
Michael and Mick joined together in a season of prayer over the church’s future: praying, fasting and waiting on God. Five days into that season, Michael led a Bible study on John 4 with a group of men in recovery, and five of them gave their lives to Christ. They didn’t have a baptismal tank, but they did have towels and water. Michael poured and baptized.
That night, Michael woke up with John 4 still burning in his spirit. The Holy Spirit invited him to reread the story — the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. “He started to illuminate things,” Michael said. “She was rejected, cast off, misunderstood. She didn’t know what real worship was. She had low self-worth. And God said, ‘That’s Detroit. And that was you.’”
That passage shaped the name and mission of the new plant: The Well Ministries of Detroit. It would be a place where people from all walks of life could meet Jesus and receive living water. A space for those who had been judged, overlooked or written off by the church. “The Holy Spirit said to me: ‘I want you to create this.’”
True to his words to Mick, Michael said “yes.”
Today, The Well is less a traditional church and more a constellation of missional communities spread across Detroit: in Wayne County Jail, Salvation Army, a rehab center called Mariners Inn, a senior living facility and even in Michael’s school. At a recent chapel service, 23 students gave their lives to Christ.
Rather than asking people to come to them, The Well goes to the people. “We minister Monday through Saturday,” Michael said. “And Sunday is when we gather in worship. But the real work is done out there.”
That kind of work requires deep relational trust. The Well disciples people one-on-one. They eat together. They walk alongside people through addiction, re-entry and poverty. “We do incarnational, life-on-life discipleship,” Michael explained. “We teach people to be faithful stewards of their faith, their friendships, their finances and their fitness. We don’t judge; we just love.” 
People who never felt like they belonged in church are discovering that they belong in Christ.
Michael shared the story of Kevin, a man who had been burned by another church and walked away. Through friendship and discipleship, Kevin found new life at The Well. Today, he leads Bible study at the senior center and is training to serve in jail ministry. Then there’s Kwesi, who was in and out of church before finding a home at The Well. He now runs the tech team and disciples others. And Natalie, a high school student Michael met through his school, who started by providing childcare for those in the church who needed it, but now attends regularly, growing in faith. And D’Allen (who Michael says was once hardened against faith), is now on fire: he faithfully sets up for church, serves and studies Scripture with Michael weekly.
These stories, Michael says, are what make the long days worth it.
But there are barriers, especially transportation. Many who want to be part of The Well have no vehicle. The church uses one van but could use another. “People want to come, but they don’t have a way,” Michael shared. “And that breaks my heart. We’ll keep finding ways to meet them where they are, but it would mean a lot to be able to bring them in, too.”
Since their launch, over 70 people have come to faith through The Well.
Michael is quick to say he’s not building anything on his own. “I’m not talented enough, not a good enough communicator,” he laughed. “But Jesus said he will build his church. We’re just stewarding what he’s building.”
There’s still plenty of work to do and Michael knows that. He asks for prayer for encouragement and for financial partnership. “But people,” he insists, “people are our greatest resource. They carry prayers. They carry stories. They carry Jesus.”
When asked what’s kept people at The Well — people who once said church wasn’t for them — Michael pointed to honesty. “We’re transparent. We let people see the real us. That we still struggle, still wrestle. But God still uses us. He still loves us. And we believe he can use and love them, too.”
For more stories of living water, visit wesleyan.org/news.
Rev. Ethan Linder is the pastor of discipleship at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, and contributing editor at The Wesleyan Church’s Education and Clergy Development Division.
