A few weeks ago on Liberty Church’s one-year anniversary, it was announced that a third community will be launched in Brooklyn in 2013. Yesterday I sat down with lead pastor Paul Andrew to get some more details on the exciting news.

When was the idea for a Brooklyn community born?
Well, Andi and I live in Brooklyn. When we first moved to New York we fell in love with Brooklyn, and for a while we thought first community might be there. When we launched Tribeca I figured our second community would be in Brooklyn. So, the truth is that Brooklyn has always been in our heart for Liberty Church. I walk around our neighborhood every week and see the need for more local churches to be pioneered. We’re meeting people all the time that we’d love to invite to a neighborhood church, and we’re excited for the Brooklyn community to be just that.

What is the vision for the Brooklyn community?
If Brooklyn were a city on its own, it would be the fourth largest city in America ahead of Houston, TX. It was also once called “The City of Churches,” but sadly today in my neighborhood many of those beautiful churches have been converted to apartments or office buildings. From the outset, our dream has always been to reach this diverse city by planting church communities in different neighborhoods and that each could reflect the people who call it home.

I do think that the Brooklyn community will wind up looking and feeling different than our communities in Tribeca and Union Square. Right now we’re one church in two communities. Even though they have the same DNA, the Tribeca and Union Square communities already reach different types of people, have a different style and personality – like two siblings that are part of the same family. I have no doubt that when the time comes to launch Brooklyn it will be a unique expression of the vision of our church in the context of the new community.

Who would have thought that in such a short time – by the grace of God and the generosity of our volunteers – we’d be in a place where we can begin preparation for our third community?

So, what now?
On our first anniversary celebration in January we announced our hope to launch the Brooklyn community in 2013 (click here to watch the video). We asked the church to pray with us for God’s wisdom and direction in terms of the timing, leadership, and exact location of the future Brooklyn community. Beyond that, right now we don’t have a lot of specifics. I do know we’ll have to continue to grow our volunteer base and to believe God for both the financial resource and the pastoral leadership we’ll need to see this new community launch in strength.

What can Brooklynites do now to connect with Liberty Church while preparations are being made?
First of all, they can of course get connected with either of our current communities. Secondly, we have Connect Groups that meet in Brooklyn so it’s already possible to get connected and be part of the family even before we have Sunday services in Brooklyn. Thirdly, sometime later this year, it’s likely that we’ll begin to gather a launch team who will pray and plan together. If you’d like to be part of that team when it forms, you can email [email protected] and we’ll make sure to contact you when we’re getting ready to build our volunteer team.

With the launch our second community in Union Square also came the launch of a new segment of our Connections Team – the Outreach Team. Organized by team leader Jessi Marquez, the Outreach Team meets a few hours before church every Sunday evening and steps out into the Union Square area for the sole purpose of sharing God’s love with others.

Outreach isn’t about handing out tracks or arguing theology; it’s an opportunity to practice being sent out and setting aside time to be intentional about sharing God with people.

• It’s challenging yourself to move beyond awkwardness or fear and to surrender the natural sense of pride or rejection that can come with witnessing to others.
• It’s a chance to see God’s heart for people – for the lost – and to see how much He loves the people of this world.
• It’s about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and loving people for who they are.

There’s something special about being part of the moment that changes lives forever by simply being in the right place at the right time. Whether it’s a deep and meaningful interaction or simply passing along an invitation to church, outreach provides provides a safe setting that can help to make it easier to share God’s love when we step out into the world around us be it at our workplace, the grocery store, or on the subway. It helps to break bounderies – to make loving strangers become more normal, just as it should be.

If you’re interested in being a part of the Outreach Team, email [email protected] Or to find out about volunteering in general, feel free to email [email protected]

The Location.
Union Square is a transportation hub – a subway stop for 7 different lines that lead to most of Manhattan and into Brooklyn, which makes it one of the easiest destinations to get to in the city. And, well, that can be pretty helpful when you don’t have a car – take it from us.

 

On Sunday, September 18, over 200 people joined together at the New York Film Academy for what would prove to be Liberty Church’s largest gathering yet.

Check out the gallery below!!

Liberty’s Union Square second community was still just a dream only a few short months ago, but by God’s faithfulness and support from within our church and other church communities, we were able to launch what we hope is the first of many Liberty communities across New York City.

The evening kicked off at 6:30pm with our guest lounge – complete with coffee, doughnuts, and a community excited to worship God and celebrate the launch.

When 7pm rolled around, every seat was filled, and the venue was soon overcome by clapping, dancing, and voices loudly singing songs of praise. In those moments it was clear that God had His hand on the new church community.

After the time of worship, lead pastor Paul Andrew kicked off the new community by giving a brief background of Liberty Church and our vision of reaching New York City one community at a time. He then introduced the Union Square community pastor, Sebastian Buffa, who delivered a message titled, “A New Kind of Normal.” The message had hearts and minds fixated on God’s provision for not only our individual lives, but how through us we can reach others across New York City and the world.

By the end of the service, 9 people had given their lives to Christ, and countless lives were blessed at what was a clear milestone for us as a church community.

We hope that if you’re in NYC you’ll join us one Sunday evening to experience what we believe is God at work in this city! For more information or questions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Whatever you do, don’t miss the launch of our brand new community in Union Square!

Sunday September 18th
At the famous New York Film Academy
100 East 17th St

The guest lounge opens at 6.30pm
Service starts 7.00pm
You can RSVP online on our Facebook page right here

This is NOT just another event. It’s a chance to take a stand together for faith, for hope and for the future of Union Square.

Plus you can get involved as a volunteer by joining our Launch Team

One church  //  Two communities
Tribeca  //  Union Square

Union Square Launch Team: Sunday Nights From Aug 14th

Are you interested in helping us pioneer a brand new church community in New York City?

As many of you would know by now, we are getting ready to launch a second Liberty Church community in Union Square on Sept 18th – in many ways similar to the community we’ve established in Tribeca since it launched in January this year. We’re going to be one church, two communities.

The new community will be having Sunday night services at the New York Film Academy right on Union Square.

We’re not just adding another service for those who already call Liberty Church “home”…. this is really about reaching people who right now don’t come to Tribeca maybe because of geography, or because our current service is in the morning, or because they just haven’t heard of us yet.

Union Square is a vibrant, diverse and thriving community and it’s a hub of subway lines and night-life. The possibilities as we launch a Sunday night service there are really exciting.

So, we’re looking for a core group of people who’d like to form a Launch Team that will help get this new community off the ground. We have already started gathering a great team of people and there are still a whole range of opportunities to get involved as a volunteer, and make a big difference even if you don’t have a lot of spare time.

* Maybe you’re not connected yet, but Sunday night sounds like a good option for you?
* Maybe you’re already part of Liberty Church but you’d love to get behind Union Square for their launch season?
* Maybe you’d like the chance to pioneer a new community from the ground up?

If you’d like to find out more you can email your interest to [email protected] and Sebastian Buffa who is spearheading this new community will get in contact with you. The Launch Team is meeting from 6.30pm Sunday nights right through to Sept 18th…

Get on board!

Paul & Andi

You know you’re an NYC church when…

1. You make up the sole population of people in the city who are awake before 11am on Sunday morning.

2. Your weekly services take place where a world-famous film festival is also held.

3. You can’t get to church one Sunday because thousands of people are taking part in a bike race.

4. An article in Time Out New York brings more visitors than street evangelism does.

5. Experiencing the great outdoors means a picnic in Central Park.

6. Four people in your church actually own a car.

7. Two thirds of your prayer requests are either for people looking for a job or an apartment.

8. You refer to the subway as your “mission field.”

9. Forty people RSVP when you announce a dinner party.

10. Your church athletic league consists of playing darts and shuffle board.

…and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

What do you get when you combine dozens of girls, good food, and a LOL-worthy chick flick?

Liberty Church’s 2nd ever Girls’ Night Out, of course!

On Friday night, a huge of group of us ladies met up at Le Pain Quotidien in Chelsea where the eating and mingling ensued.

Afterward we all headed to the movies. Despite the movie we wanted to see being released a few weeks ago, we arrived to find that the showing was already sold out. But all was not lost.

A number of the the girls had already bought tickets for the sold-out showing, so the rest of us quickly searched for another theater. Thankfully we were able to find one with a showing just 15 minutes later, so Girls’ Night Out continued on – covering not one – but two New York City movie theaters.

In the end, Liberty Church’s 2nd Girls’ Night Out was a success. While you can never go wrong with dinner and a movie, the best part was simply being able to spend time and laugh with fellow sisters in Christ.

Next on the Liberty ladies agenda – planning the next Girls’ Night In. We’d love to have you there…so stay tuned!