Fall '21 Update!
This Fall, we have seen some incredible momentum here in Sunnyside! Through outreach events and connecting with new friends here in NYC, our core team is developing and I am optimistic that God is doing something really special amongst the several individuals he’s forming into Gospel City Fellowship.
Backpack Giveaway
Our Fall kicked off with an incredible Backpack Giveaway that had a great response from our neighbors! Because of the generosity from some great partners, we were able to hand out over 100 backpacks that were filled with school supplies and a children’s Bible! We also were able to meet many of our neighbors who we previously didn’t know, which has already given us a great deal of credibility in our neighborhood!
Core Team Meetings
We have begun having regular Core Team meetings with individuals who are committed to planting Gospel City Fellowship and serving on our ministry team. This is an incredible group of people who are quickly becoming family to us. Each person brings with them a unique set of talents that will be valuable to our community as we minister to our community. On our team we have worship leaders, artists, children’s ministry leaders, disciple group leaders, a videographer, and more! Each of them are passionate about seeing God move in Sunnyside through planting Gospel City! Some have grown up in Queens and others have answered God’s calling to relocate here to New York City! It has been exciting to partner with this extraordinary group of individuals!
Park Ministry
Much of our ministry focus in the neighborhood has been at Rainbow Park. This is a place of intersection for many people who live in our community. On any given day, you will interact with individuals from all walks of life. On one side of the park, you’ll see older men from all over the world playing cards just a few steps away from high school aged kids playing basketball. A short walk from the basketball courts are playgrounds crawling with young kids and their parents.
Through regularly going to this park, we have met many parents who we’ve been steadily building relationships with. It has been so helpful in learning about the needs in our community and how our church can step into those spaces to meet needs.
As a church, we’ve been able to have a regular presence in the park that has proven to be a great way to connect with our neighbors. We’ve partnered with other neighborhood groups to organize park clean-ups and beautification projects. Through picking up trash, planting flowers, and laying mulch, we’ve been able to communicate Christ’s love in tangible ways. We’ve also had several conversations about our new church coming to the community!
This past month, we had the opportunity to partner with several other churches in our community to have a Halloween Outreach at Astoria Heights Playground! We had an amazing turnout of people as we handed out over 200 bags of candy to children in our community!
Looking Ahead
As we head into the holiday season, we’re going to continue to give people an accurate picture of Jesus through the way that we love and serve our neighbors. We’re looking ahead to a Coat Giveaway event that we’re doing on December 4th. Because of the generosity of some of our partners, we’re able to bless over 200 individuals with a brand new coat this Winter! At this event, we’ll have a mission team who will be registering these individuals and will have the opportunity to personally share the Gospel and pray with every willing individual. We’re praying for God to communicate His love in a really tangible way on December 4th!
We are also ramping up the regularity of Gospel City Fellowship events and meetings. In addition to meeting with our Core Team, we are planning on starting Disciple Groups for our community. These will be spaces where people can discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus in the midst of a caring community.
Year End Giving
Everything we’ve been able to do already has been made possible by the generosity of churches and individuals who have faithfully supported us through prayer and financial support through regular weekly and monthly contributions. You have had directly impacted hundreds of families here in New York City. Every spiritual conversation, prayer with a neighbor, park cleanup, school partnership, or any other spiritual work is possible because of God’s provision through you.
These gifts provided for the personal and financial needs for us to be able to minister to the specific needs of our neighborhood. If you’ve ever prayed, partnered with us on mission, or given financially toward the work we’re doing, thank you!
As we continue to look ahead to launching in 2022, we hope to build our staff and empower them to lead ministries that positively impact our community. We are also preparing to launch Sunday services in 2022. Both of these endeavors increase our financial needs significantly.
We are in great need to start 2022 off strong financially. Would you consider making a one-time gift or commit to monthly giving? One-time gifts will help us start strong financially this upcoming year by giving us freedom to meet needs immediately as they arise. Monthly commitments help us plan our regular on-going community ministry. Both are essential in this season of church planting.
Our mission is bold and costly but is made possible through the faithful support of churches and individuals like you!