New Day Stories
Our Story
August 11, 2009 | Posted by Doug
At New Day Church we always have a time for conversations during worship. We tried it at our first worship service and the energy was so vibrant that we made it a regular feature. When Jorman first started coming to New Day, he said, “Those tables are gonna keep me coming back.” We get to know each other around the tables and it’s great to be able to have a meaningful conversation about the scripture and the theme for the day.
The principles which unites us at New Day Church are:
1) connecting with God and following Jesus in a relationship that transforms lives,
2) crossing boundaries of race, class, sexual orientation and age to transform community; and .
3) confronting social injustice with the compassion and abundance of God to transform society.
Doug Cunningham, Sheila Beckford, Jorge Lockward, and Lisa Cunningham formed a leadership team which began meeting regularly through the summer of 2008. Doug, a United Methodist minister, was appointed to this ministry by Bishop Jeremiah Park of the New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Lisa, who was just graduating from college and preparing to join the New York City Teaching Fellows, committed herself to helping lead this new ministry. Sheila, a recent graduate of Drew Theological Seminary, also felt called to this justice and boundary crossing ministry, as did Jorge, who is the director of Global Praise for the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.
We led New Day Church’s first public worship service on October 19, 2008 at the Fox Funeral Home on Grand Concourse at 201st Street with 37 people present. The new congregation continued to worship monthly moving to the Bronx High School of Science in November.
On March 15, 2009 New Day United Methodist Church began weekly worship with 150 people joining in the grand opening celebration. Following Easter, we launched “Six Weeks of Spiritual Growth” from April 19-May 24, 2009, Our next series was “God’s Abundance.” The church moved to Lehman college during the summer of 2009 and then to the Academy of Mt. St. Ursula beginning in September, 2009. We worship there each Sunday at 11:00 a.m. See the Worship page for details.
Reflections on our Grand Opening
March 15, 2009 | Posted by Doug
Our grand opening came together in an exhilirating time of worship and celebration! We borrowed 150 chairs from three churches, and we used them all.
After worship Joseph and I were returning chairs to Grace Church in Manhattan. We loaded them 50 high on a dolly and pushed them from the truck toward the church. Then we came to the curb. How were we going to get this heavy load over the curb? Joseph looked at me and said, “Have faith.”
I must admit, I had my doubts. But Joseph confidently pushed ahead. We tried tilting the load back and pushing forward. My doubts were increasing, but Joseph remained confident. A man was walking down the sidewalk - Joseph said, “Would you mind giving us a hand?” The man willingly agreed, and the three of us were able to get the load up on the sidewalk without too much trouble. Joseph, moving forward confidently in faith, was looking for solutions and found one.
I believe God wants us all to thrive and will send us solutions, ideas, energy, and people to make great things happen. And after yesterday’s grand opening - one of many amazing experiences along this road - I believe we’re in for a fantastic journey at New Day Church!
New Day’s Eve
December 31, 2008 | Posted by Jason
New Year’s Eve wonders what the next 12 months will bring. There’s future expectation, but also present reality. This New Year’s Eve the snow is falling gently, the air is cold. My daughter is frantically finishing 6 college applications due in the next six hours. We’re all reading and critiquing her college essay. It’s College Eve. Where will she go? How far away will she be? How will she like it? Who will she meet? How much will it cost?
It’ll soon be Inauguration Eve - the beginning of a new era in U.S. politics? an awakening to justice, civil rights, peace, hope? Anticipation but also present reality. Crisis all around us, Change is in the air.
New Day’s Eve. A vision of connecting, crossing and confronting coming into being. Anticipation and also present reality - people with skin and ideas and passions worshiping God together, getting to know one another around tables. What will we do together? Who will we become? What impact will we make in this community? How will we change? We’re already changing.