In August of 2003, Manhattan Church of Christ hired Joe and Laura Hays to plant a church in Lower Manhattan, to serve people affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. They began working with Manhattan Church to research the area and begin the planning stages of this endeavor.

In the Fall of 2004, the Hays began actively recruiting members of Manhattan Church of Christ to help in the planting of this church, now slated for Downtown Brooklyn where we found there was great need in the community. By October of that year, roughly 20 people committed to be a part of this new church, many of whom remain an active presence at Christ’s Church for Brooklyn (CCfB) today.

In the winter of 2005, CCfB began meeting as a congregation in the living room of Joe and Laura’s Boerum Hill apartment, with the intention of having our official launch on Easter of 2005. But in December of 2004, plans for the official launch were put on hold when the Hays family learned that the child they were expecting would be born with severe developmental problems. Plans for an official church launch took second place to the need for prayer, for support, and for waiting on God. We continued to meet as a house church, planning our future and continuing to create a close-knit community of believers, questioners, and questioning believers.

In October of 2005, Joe and Laura received the blessing of finally bringing their son home after six critical months in the hospital. And this meant that CCfB needed a new home. We found a space at the YWCA on Atlantic Avenue. There we began our first intentional efforts to serve our local and global communities: collecting canned goods for Chance for Children as well as our recurring traditions of collecting toiletries for the homeless during Advent, volunteering at the YWCA, and participating in both the MS Walk and AIDS Walk of New York City.

We also began to form a long-term vision for the future – one which imagined CCfB as a vibrant, loving, diverse, generous, active community of God’s people.

After leaving the YMCA, we met for a time in the upstairs chapel from the Seventh Day Adventist Church on South Portland Street, before settling into our current location at PS 261 in September of 2007.

During all of this time, CCfB was monetarily supported by the Manhattan Church of Christ. In February 2009, it was brought to our congregation that they felt it was time for us to become a self-supporting congregation. At this time, the Hays family also made the decision to move to St. Louis, moving closer to their families in preparation for the birth of their third child.

And with this, Christ’s Church for Brooklyn was launched as a lay-led and independent congregation, proud of our heritage yet confident in the freedom of standing on our own.

CCfB is led by students and educators, public servants and business people, each person bringing with them a new perspective on what is needed in our community of faith and in Brooklyn. We are a community, and like all communities we are diverse. Our congregation is made of members from many traditions. But together we strive toward a deeper understanding of God, a closer relationship with Christ, and a fuller commitment to serving people in our city, our nation and our world.