Mission
Liberti Church Northeast seeks to live, speak, and serve as the very presence of Jesus for Northeast Philadelphia and surrounding area.
Vision & Purpose
Following Christ into battle for hearts and minds in our region
The word "Liberti" is Latin for "freed people." And, as a church in the Liberti Communion of Churches, our desire is for people to experience the freedom only Jesus brings.
Almost half-a-million people reside in Northeast Philadelphia—that's 1/3 of the city! And the Northeast is considered the most under-served, under-churched section of Philadelphia. 1 in 5 residents were born outside the United States. And, if population projections are correct, it's growing at a rapid pace, which means it will be a place of constant change.
And there’s a real, spiritual battle going on for each person’s heart and mind. So the Northeast needs a church who will be there to provide stability and open its arms in the name of Jesus.
Through discipleship, prayer, and evangelism, we follow Christ into that battle to reach our neighbors and transform neighborhoods by advancing the gospel, empowering our members, and developing leaders.
Values & Practices
WHAT WE VALUE
Worship
All of life is worship. We are all worshippers, whether we admit it or not. Because we were created for worship, when we do not worship God we worship other finite things; we set our hearts on relationships, careers, money, accomplishments, approval, comfort, power. These are all things that we tend to ‘worship,’ instead of worshipping God. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free to worship properly.
Corporate worship is the center of the Christian life. We would love to have you join our worship services. To find when these are happening, check out our events page.
Community
The Church is not an event or a place, but a people. Among the many biblical metaphors for the Church are a body (1 Cor. 12:12-26), a family (Galatians 6:1-2, 10), and a nation (1 Peter 2:9-10). The Christian life, clearly, was never meant to be pursued alone. Therefore, we are committed to loving and spiritually encouraging each other.
We have our home meetings and worship services, but we also have numerous events going on to provide opportunities to strengthen community life.
Mercy
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” - 2 Corinthians 8:9
True Christian mercy and service is not just “charity." Mercy is not motivated by compulsion, duty, or guilt. Christian mercy is rooted in the awareness that we are all recipients of God’s mercy through Jesus Christ – a mercy that we’ve done nothing to deserve. In an effort to model the selfless love of Christ to as many as possible, part of the mission of our church is to love the people in our area through acts of service, and also dream about what our neighborhoods could become.
HOW we Practice THESE THINGS
In Our Worship
Gospel Centrality | We see all of life, the scriptures, and the church through the lens of the gospel. We teach with the understanding that all of the scriptures point to Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all God’s promises. It is the good news of Jesus that motivates us to live, speak, and serve as his very presence––and not moralism, intellectualism, or mere experience.
Winsomely Reformed | We are led by pastors and elders that embrace the Reformed articulation of the Christian faith while seeking to live with humility and gratitude as we learn from other faithful traditions in the body of Christ.
Contextualized | We seek to reflect the community in which we gather, live, and serve, rooting ourselves in the particular place and context that God has placed them in.
Liturgical | We rehearse and narrate the movements of the Gospel in our worship gathering, and we seek to benefit from the riches of historic Christian worship and to express these riches in our worship gatherings.
Hospitable | We are hospitable, welcoming those who have yet to embrace Christianity but are willing to have their questions, doubts, and struggles both honored and addressed.
In Our Community
Covenantal | We cultivate community where people are called to see themselves and each other not as consumers of “church" but as covenantal members in the body of Christ.
Partnership | We are committed to working together with other Liberti Churches in mission, for the sake of the kingdom of God.
Ecumenical | We are committed to partnering as churches in mission together with all of Christ’s church that confess historic Christian faith.
In Acts of Mercy
Compassion | We are committed to demonstrating the compassion and justice of the Gospel in tangible ways, to the neediest people and most broken places in our region and world.
Church Planting | We believe that the most effective way to reach the world for Jesus is to plant new churches and are committed to supporting the efforts of church planting both locally and globally.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What’s the deal with your name? “Liberti” is the Latin word for the “freed people” in ancient society who were formerly in bondage but were now free because their ransom had been paid. The name “Liberti” has both a gospel connection because Jesus brings real freedom to us and to this broken world, and it also connects us to the history of the Philadelphia region that we love.
Q: I'm not sure if I’m a Christian, am I welcome at Liberti Church? Absolutely. Liberti welcomes those who have not embraced Christianity and are willing to have their questions, doubts, and struggles honored and addressed. We desire and expect spirituals seekers and skeptics to be present at everything we do.
Q: Why do you care so much about planting a church? We believe that when Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” he truly intended it as commission for his people throughout all of history. Jesus calls his followers to spread his good news, which will lead to new communities of Jesus being formed and new churches being planted!
Q: Is Liberti Church Northeast part of church denomination? Nope. Instead, we are part of the Liberti communion of churches which considers itself part of the Reformed “branch” of the Christian family. Check out our beliefs here.