Celebrating Christ serving brooklyn Contents

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a Commitment to brooklyn. It’s a succinct image that everyone will be able to connect with Brooklyn. This fits in line with our desire to be a church that loves and serves our borough.

a Commitment to the historiC ChurCh. The neo-gothic architecture of the bridge along with addition of the ‘rose window’ envisions the cathedral architecture of historic churches in our borough and throughout the world. This represents our commitment to the historic Christian faith and our hope in God’s work in His church throughout all ages.

a Commitment to Cultivating Change. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ brings hope to every aspect of our creation. Therefore, as a church, we are committed to serving in existing structures to help bring the good news of Jesus to our city.

With the introduction of our name we have also introduced a new logo. We chose the bridge logo because we believe it communicates several important commitments of our church:

Spring iS a time of renewal, so it is fitting that we gather our church together every Spring to renew our vision and calling to God’s Favorite Borough. Our annual meeting attends to the “business” of the church: we hear ministry reports, receive financial updates, introduce new ministry initiatives and elect representatives to lead the congregation. But this is not a business meeting. Rather, it is a “covenant renewal” at which we recommit ourselves and our resources to loving and serving our neighbors.

At the core of Resurrection Brooklyn’s vision are the beliefs that the gospel changes everything, that serving in cities like Brooklyn is the most strategic way to reach our society with the good news, and that to do this, we cannot simply be a church that exists for the sake of its own members. Instead, we must realize that Resurrection Brooklyn is a priesthood of believers brought together by God to build a church for our neighbors. And we believe the best way to accomplish this task is to establish congregations in multiple neighborhoods. This past year, we have made significant institutional changes that will enable us to more effectively accomplish this vision.

First, as most of you have noticed, we have changed the name of our network to Resurrection Brooklyn. For many years, we have been serving our borough as part of a network of institutions united in mission but divided by name. In December, our members voted to change our name to Resurrection Brooklyn and each of our congregations has followed suit. Though our corporate structure remains unchanged, we believe changing our name in this way better reflects the unity we enjoy in this network, promotes greater connectivity among our congregations and communicates our relationships more clearly to our members and to those “looking in”.

So even though our new name may feel strange at first—even I’m having a hard time remembering to say “Resurrection Park Slope”—we believe this change will help us better serve our congregants and our neighbors.

Second, we have affiliated our network with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), a denomination rooted in the historic Christian faith and committed to the proclamation of the Gospel through the life of the church. We have already formed a mutually beneficial relationship that is enabling us to be a blessing to our neighbors. Even before our affiliation was “official”, the churches in the EPC generously provided funds for disaster relief and the denomination featured our work in many of their publications. And as the EPC seeks to start new churches across the country, they are looking to our network for assistance with leadership training and organizational structure. Working together with the EPC and Redeemer City to City will enable us to realize our vision for many new neighborhood congregations.

We hope that as you hear all that God is doing in and through our congregations, that you will recommit yourself to the vision of being the people of God for the sake of the city.

warmly,

MATT BROWn

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inCome 2012 2011 Change

total internal giving 969,620 776,486 25%

total external giving 245,621 292,702 -16%

internal grant inCome1 188,931 185,865 2%

total $1,404,172 $ 1,254,626 12%

1 Internal Grant income is additional external income that has been designated to a specific intern or pastor. Each

church planting intern and assistant pastor has a “fund” to which external supporters donate. That money is then

moved via internal grant into a specific congregation for an assistant pastor or Brooklyn Church Project for a church

planting intern.

2 Central Services represents the shared expenses among the congregations and Brooklyn Church Project. Therefore

we divide the cost of Central Services among the other congregations and Brooklyn Church Project according to the

percentage of the budget. So Park Slope pays 46%, Williamsburg pays 24%, Clinton Hill pays 15%, and Brooklyn

Church Project pays 15%.

Thank you for giving to Resurrection Brooklyn in 2012. Your giving has supported pastoral staff, church planting interns, local and global missions, numerous community ministries and other necessary expenses allowing our young church to love and serve Brooklyn and beyond.

Overall internal giving, which included Park Slope, Williamsburg, and Clinton Hill totaled $969,620 in 2012, up 25% when compared to 2011. not including the Sandy Relief fund, external giving decreased 16% in 2012 primarily because Brooklyn Church Project did not bring on a new intern who would have raised external funds. Consequently, Brooklyn Church Project expenses were also lower. The net effect was a surplus of $56,796. Resurrection finished the year with $715,205 in reserves.

expenses 2012 2011 Change

Congregations 956,154 764,454 25%

bCp 188,002 255,791 -27%

Central serviCes2 203,220 169,121 20%

total $1,347,376 $1,189,366 13%

net operating total 2012 2011

$56,796 $65,260

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38%

20%

17%

13%

12%

2013 budget summary

Central ServiCeS

Park SloPe

WilliamSburg

Clinton Hill

bCP

Based on our total 2012 income of $1,404,172 we will need a 14% increase in income to cover our 2013 budget. Please keep the finances of Resurrection in your prayers as we seek to expand our ministries in the coming year.

graCe anD peaCe,

CHRIS HILDEBRAnD

Executive Pastor

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the vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. nothing else—not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes —will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. this is an eyebrow raising statement. but to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial.

tim keller, Senior Pastor Redeemer Presbyterian Church Manhattan

In 2012, we were privileged to give $74,326 to local and global mission projects. In addition we gave $19,541 out of our mercy fund, while bringing $31,312 into the mercy fund through giving from the congregations. The Mercy Fund had $74,173 in its account at the end of 2012. The Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund had $85,372 in its account at the end of 2012.

The total Resurrection budget for 2013 is $1,602,248. The primary factors contributing to the budget increase are central office space and expected increases in operating expenses including site insurance and health care costs for all staff. Below you can see the breakdown in the budget for each entity.

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SeCtion ii:

Congregational updates

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Greetings from Resurrection Park Slope. On March 14, our congregation celebrated 9 years of existence and our last year has been further evidence of God’s grace working in and through us.

A recurring theme in our annual report this year is our congregational move into new worship space. At our last annual meeting, we had moved to an afternoon service at Greenwood Baptist Church. While we were grateful for God’s provision of space, moving the time of our service was difficult for our church and attendance began to decline as families struggled to get their children out of the house in the afternoon. After investigating every known option in Park Slope and finding nothing suitable, God surprised us with better space than we could have anticipated.

In May we received a call from Congregation Beth Elohim, one of the most historic Reform synagogues in Brooklyn, with the news that they would be pleased to host us on Sundays. The sanctuary is a beautiful worship space with light streaming through Tiffany windows and the rest of the facility is more than adequate for our children’s ministry and social events. We signed a lease for one year, which was the longest lease our congregation had ever enjoyed, at a rate slightly less than we were paying at John Jay High School. Most importantly, our relationship with CBE is a mutual blessing and we are renewing our lease for another year. God is very good.

And God’s goodness to our congregation extends well beyond our worship space. We continue to see lives impacted with the Gospel through the various ministries of our congregation. In September we hired Steven Gil to organize our congregation’s outreach and discipleship of kids in middle and high school. Ping and Chi Ling Moy are welcoming

young married couples into their home on a regular basis to talk about God’s design for marriage and to foster a supportive network of relationships. The Mom’s Group continues to nurture moms and kids on Tuesday mornings while reaching out to our community through various events and service projects. And I could go on and on about the wonderful ways God is shaping people through Sunday School, Community Groups and discipleship groups, the Arts Ministry, Mercy Team and all of the special events that fill our calendar. Through all of these ministries, deep friendships are being formed and people are growing in Jesus Christ.

As you keep our congregation in prayer, please ask God to continue to grow our congregation numerically and spiritually. We are thrilled that so many people in and around our neighborhood consider us their church home, but there are tens of thousands of people in Park Slope who do not actively worship Jesus as their Lord and we long to be a church for them.

On behalf of the staff, I can say that it is a pleasure and honor to serve this congregation and participate in all that God is doing in and through the lives of his people at Resurrection Park Slope.

warmly,

MATT BROWn

614 k

730 k

2012 aCtual expenses2013 budget

park slope

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There is much for us to be thankful to God for at Resurrection Williamsburg. As we come to the end of our 8th year as a congregation, I can say that as a pastor I have never been more encouraged by what the Spirit of Christ is doing among, or more proud of our people.

In December, our congregation, which has always met in the afternoon, completed an intensive time of study, prayer and planning by adding a service at 10:00am. While there have been several bugs that needed to be worked out for this new service (including making sure that the heat was on! Brrrrr!!!), it has been a great blessing and benefit to our church and to the many newcomers that we have seen attending both services. This can be seen not only in the growth of our morning Children’s Ministry, and the rise in attendance (at our Easter services we had a combined attendance of 270), but in the growth that has come in seeing new people step to use the gifts that God has given them.

One of the ways that our church has been using their gifts is through our Social Justice Committee. This committee has as its aim not only to answer the call of Jesus to “proclaim good news to the poor…liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19), but to help our whole church grow in those same endeavors. They have done this by partnering with many local organizations to provide us with ways to tangibly love our neighbors.

It was with sadness that we said goodbye to our longtime Director of Music, Evan Mazunik, who moves on to a new season in his life. Our church has been so blessed and formed by Evan’s faithful and lovely work over the years, and he remains a close friend to our congregation and to me. Since Evan’s departure we have been in the able hands of Evan & Sarah Gregory who are serving as Interim Co-Directors as we search for a more permanent replacement for Evan.

It is a privilege for me to be a part of this network. I love working with all of the pastors and staff of Resurrection Brooklyn, and it is a joy be a pastor at Resurrection Williamsburg.

PASTOR VITO AIuTO

Williamsburg

316 k

390 k

2012 aCtual expenses2013 budget

Here is my signature.

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If this is an annual report, well, one year ago the Clinton Hill congregation had only recently opened its doors for worship for the first time. As with any exciting new project our first year has been marked by tons of creative energy, the fun of first-time experiences, and the inevitable challenge of finding our footing. Through it all—the ups and downs—we at Resurrection Clinton Hill are convinced God has been very generous to us this year in getting us off to a good start as a worshiping and serving community. Here are a few specifics and prayer requests.

plaCe of Worship: In a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood—in which that process also falls largely along racial divides—it has been a beautiful and important part of our story to start our life as a new church welcomed and hosted by, and in many ways depending upon and learning from, an historic African-American Baptist church in Clinton Hill. That relationship blossomed throughout the year as our churches learned from one another and culminated in a powerful joint Christmas Eve service that we plan to continue. After one year, though, we outgrew the space they had for us and needed room for other ministry opportunities.

Since February we’ve been worshiping in the very colorful and ornate sanctuary of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (still at 5 pm). St. Mary’s is on the border of Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy and across from one of the main entrances to the Pratt Institute. So far, we’ve been able to spread our wings a little more in this space and feel more permanent, but it also requires a new level of responsibility and labor from our people. Pray that we will mature enough to have a very large team of eager volunteers in all the various areas of need.

pratt ministry: Our ministry at the Pratt Institute is now recognized by the campus and we’ve named it ‘the Art/Faith Collective’. We have about 10 students involved at one level or another, and a number of those are not involved at our church. We’re meeting monthly for ‘Dinner Club’ with intentional discussions and also have a good team of student leaders. Pratt has over 4,000 students; it’s a very influential art school and is central to the life of the neighborhood. Please pray that God would mightily use the A/FC in the lives of Pratt students and staff in the years to come.

pastoral staff: Whether it be needs in the Pratt ministry, in volunteer recruitment and organization, neighborhood service projects, worship leading and preaching, or simply the many pastoral needs of our people, it has grown more and more obvious to us that additional staff (an intern or pastor) would be deeply helpful to me and to our congregation. Please pray that God would soon provide just the right person for our congregation and for our unique mission in Clinton Hill.

graCe & peaCe,

JAMISOn GALT

193 k240 k

2012 aCtual expenses2013 budget

Clinton hill

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First, I want to thank the members of Resurrection Brooklyn. Thank you for allowing me to serve in the role of directing our church’s relief efforts. You have been patient, flexible, and generous to allow this shift in my responsibilities. I also thank you for sacrificially giving your time, money, blood, sweat, and tears to serve those affected by Superstorm Sandy. To date, Resurrection Brooklyn Relief has employed about 440 volunteers, roughly 2,700 volunteer hours toward relief efforts. You account for many of those volunteer hours and more as we did not even track all the effort you poured out in those first few weeks after the storm. Thank you!

The membership of Resurrection Brooklyn was blessed to come through Sandy largely unscathed. This put us in the position of being able to give our resources towards those who were not as fortunate. Immediately, we began serving displaced survivors being transferred to temporary shelters in our neighborhoods. Brooklyn Jubilee utilized many of you to assist their efforts in connecting evacuees to resources able to help them begin the long process of putting their lives back together. By the end of week one, many of you began traveling to the flood zones - hiking food, water, and blankets up pitch black stairwells to residents. Our members took in evacuees for periods of time until they could transition to permanent housing. You then helped them move to permanent housing. As referrals came in from home and business owners, you geared up in Personal Protective Equipment, grabbed a stainless steel brush, and began scrubbing mold off walls and floors. You made meals. You gave rides. You looked for apartments. You prayed with and for our neighbors struggling to recover from this tragedy.

While the national media attention has mostly waned and many national, state, and city agencies have moved on, Sandy recovery is far from over. Some estimate it could take three years for our city to recover. Our church hopes to stay involved in this recovery as long as it takes. And even after the last sheet of drywall is hung on a once flooded house, we hope to continue serving our neighbors in the flood zones. Because the truth is, Sandy exposed the many needs these neighborhoods already had. As one survivor stated for the new York Times, “Why wait for tragedy? People suffer every day with this.” You may have noticed that we are trying to use “disaster” to describe our relief efforts less and less, taking the advice of our friends in new Orleans to whom we sent teams to help post-Katrina. Our efforts are not solely in response to the disaster. They are a response to the call to love our neighbor as Christ calls us to, regardless if Sandy directly caused that need.

Continue to pray for our neighbors. Make it out to volunteer work days. Host an out of town team for dinner. Lend a hand to Brooklyn Jubilee. Encourage your friends around the country to send a short term team to Brooklyn. Above all, simply love your neighbor. I am proud to pastor a church who will do just that.

yourS in ChriSt,

BRIAnDirector of Resurrection Relief

“to date, resurrection brooklyn relief has employed about 440 volunteers, roughly 2,700 volunteer hours toward relief efforts.”

resurreCtion relief

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brooklyn felloWs

appliCations for the 2013-2014 brooklyn felloWs are due June 1st and Can be found at www.resurrectionbrooklyn.org-brooklynfellows

Please contact Amy Bowser at amy@resurrectionbrooklyn.org for more information.

Brooklyn Fellows is a new intensive, 9-month discipleship experience designed for 10 members of Resurrection Brooklyn. The inaugural group of Brooklyn Fellows began in September 2013 and is now 8 months through the course, and it is exciting to see how God is using the Fellows in the lives of the participants! Sarah and Evan Gregory are part of this first group and describe the experience this way:

One day, Evan and I received a funny email. The email invited us to consider a new church initiative, elusively called “The Brooklyn Fellows.” We agreed to attend an informational meeting (where we could scope out the other congregants considering the course) and to pray about our potential involvement. After some investigating, we thought, “the reading list is intimidating, the time commitment—daunting, the course description—puzzling. And to top it all off, we’d take the course with a bunch of strangers?”

“Sure, sign us up!”

We volunteered as guinea pigs for this new program because we trusted Amy Bowser and our pastors. We also agreed with the general vision to “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” in creative ways. And we felt called to take a closer walk with God’s word, study the works of Christian thinkers and “to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Although we were anxious, we thought God would be pleased if we spent our time and energy in this way.

now, six months later we find ourselves halfway through the course. We’ve delved into God’s call to us (as individuals and as a body) in our work, our community, and our larger culture. We’ve taken a bird’s-eye view of our collective place in the the larger gospel story. We’ve zoomed in

for a close look at the gospel story playing out specifically in our own lives. Currently we’re studying how that Gospel story guides the church. How do we act out redemption in our lives, keeping in mind God’s original intent for His creation and His final redemptive plans for His Kingdom?

If this description seems a bit heady, it’s because it is.

Our experience as Brooklyn Fellows has been imaginative, compelling and confusing. It’s been like a not-so-intuitive, but deeply-resonant dance between the mind, spirit, and body—set to a symphony of God’s instruments (His word, His Spirit and His people). In more concrete words, the course blends academic study, spiritual practice and relational learning. ultimately, the goal of the course seems to be “graduating” with Spirit-led convictions and tools to imbue God’s redemption into our vocations, our congregations and ultimately our culture at large.

To speak plainly, we’re glad to be a part of this inaugural course. We hope to see it develop further in coming years and to include more of us.

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merCy team

the resurrection brooklyn mercy team exists to embody the kingdom of god by providing care for those in our church who have financial, physical, spiritual, or emotional needs and to equip the members of our congregations to help care for one another.

All of us are asked to be merciful. It is part of what makes our church a community. We are to pray for one another, to love one another and to confess to each other. We are also asked to address each other’s tangible physical needs. It is the job of the Mercy Team to respond quickly, meeting with the individual in need and determining not only what they want but what they need. Each encounter involves leading with mercy and putting your faith into action.

Mostly (but not always) people come to the Mercy Team asking for emergency funds: an unexpected medical bill, a death in the family, or a sudden job loss can quickly upset fragile finances. Sometimes the need is precipitated by other deeper concerns: a lack of a clear understanding about how to handle the money they have, lack of knowledge of available options, a need to make sometimes difficult changes in their lives. This may mean getting involved in their lives in ways that may be uncomfortable for them. But our God is concerned with our whole being and so must we.

Yet, as our purpose statement suggests, we also want to equip our congregations to help care for one another. The new Testament talks about the church as a family, and families care for one another. So our goal is to continue to provide immediate care for those who need it, but also to provide resources that will allow all of us to bear one another burden’s as the Apostle Paul calls us to in Galatians 6.

There are two ways that you can help us in both of these endeavors. First, during the Sundays of Easter Season we are receiving an offering for the Mercy Fund. Your generosity with this offering allows us to provide financial help to those in our midst who need. So consider giving to our fund.

Second, please pray for the Mercy Team. We need God’s wisdom to guide us to make wise decisions as we enter into peoples lives, and we need hearts that move towards our church family with love and humility of Jesus Christ.

thank you,

MARY zIMMERMAnMercy Team Director

resurreCtion brooklyn staff direCtoryreSurreCtion Brooklyn ChurCh offiCe174 Prospect Park West, Apt 1LBrooklyn, nY 11215Phone: 718.369.7972

Vito aiutoLead Pastor, Resurrection Williamsburgvito@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 104

amy BowSerAdministrator, Resurrection BrooklynDirector of Spiritual Formation, Resurrection Brooklynamy@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 103

matt BrownSenior Pastor, Resurrection BrooklynLead Pastor, Resurrection Park Slopematt@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 101

marC ChoiAssistant Pastor, Resurrection Park Slopemarc@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 107

JamiSon galtLead Pastor, Resurrection Clinton Hilljamison@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 105

ChriS hilDeBranDExecutive Pastor, Resurrection BrooklynDirector of Church Plantingchris@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 109

DaViD StanCilAssistant Pastor, Resurrection Williamsburgdavid@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 106

Brian SteaDmanDirector of Disaster ReliefAssistant Pastor, Resurrection Park Slopebrian@resurrectionbrooklyn.orgext. 22

resurreCtion brooklyn trustees & session Candidatesping moy

Brian pruitt

DaViD DiShman

resurrectionbrooklyn.org