The Christian Community of New York City

WHO WE ARE

 The Christian Community is a worldwide movement that seeks to create a sacramental community around the healing presence of Christ in the age of the free individual.

Our congregation is part of a wider international movement for the renewal of Christian religious life, founded in 1922 in Switzerland with the help of Rudolf Steiner.
New York City was the first congregation in North America, founded in 1948.

 

There are currently approximately 350 independent Christian Community congregations worldwide, with 14 full-time congregations (having a resident priest) in the US and Canada.  Sacraments are also celebrated at over 30 affiliated congregations in other locations through priestly visits.

We seek to create and lead healthy, independent congregations striving to recognize the living Christ in every person and in all of creation, and build communities where a wide diversity of individuals can thrive and grow together.

Our home at 309 West 74th street
in Manhattan

Worship

 

We hold quiet and reverent eucharist services twice a week

The heart of our religious practice is the Eucharist, the Sacrament of bread and wine, in a renewed form. This renewal of the archetypal form of early Christian worship, the Mass, is called The Consecration of the Human Being.

This unusual name expresses that the ultimate goal of our lives is to become more truly human, and more fully ourselves. Christ, who himself became a human being, enlivens our true humanity and leads the way to moral creativity and living decisively. He gives his healing, transformative power to those who seek, recognize, and follow him in freedom.

 

This healing presence is at work most potently in the seven Sacraments, which we celebrate in a renewed form, where the thoughtful, heartfelt, and devotional participation of the congregation and the words and gestures of the celebrating priest work together to form a vessel for the grace of God to pour into the world.

  • The Consecration of the Human Being is the heart of our sacramental life. It is a renewal of the archetypal form of early Christian worship, the Mass, and aims to connect the becoming individual to human/spiritual community.

  • The Sacrament of Consultation (by request and confidential) is religious counseling for one’s life destiny and supports individual efforts to take responsibility for life.

  • Baptism receives the child into the religious community, represented particularly by the godparents. It brings Christ’s power of transformation into the soul and body of the incarnating child.

  • Confirmation takes place at the age of 14, as a rite of passage bringing Christ’s light and strength to human beings as they are blessed and burdened by puberty’s gifts and begin to seek their own path into life.

  • The sacrament of marriage consecrates the decision of a man and woman to share community of life, supported by two chosen witnesses who represent the community in its desire to accompany, and support the couple. The aim of this sacrament being available only to opposite sex partners is expressly intended to spiritually heal the original division of the sexes into male and female, and as such is not applicable for same-sex couples.

    We do, however, also support same-sex couples wishing to marry within a religious context by offering a ritual service created in consultation with a priest. We do not yet have a unified form across our churches, but it is a work-in-progress!

  • The Last Anointing gives an individual spiritual strength to face the crisis at the threshold between the world of earth and heaven. It can help individuals in dying to free themselves from the body and move into body-free spiritual life.

  • The Sacrament of Ordination. The sacraments are performed by a priest through the power conferred by the Sacrament of Ordination. From its beginning, the Christian Community has ordained both women and men, including members who identify as LGBTQIA. Our priesthood is founded out of the spiritual individuality of a person.

A festival table for the Children: Saint Brigid inspires a story, song, and activity with the children, making walnut shell candle boats on a Sunday in February.

 

Painting the Madonna together after church during the season of Advent

Finding Community

Beyond the renewing power of the sacraments, people need meaningful community and a place to belong, where a shared seeking for the spirit is enlivened by the individual gifts that each person brings. Our after-church programs on Sundays serve to awaken the hearts and minds of participants and make space for getting to know one another. Potluck lunches, talks, artistic activities and performances are all regular happenings. Check out our Events page for upcoming opportunities!

 

A note on the sacraments

Sacraments are deeds of intention and a way to practice shifting our consciousness and reality. We can learn to hear Christ speaking to us through the Sacraments, and we can participate in his ongoing deed of transforming our earth and our humanity. We seek to re-enliven our souls in such a way that our thinking, feeling and willing devotion become vessels for the healing Word of God.