Paul Andrew

Pastor Paul Andrew serves as a Lead Pastor at Liberty Church alongside of his wife, Pastor Andi Andrew. Paul and Andi planted the church after moving to New York City from Sydney in 2010. Liberty Church is a diverse, vibrant and generational. It is committed to involvement in the wider community on a local and global level. The couple have developed a "2020 Vision." Their goal is to have an impact on 10 communities over the course of 10 years, or by 2020. Projects have begun in Lower Manhattan, Union Square and Montauk. The couple is also building communities in Brooklyn, where they live and across the pond, in London, England.

In addition to being a Lead Pastor of the church, Paul Andrew is also the owner and head of The Leadership Coach, which he created in 2008. As the Leadership Coach, Andrew provides leadership strategies to business leaders that allow them to maximize on their potential. Topics he's covered recently include becoming an industry leader, finding success as a team and effective ways to motivate employees.

The Andrew family currently live in Brooklyn, NY with their four children. Family is important to Paul. Liberty Church offers a number of family-focused programs, including marriage counseling from Paul’s parents-in-law, Bob and Mavis Green, and the Liberty Kids church service designed for the youngest church members. The couple also founded Liberty City, Inc, a charity organization that helps people in challenging circumstances.

Paul Andrew is from Sydney, Australia. His commitment to the church brought him and his family halfway across the world to New York City in 2010. Paul knew from a young age that he wanted to devote his life to the church and serving others. He became a Christian at the age of 16 and dedicated his life to Jesus from then on.

Bible College

Paul Andrew attended Hillsong Bible College, now known as Hillsong International Leadership College. He met his future wife, Andi, at the college. Andi was originally from Spokane, WA but had traveled to Australia. Hillsong College specializes in equipping local church leaders and provides students with the opportunity to put what they learn to use by delivering sermons at Hillsong Church. Formerly a staff member of Hillsong Church, Paul Andrew is appreciative of the lessons and training he received there.

Move to New York City

Moving to New York City is a major life change for many people. The city can be difficult to get a foothold in, the prices are high, and there’s a new culture to adapt to. But, the Andrews felt the call to head to the Big Apple to plant a church and they followed the call. They left Hillsong Church and Australia and relocated around the globe, where they began planting the seeds for a new church.

The beginnings for Liberty Church were very humble. Paul Andrew and his wife and kids held church services on a bench in Central Park. Initially, just a few of the couple's friends attended the impromptu park bench services. Eventually, more and more people began to attend the Sunday morning meetings, meaning the church had to find a new and larger location.

The idea of the Community Groups was born and the Andrews began to host Family Dinners on Sunday nights. The family dinners were a great opportunity to build relationships and disciple people. The gatherings quickly grew, with as many as 40 people occasionally attending the dinners. The size of the dinners was too big for the Andrew's home, so they decided to start meeting in a lounge that overlooked Wall Street.

As the church continued to grow, it became clear that they would need a regular place to meet and more frequent meeting. The church and Paul Andrew reached out to the Association of Related Churches (ARC) for help establishing the church. ARC provided support to Liberty Church and helped them form a launch team. The monthly Gatherings of the church soon outgrew the Wall Street location.

In November, 2010, the church moved to a much larger location, at the Tribeca Cinemas in Lower Manhattan. In January 2011, the church began holding weekly services at the Cinemas. Each service was typically full to capacity. From that point, the church continued to grow, and established kids' ministries, women's ministries and outreach for college students.

Union Square

As Liberty Church continued to move forward opportunities began to present themselves to impact other neighborhoods of the city. Paul Andrew and Andi Andrew worked with Sebastian Buffa who moved to New York to help the church launch a second community. The team prayed about it and were led to launch a second church in Union Square, Manhattan. The church in Union Square offered an evening service, which was designed to make it possible for people to attend who could not attend a Sunday morning service.

In September 2011, Liberty Church in Union Square held its first service. The new location allowed the church to reach new people who would never have made it to the Tribeca location. Meanwhile, the church in Tribeca continued to grow. Due to space constraints, they moved from the Tribeca Cinemas location to the Scholastic Theater in SoHo in May of 2012.

Church Vision

Liberty Church's vision consists of three parts: community, catalyst and cause. As a community, the church is a group of believers who are united by their faith. They are more than a crowd gathering on Sunday mornings or evenings. The church hopes the community reflects the larger community around them.

The church also hopes to be a catalyst for change in the community and to bring transformation to people through the power of God. Discipleship through community groups plays a big role in bringing about change in people. The third part of the church' vision, cause, refers to lifting up the cause of God and uniting people through Jesus.

Community Groups

The larger Liberty Church community is divided into smaller community groups. These groups meet regularly midweek at locations around the city. The groups each have different focus points and meet at different times. Some of the groups are for women of the church, others are for men and some are for both men and women.

Grow

Paul Andrew and Liberty Church offer a Grow course for people who are looking to join the Liberty community. Grow is offered right after church services at both locations on the first four Sundays of each month. The course is made up of four 45-minute sessions. It's designed to introduce people to the church, its story, its leaders and its vision and beliefs. Grow is for anyone who is interested in finding out what their place in the church is.

Liberty Sisterhood

Liberty Sisterhood is a movement within the church. Its mission is to allow women to live out God's plan for their lives on earth. The group is a community of women that is committed to praying for one another, to living as God intended them and to serving others in the world as Jesus would. Liberty Sisterhood holds several gatherings throughout the year, including service gatherings, connect groups and nights out.

Leadership

Paul Andrew is not just a committed leader of a church. He also has put his talents for leadership to use by forming his own company, The Leadership Coach. He founded the company in 2008 and continues to make appearances as keynote speaker. As The Leadership Coach, Paul Andrew has worked with companies such as Wells Fargo, Gloria Jeans Coffees and Flight Centre.

Vision for the future is part of the mission of Liberty Church and Paul Andrew. The church as a 10-year plan for outreach and growth. Through the 10-year plan, they hope to reach 10 new communities within the next decade

2020 Vision

Paul Andrew believes in the church as a community and the impact that community can have on the city and the world. The vision for Liberty Church involves building community among the church attendees and members and using the community of the church to reach out to the larger community. So far, the church has established two communities in Lower Manhattan and Union Square, as well as a pop-up church in Montuak.

The next community to be established will be in Brooklyn. The goal is to start having weekly services in the borough starting in early 2014. Liberty Church is currently looking for volunteers who are interested in attending church in Brooklyn.

A fifth community is planned for a more far flung location in 2014. By the fall of 2014, Liberty Church hopes to plant a community in London, England. The launch team for London includes Ian and Janelle Halfpenny, who will serve as pastors for the church.

Liberty City

Along with growing the church to a number of communities, Paul Andrew and Andi Andrew are also committed to outreach. The couple founded Liberty City, Inc, which has a number of initiatives and projects that seek to help people overcome challenges, both in New York City and around the world.