For 20 years, Liberti Church River Wards has sought to live, speak, and serve as the very presence of Jesus in the River Wards community. Throughout that time, the emphasis has been placed on church planting and outward vitalization. And though our church remained nomatic, by God’s grace we always had a place to gather.
But for the past few years, our church and its opportunities for service have been evolving. Yes, our congregation is more diverse, has more children, and stretches beyond our zip code, but the needs of our surrounding community have changed as well. An opioid epidemic at an all-time high, plummeting literacy rates, and a rise in crime have become more frequent things on our doorstep, except… it’s never really been our doorstep.
It’s time to invest in the neighborhood in a way that enables us to approach these topics. A permanent home for Liberti River Wards would give us a space to invite people for healing, education, warmth, and help in countless ways, and we as a congregation are ready and eager to give more of ourselves to the neighborhood we love.
Portside Arts Center at Lehigh St & Belgrade St is for sale, and could not be better suited to our needs. Prayerfully but urgently, we are raising $1,000,000 for the purchase and renovation of this building.
LIBERTI CHURCH RIVER WARDS IS FUNDRAISING FOR THE PURCHASE AND RENOVATION OF PORTSIDE ARTS CENTER
The property is a two-story 6,000 sf building located at Lehigh & Belgrade, and it has been a landmark of community engagement throughout its former life as the Portside Arts Center. The location is at the epicenter of where our members live, but also directly among areas of all kinds of need.
A number of church members with specialties ranging from construction, development, real estate, and finance, have toured the building and determined it to be in extremely good condition at a reasonable price. It is not a shell, but it is not quite move-in ready either. The first few months of ownership would involve some basic renovations to get it to meet our current church needs. Then, we would outfit it further (patiently, in phases) as we learn more from our neighbors and develop ideas of how we could best use it to serve. The potential is enormous.
But some immediate uses come to mind…