Have you ever attended church in a warehouse? If you’ve been to Hope NYC in Jamaica, NY, you can say that you have. Along the section of Rockaway Blvd closest to John F Kennedy airport, you will see numerous warehouse type buildings lining the street. Because of the proximity to the airport, many are used for cargo and shipping purposes, however, one warehouse has a unique purpose. HopeNYC Church occupies a building that once housed auto parts. It takes vision to see this building as something other than an industrial space. That vision comes from Senior Pastor and Founder, the Preacher Girl herself, Sharo Ramkhelawan.
The building currently houses the HopeNYC sanctuary, Compass Café, and Ark Academy.
Compass Café proudly offers our neighborhood excellent coffee, dreamy desserts, and freshly made breakfast and lunch entrees. All the proceeds from the café go right back into mission work around the world. The purchase of a cup of coffee has far reaching effects such as providing clean water access to the village of Gumbane in Mozambique.
Ark Academy is a one of kind Christian elementary school aiming to raise up the next generation of leaders. Current students range from ages 3-9 years old and grades are added as the children grow and continue their education. The curriculum is completely Christ based with the school day starting off in the presence of God with prayer and worship. The students learn primarily to put Christ first. Besides math and language arts, they are taught Hebrew, robotics, home economics, and prophetic prayer. The Ark Academy students are some of the brightest, intuitive children you’ll meet.
HopeNYC’s mission is to be a home to the disenfranchised, dislocated, and the displaced sons and daughters of God. This mission leads us to host community outreaches and missions projects. In the first week of December, you’ll find the Parade on Rockaway, a true hidden NYC gem. This annual Christmas parade attracts crowds of thousands yearly. Huge floats make their way down Rockaway Blvd marshalled by colorfully bedecked volunteers. The floats are then stored in the unconverted warehouse part of our building until they’re needed for next year.
The weekend of the Christmas parade also includes a holiday winter village shopping experience, a toy giveaway, and a massive Christmas tree lighting.
We put on an annual Easter Egg Hunt with thousands of candy filled eggs catering to the children of our community.
HopeNYC in partnership with the Midwest Food Bank serves as a distribution hub to give hundreds of pallets of food to local churches and organizations. The funds for all these outreach projects come from donations within the HopeNYC congregation.
As HopeNYC continues to grow, we are expanding and renovating our building. What was once a warehouse, will become a campus hub. Nothing like it exists on Rockaway Blvd. It will serve as a home for young, pregnant women without any resources. It will house elementary through high school grades along with an accredited college. The 1000-person sanctuary will also be host to magnificent theater productions. God is working through HopeNYC to reach beyond our warehouse walls to make a lasting impact on our neighborhood and our city.
Again, the vision for all of this comes from God working through one Preacher Girl, Pastor Sharo. PG, know today that whatever God has called you to do on the earth for His kingdom, you are more than capable. Do not hesitate in doing what God tells you to do and do not doubt your calling.