Cultivate NJ

God's Spirit is generously given to us so that we might SEE the beautiful work he's ready to do all around us. Jesus is ready to give rest to the weary, inclusion to the outcast, dignity to those burdened by shame. Surprise Church, you already have all that you need to respond to the needy in your path. Open your eyes, look and be led by God's Spirit today. Preached by Jay Francoeur

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that reveals to us both the HORROR of what we've done to the world, to each other, and to ourselves, and at the same time, reveals the depths of God's love for us and the potency of God's power to save us. Beloved, we are more broken than we imagine and we are more loved than we can fathom. Let’s behold our crucified and risen LOR...

The Holy Spirit has come! In Jesus, God eternally entered into our experience, empathizing with all of our brokenness, sin and shame – Meeting us where we most need his presence and power. Now, through the Spirit, this same God shares the power of presence with us. Just as he came to be with us in Solidarity, Empathy, Harmony, Oneness, LOVE – He now sends us out to do the same for others in supern...

Jesus is Lord right now over the whole cosmos. He rules by sharing his powerful presence with us, His body the church, authorizing us to bear witness to his lordship in every place where his lordship has not yet fully been manifested. Friends, this Jesus meets us in our misconceptions to teach us how to trust him with how he is really present and at work.

Mother's Day 2023 - Since the very beginning women have been leading the church, proclaiming good news, even pastoring and prophesying in the presence of powerful men.  The good news is that God's Spirit isn't sequestered into just 1 gender. God's authority is given to EVERYONE among us. Let us give thanks for women in our midst today. 

Jesus loves and and longs to be with us and is coming soon. As Alpha and Omega, he will gather everything up in God's love and make all things new. He longs for this dream to become reality even more than we do. So it's safe to be present to our longings because in them we discover God. Preached by Jay Francoeur

In the midst of a world where reality often shatters dreams, God invites us to dream alongside him of a better world that is now dawning because Jesus is risen. Message preached by Jay Francoeur

In a world where the ends always justify the means, God gives a new picture of how power works in his kingdom. Jesus, the lamb who was slain, is drawing people who are tired and broken from abusive power into his kingdom of love, submission, and humility. Come to the only shepherd who rules as a lamb as he wipes our tears and leads us to life-giving waters.

The Risen and Ascended Jesus is still speaking and working among all those who fear and doubt. His kingdom is one of liberating love that provides freedom, forgiveness, and flourishing for all. Sermon preached by Jay Francoeur.

Jesus comes to the houses of those who are compromised and complicit in systems of injustice. He comes not to condemn them but to save them and reconcile them back to their community and reveal steps of salvation that result in flourishing for all.

God delights to justify the humble, those who are able to own and repent of their sin, and those who freely ask for mercy. Sermon preached by David Meadows.

In a world under the spell of mammon, Jesus is revealing and making possible the life of the age to come: A life of mutuality and solidarity where the lowly are raised up, the outsiders embraced, and the poor held up as icons of God's image.

In Christ, the old world of status and competition is over. A new creation is here. God moves with compassion toward ALL who are alienated from him, reconciling us to him and each other, celebrating us in his love. Will you drop your judgments and join the party?

The Kingdom of God is not musical chairs. Your place is not up for grabs. You don't need to stay vigilant lest someone slide it away when you're not looking. In fact, you are FREE to OFFER your seat knowing that the Table of God is always expanding. We belong at the table and we belong to one another.

The forces of hell nor the forces of entrenched religious power are enough to stop the mustard seed of God’s kingdom. Right in the middle of all of the internal & external forces that cripple & bind us… Jesus invites us to a place of safety where we can encounter his loving/healing presence.

God's mercy is at work even no,. digging under the surface, reckoning with our hearts and offering his very life to nourish us.

Jesus the incarnate word of God is present among us right here & right now proclaiming a fresh word from God. This word is reshaping the world in the goodness of God, but as it does, it disrupts our anxious clinging to preconceived notions about what God wants & how to be faithful. But there's space for us today, to sit at the feet of Jesus & receive this disruptive, renewing word as w...

Jesus loves us too much to allow us to become disconnected from the real needs of his creation. He is in the business of turning bystanders & spectators into mercy-dispensing, justice-dealing, participants in love.

Our God is always with us. He’s never distracted or too busy. He is always caring, loving and ready to accept us into a closer relationship. Encountering Jesus is life changing and he walks with us every step of the new way he has made possible

Jesus is still at work among us. He's disarming our fears & disrupting the deals we've made to keep those fears at bay. Jesus is protecting & providing today so fear has no dominion here. There is deliverance & healing in the lordship of Jesus.

Jesus turns the tables of power to show us what tables are really for. Instead of hospitality games and power-posturing, Jesus makes a seat for everyone at the table of God. Preached by Jay Francoeur.

Jesus turns the tables of power to show us what tables are really for. Instead of hospitality games and power-posturing, Jesus makes a seat for everyone at the table of God.

(Several interactions with the audience are difficult to hear) Jesus meets us in our confidence and in our despair; when we are full of faith and when all hope seems lost. He meets us in our most vulnerable moments, accommodating himself to the faith we have. He even meets us when we’re too overcome to ask. We are never beyond His help or disqualified by our status or circumstance. He is Faithful!

"For the joy set before him..." and the testimony of Simeon.

The Lord watches over those who keep watch. He sees and joins in the care you give away, even in the darkest of nights. The Lord himself is a shepherd who lays among the shepherds and the sheep, ready to give help & strength to all, especially to the overlooked & failing. The Great Shepherd is here with a word of good news: The work you do is not done in vain.