A 500-Seat Sanctuary, With a School and Skating Rink to Come: A Jamaican-Founded Brooklyn Church Opens Its New Building

• Rehoboth Open Bible Church in Brooklyn dedicated a new multi-purpose building at 888 E56th Street
• The church was founded in 1978 by Jamaican immigrant Rev Easton Grant
• The new facility has a 500-seat sanctuary
• Plans include a K-8 school, youth centre, skating rink and basketball court

A Brooklyn congregation started by a Jamaican immigrant has moved into a building of its own. Rev Dr Alston Henry, former president of the Jamaica Association of Evangelicals and former general superintendent of the Open Bible Standard Churches of Jamaica, led the dedication of Rehoboth Open Bible Church’s new multi-purpose building at 888 E56th Street in Brooklyn, New York, the Gleaner reported on May 19, 2024.

The church was founded in 1978 by Rev Easton Grant and has served as a community anchor for 45 years. It is now led by Jamaica-born Revs Leroy and Dalton Spencer. The new facility includes a 500-seat sanctuary, and future plans include a K-8 school, a youth centre, a skating rink and a basketball court.

Henry said a church’s commitment to serving its community is a foundation for economic prosperity in the area, and described Rehoboth’s mission against crime and substance abuse as reclaiming territory for God. “If the Church is going to meet the problems in society, it will need to put away ‘strange gods’,” he said, adding that “prayer is where the action is and evangelism is picking up the results.”

Senior pastor Rev Leroy Spencer credited community support for the church’s achievements and said it aims to change lives spiritually while improving residents’ quality of life through empowerment programmes.

Rehoboth’s journey, from a congregation founded by an immigrant to owner of a multi-purpose building in one of the costliest property markets anywhere, mirrors what many Jamaican families abroad work towards: a secure base of their own. The plans for a school and recreation facilities show how a church building can become community infrastructure. For diaspora congregations weighing a building project, and for Jamaican churches watching from home, Rehoboth shows that a long-term plan can carry a congregation to a building of its own, with room to grow.

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