Next Step Community Church
Who We Are
Next Step Community Church is a non-denominational Christian congregation made up of everyday folks pursuing a relationship with Jesus together. Our special focus is on helping people in need—whether hungry, homeless, or seeking recovery from substance abuse.
Our Sunday service offers worship music, testimonies from each other about how God is working in our lives, and a practical and personal message from the Bible. We end with a community meal for all who wish to stay. Kids ages 4-11 attend their own service, where they learn about God through music, Bible reading, crafts, and games. Our middle school/high school program allows students to ask questions, serve, and build lifelong friendships.
Our Staff
Edwin Colon
Lead Pastor
Edwin Colon is the senior pastor of the Next Step Community Church Brooklyn. After years of involvement in a 12-step recovery program, Edwin accepted Christ, and along with his wife Liz, co-founded Next Step Community Church as a Bible study in his kitchen, reaching out to people who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction. Edwin and Liz live in Brooklyn, New York. They have five children: Edwin Jr, Serenity, Grace, Lydia, and David.
Gus Rodriguez
Associate Pastor
A longtime educator with the New York public school system, Pastor Gus heads up adult and children’s education, leadership development, and the men’s program here at Next Step.
Zac Martin
Pastor of Justice and Outreach
Pastor Zac oversees Next Step’s social outreach programs, including the food pantry, community breakfast, mother/baby ministry and more. Zac is an urban missionary who is particularly passionate about elevating the voices and struggles of the marginalized and cares deeply about how the gospel informs and empowers us in issues of justice and mercy. Zac is also a youth mentor, working with a number of public housing residences and high schools.
Chris HooK
Assistant to Pastor Edwin Colon
Chris came to faith in 2011 and has worked alongside Pastor Edwin Colon since 2012. He has a background in high-end sales and management and has turned the skills he learned in the secular world to serve the local church. As a chaplain and licensed minister, he has had many opportunities to serve others for the sake of the Gospel.
Our Core Values
Devotion
Just for today I will seek God’s face
Honesty
Just for today I will practice being honest in all my interactions with others
Growth
Just for today I will challenge myself and grow
Health
Just for today I will commit to improve emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually
Family
Just for today I will find creative ways to bless and connect with my family
Others
Just for today I will practice being honest in all my interactions with others
Doctrinal Statement
The Word of God
We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original writings, complete as the revelation of God’s will for salvation, and the supreme and final authority in all matters to which they speak.
The Trinity
We believe in one God, creator and sustainer of all things, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that these are equal in every divine perfection and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence, and redemption.
God the Father
We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. We believe He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that he hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s eternal Son, and has precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We believe further that He is not only true God, but true man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We also believe in his sinless life, His substitutionary atonement, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, His priestly intercession on behalf of his people, and His personal, visible, premillennial return from heaven.
Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit, His personality, and His work in regeneration, sanctification, and preservation. His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and implement Christ’s work of redeeming the lost and empowering the believer for Godly living and service. Specifically, He indwells believers, illuminates God’s Word to them, gifts them for diverse ministries and reproduces the character of Christ in them.
Man
We believe God created man, male and female, in the image of God and free from sin. As such, people of all races are worthy of equal respect. We further believe man, after the fall, is a sinner by nature and choice and is therefore spiritually dead. We also believe that those who repent of sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
Salvation
We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. We believe Christ died for all. We believe that this salvation is based upon the sovereign grace of God, and was purchased by Christ on the cross, and is received by man through faith, apart from any human merit, works, or ritual. We further believe salvation results in growth in righteous living, good works, and proper social concern.
The Church
We believe that the Church is the spiritual body of which Christ is the head. We believe that the true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been generated by the Holy Spirit. We believe that this body expresses itself in local assemblies whose members have been immersed upon credible confession of faith and have associated themselves for worship, instruction, evangelism, and service. We believe the ordinances of the local church are believer’s baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper. We believe in the priesthood of every believer whereby each believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ alone and can worship and serve him directly.
Separation of Church and State
We believe that each local church is self governing in function, and must be free from interference by an ecclesiastical or political authority, and is free to participate with other churches in efforts that are in line with our stated beliefs and purposes.
Christian Conduct
We believe that the supreme task of every believer is to glorify God in their lives; that their goal should be to conduct themselves in a manner beyond reproach before the world; that they should be faithful stewards of their possessions; and that they should seek to realize for themselves the full stature of maturity in Christ.
Last Things.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the saved and the lost, the eternal existence of all men either in heaven or hell, in divine judgments, reward, and punishments.
