Learn about our mission, values, and church-planting story.
The gospel is the good news that God forgives and adopts sinners as His own through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything we do flows from the gospel.
We worship what we love most. When the gospel captures our hearts, our response is to love God fully: with our words, our lives, and our obedience.
When God saves us, He brings us into relationship with Himself and with each other, forming us into brothers and sisters who learn to love the church by His grace.
God's love doesn't stop with us. He sends us out to love our neighbor as ourselves. Therefore, we proclaim the gospel, and seek the good of our city and the world.
In 2012, the first Citylight Church began in Northwest Philadelphia with a group of 12 people united around a vision to make disciples of Jesus to the glory of God. What began as a small group bible study grew steadily into a church, united in the biblical core values of worship (love for God), community (love for the church), and mission (love for our neighbor).
Citylight does not revolve around elaborate ministries, but rather we do the things Jesus calls all Christians to do: gathering for worship on Sundays, meeting together in smaller communities for fellowship (we call these "Citygroups"), and sharing life and the gospel with our neighbors. In the 12 years since Citylight launched, many people have been saved, lives changed, communities impacted, and four additional Citylight Churches planted, two in the Philadelphia region, one in Amarillo, Texas, and now one in Manhattan.
From those original 12, we now have more than 900 people gathering with us on Sundays and more than 35 Citygroups across the Citylight Network of Churches. By God's grace, Citylight New York is the fifth Citylight Church, beginning like the first Citylight began, as a small group of people united around the vision to make disciples of Jesus to the glory of God.
Established January, 2025
Our prayer is to see spiritual renewal come to the northeast United States, and from there to the ends of the earth. For this to happen, more and more church planters must be sent to the urban centers in this region of our country.
For that reason, Citylight Church has sent Tim and Sarah Shutes and a small group of others, to Manhattan to plant a church. By God's grace, he is now growing a church in the heart of the largest city in the United States with the same mission that drove us over a decade ago: to make disciples of Jesus to the glory of God.
We're asking God to plant and grow this church, not just to have one more gospel-preaching church in NYC (although that would be great), but to itself become a church-planting church with enough resources to plant more churches throughout New York City and beyond. Together with the Citylight Churches in Philadelphia and Texas, we pray for a fresh movement of disciple-making churches in our country.
We have planted Citylight New York in the heart of New York City, in its most transient and influential borough: Manhattan.
New York City presents an opportunity to make disciples who will influence the world. It is home to more immigrants than any other city in the United States. More than 3 million of its residents are foreign-born.
New Yorkers speak over 200 different languages. We can reach the nations through reaching New York City. As an economic powerhouse, New York City is unmatched, accounting for 10% of the United States' GDP. For arts and fashion, it rivals Paris. For theater, it rivals London. It has been said that any city may have one of the above features, but only one city has all of them.
Tim Keller said, "You can't reach the city from the suburbs, but you can reach the suburbs from the city. Cities are like a giant heart — drawing people in and then sending them out." Using his metaphor, Manhattan is the largest "heart" in the world, with a bigger heartbeat than any world city. Each day, it swells from 2 million people to 4 million people as people flow in and out of the city for work, school, and leisure.
A region this vibrant and transient has enormous potential for church planting as people come in, are transformed by the gospel, and then are sent out to other areas of New York, the northeast, the nation, and the world.
Jesus gave the church its mission when he commissioned his first disciples "to make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:18-20). When the first disciples put this command into action, they did so through planting churches (Acts 2:37-47, 14:23).
As churches were planted, those churches then continued to send teams out to plant new churches (Acts 13:1-4). Therefore, the most basic reason we are planting Citylight New York is that we are convinced of God's call to plant churches.
The early church did not plant churches randomly but followed a specific pattern. When a team went out to make disciples in a new region, they began in its major cities (e.g. Acts 16:9-12). Cities are where the people are. Church plants should prioritize all regions where there are unreached people, but especially urban areas.
The NYC Metro Area is the largest in the United States, containing 23.5 million people. That's 3 million more people than all of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware combined! Citylight Church is committed to making disciples of Jesus through planting churches. How can we ignore the largest, most influential city in our country?
Citylight has sent Tim and Sarah Shutes to Manhattan to plant Citylight New York. Tim grew up and came to faith in State College, PA, and Sarah in Santiago, Chile. The two first met at Penn State where Tim received his bachelor's degree in piano performance in 2003, and Sarah in History and Spanish. They married in 2008.
From 2004-2013, Tim pastored at a church plant in a rural farming community just outside of Penn State. While there, he and Sarah founded the Penns Valley Youth Center, which continues to reach hundreds of K-12 students each year.
In 2013, Tim and Sarah joined a new church plant, Citylight Church in Philadelphia, where Tim became an elder and served as the Executive Pastor. In the 11 years since, God has grown Citylight to more than 900 people gathering across four different churches and has blessed Tim and Sarah with three girls: Felicity, Clara and Nora.
In 2019, Tim and Sarah felt called by God to plant a church, a desire that the Citylight Elders affirmed in 2021. By 2023, the church embraced a vision to send the Shutes family to New York City to begin Citylight New York with Tim as its Pastor.
In addition to his degree in piano performance, Tim has Masters Degrees in Theological Studies and Sacred Theology from Grimké Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
Tim and Sarah live on the Upper West Side where Sarah also teaches Spanish at The Heschel School.
In 2012, the first Citylight Church began in Northwest Philadelphia with a group of 12 people united around a vision to make disciples of Jesus to the glory of God. What began as a small group bible study grew steadily into a church, united in the biblical core values of worship (love for God), community (love for the church), and mission (love for our neighbor).
Citylight does not revolve around elaborate ministries, but rather we do the things Jesus calls all Christians to do: gathering for worship on Sundays, meeting together in smaller communities for fellowship (we call these "Citygroups"), and sharing life and the gospel with our neighbors. In the 12 years since Citylight launched, many people have been saved, lives changed, communities impacted, and four additional Citylight Churches planted, two in the Philadelphia region, one in Amarillo, Texas, and now one in Manhattan.
From those original 12, we now have more than 900 people gathering with us on Sundays and more than 35 Citygroups across the Citylight Network of Churches. By God's grace, Citylight New York is the fifth Citylight Church, beginning like the first Citylight began, as a small group of people united around the vision to make disciples of Jesus to the glory of God.
Established January, 2025
Our prayer is to see spiritual renewal come to the northeast United States, and from there to the ends of the earth. For this to happen, more and more church planters must be sent to the urban centers in this region of our country.
For that reason, Citylight Church has sent Tim and Sarah Shutes and a small group of others, to Manhattan to plant a church. By God's grace, he is now growing a church in the heart of the largest city in the United States with the same mission that drove us over a decade ago: to make disciples of Jesus to the glory of God.
We're asking God to plant and grow this church, not just to have one more gospel-preaching church in NYC (although that would be great), but to itself become a church-planting church with enough resources to plant more churches throughout New York City and beyond. Together with the Citylight Churches in Philadelphia and Texas, we pray for a fresh movement of disciple-making churches in our country.
We have planted Citylight New York in the heart of New York City, in its most transient and influential borough: Manhattan.
New York City presents an opportunity to make disciples who will influence the world. It is home to more immigrants than any other city in the United States. More than 3 million of its residents are foreign-born.
New Yorkers speak over 200 different languages. We can reach the nations through reaching New York City. As an economic powerhouse, New York City is unmatched, accounting for 10% of the United States' GDP. For arts and fashion, it rivals Paris. For theater, it rivals London. It has been said that any city may have one of the above features, but only one city has all of them.
Tim Keller said, "You can't reach the city from the suburbs, but you can reach the suburbs from the city. Cities are like a giant heart — drawing people in and then sending them out." Using his metaphor, Manhattan is the largest "heart" in the world, with a bigger heartbeat than any world city. Each day, it swells from 2 million people to 4 million people as people flow in and out of the city for work, school, and leisure.
A region this vibrant and transient has enormous potential for church planting as people come in, are transformed by the gospel, and then are sent out to other areas of New York, the northeast, the nation, and the world.
Jesus gave the church its mission when he commissioned his first disciples "to make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:18-20). When the first disciples put this command into action, they did so through planting churches (Acts 2:37-47, 14:23).
As churches were planted, those churches then continued to send teams out to plant new churches (Acts 13:1-4). Therefore, the most basic reason we are planting Citylight New York is that we are convinced of God's call to plant churches.
The early church did not plant churches randomly but followed a specific pattern. When a team went out to make disciples in a new region, they began in its major cities (e.g. Acts 16:9-12). Cities are where the people are. Church plants should prioritize all regions where there are unreached people, but especially urban areas.
The NYC Metro Area is the largest in the United States, containing 23.5 million people. That's 3 million more people than all of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware combined! Citylight Church is committed to making disciples of Jesus through planting churches. How can we ignore the largest, most influential city in our country?
Citylight has sent Tim and Sarah Shutes to Manhattan to plant Citylight New York. Tim grew up and came to faith in State College, PA, and Sarah in Santiago, Chile. The two first met at Penn State where Tim received his bachelor's degree in piano performance in 2003, and Sarah in History and Spanish. They married in 2008.
From 2004-2013, Tim pastored at a church plant in a rural farming community just outside of Penn State. While there, he and Sarah founded the Penns Valley Youth Center, which continues to reach hundreds of K-12 students each year.
In 2013, Tim and Sarah joined a new church plant, Citylight Church in Philadelphia, where Tim became an elder and served as the Executive Pastor. In the 11 years since, God has grown Citylight to more than 900 people gathering across four different churches and has blessed Tim and Sarah with three girls: Felicity, Clara and Nora.
In 2019, Tim and Sarah felt called by God to plant a church, a desire that the Citylight Elders affirmed in 2021. By 2023, the church embraced a vision to send the Shutes family to New York City to begin Citylight New York with Tim as its Pastor.
In addition to his degree in piano performance, Tim has Masters Degrees in Theological Studies and Sacred Theology from Grimké Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
Tim and Sarah live on the Upper West Side where Sarah also teaches Spanish at The Heschel School.
Beliefs & Distinctives
Citylight New York shares the theological convictions of the Citylight family of churches. Our distinctives name the convictions that shape how our elders lead and how our church practices ministry.
Distinctive
We believe the gospel is both the means by which we are saved and the truth and power by which we are sanctified. The gospel enables us to joyfully do what is pleasing to God and conforms us to the likeness of Jesus. We never grow beyond our need for the gospel of grace.
Distinctive
We believe God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be his adopted children, not on the basis of anything we would do, but on the basis of his sovereign grace. We believe the Holy Spirit effectually draws the elect to himself through the gospel and keeps us in Christ forever. We believe God sovereignly uses the means of prayer and witness to draw the elect to himself.
Distinctive
We believe that Christ-like life and ministry depends on being continually filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We believe the Spirit sovereignly bestows all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament to Christians today for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Distinctive
We believe that God created humanity in his image male and female. Men and women, therefore, share moral, spiritual and personal equality. We also believe that men and women function in a complementary fashion in the home and church. Husbands are called to provide Christ-like headship in their homes and male elders are to provide Christ-like servant leadership through the office of elder or pastor.
Distinctive
We believe that baptism is picture of union with Jesus in his death and resurrection. Since we are raised with Christ through faith and become partakers of the new covenant through faith, Citylight church only baptizes those who give a credible profession of repentance and faith in Christ.
These are the core doctrines that shape our worship, community, and mission.
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Churches and individuals who pray, give, and believe in this work make it possible for us to plant and grow a gospel-centered church in the heart of Manhattan.
We're grateful to be connected to the wider body of Christ through our partnership with Acts 29 and Send Network — two organizations committed to raising up leaders and planting healthy, gospel-centered churches.
Join our team of prayer warriors! We'll send you regular updates on how God is moving in New York City and specific ways you can pray for our church and community.
Whether you're an individual, a family, or a church, we'd love to explore how we can partner together to see the gospel take root in New York City.
Have questions about faith, life, or our church? We'd love to connect with you. Whether you're curious about Christianity, navigating life decisions, or just want to talk, our pastors are here to listen and help however we can.