Pastor Transition in NYC Marks a “First” in FFWPU History

The Family Church of New York City (FC NYC) recently said goodbye to their pastor, Andrew Love, and welcomed the woman who will take the reins, Apostolic Pentecostal American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) Minister, Tanya Edwards.

Pastor Tanya comes from a long line of Pentecostal pastors and has 38 years of megachurch experience. This transition marks something significant in Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) history.  It will be the first time we have brought in a person of another faith as pastor to a New York Unificationist congregation. In a speech shortly after True Father passed away, True Mother said that the movement needs to bring the Spirit and Word back down deep into our hearts, and emotionally connect to it. Anyone who knows the Pentecostal church knows they are experts at bringing down the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Tanya Edwards meditating at East Garden where True Father often prayed

Transitions are never easy, even positive ones, and while the FC NYC congregation welcomed Pastor Tanya Edwards with open arms on Sunday, their former Pastor, Andrew Love, had become a beloved member of the community, and will be missed.

In the aftermath of True Father’s ascension and the tumultuous times that followed, Pastor Andrew brought his heart and vision to the FC NYC community, which inspired them to roll up their sleeves and get to work on building a community of faith they could be proud of. They began with almost nothing and transformed the Sunday Service into a weekly production with exciting music, food, and fellowship. An FC NYC congregant remembers, “One of the first themes for his sermons was ‘Keeping Hope Alive’ and Pastor Andrew kept the hope alive in the FC NYC community, with his sincerity, energy, and humor.”

His experience in FC NYC would prove to be only the beginning of his journey, however. For the past year, he said he constantly felt a calling to move forward, and this meant the possibility of leaving behind the very community he had worked so hard to serve. When the opportunity presented itself to go to California, it felt like our Heavenly Parent was guiding this next step. The decision was still difficult, as change often is, and he found himself protesting and arguing against the move. However, Heavenly Parent’s voice won out in the end. This past Sunday, Pastor Andrew symbolically passed on the baton, by passing the microphone to Pastor Tanya.

Pastor Tanya Edwards is no stranger to following Heavenly Parent’s calling, even when it means a sometimes difficult road ahead. When she and her husband, Reverend Jesse Edwards, joined the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), they were inspired by the breaking of barriers between religions and cultures, but they could have no idea how significantly it would change their lives. When she and her husband first aligned themselves with True Father, they received backlash from some of their own congregants, many of whom ended up leaving. Despite this, they knew that they had to follow the calling that Heavenly Parent had given them. They have had a lot of practice in starting over.

Over the course of her pastoring life with her husband, she has started three churches and inherited three others. Pastor Tanya mentioned that she initially struggled with the idea of taking the reins in FC NYC, but “when Heavenly Parent speaks, you have to listen”. She noted that in her times of doubt, Heavenly Parent spoke to her through the congregation. Members of the congregation came up to her and said, “I feel you are the right person to bring the Holy Spirit”.

During his last sermon, Pastor Andrew expressed that Pastor Tanya will think of things he couldn’t even conceive of, and Heavenly Parent will use the strength in her to build the community to greater and greater heights.

For Pastor Andrew, the FC NYC will always hold a special place in his heart as the launching pad that set him off on his journey. For Pastor Tanya, it is perhaps the place that Heavenly Parent has been preparing for her all along, a place to nurture the seed that has already been planted and let it blossom in new and exciting ways.

Pastor Tanya’s official first sermon will be on June 1st. If you would like to know more about the FC NYC, visit their website at thefcnyc.com