I had just moved to Hoboken for the one thing many people move here for. New York City. After an apartment in Manhattan fell through, I moved to a building on 1^st and Harrison called The Sky Club, which happened to be the home of a Hoboken fan favorite restaurant, Northern Soul. While Northern Soul is no longer there, that location will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the place I fell in love with Connection Events and where I discovered what Hoboken Grace is all about.

I was invited to a First Friday by somebody who I had only met in service one time. “Oh good! You live in that building. The event is basically in your basement.” I had no excuse not to be there. I’m a pure-blooded extrovert, yet I don’t think it’s fun for anyone when you enter a sea of strangers who already know each other and have established relationships. Those feelings dissipated within minutes of entering these doors and meeting some of the friendliest people I have ever come across.

Connection Events are more than just a fun time out. They’re a way of getting to know the people within our church outside of a Sunday setting. A Sunday or Saturday will have our lobby packed with a sea of people, attending or serving, all moving up and down the stairs. Odds are, you’ll get to know someone on a deeper level by sitting down for a cup of coffee with them at Bwé or devouring a plate of wings at City Bistro on a Friday night.

One of my absolute favorite things about Connection Events is how we get to utilize our city and everything it has to offer. The suburbs have their own advantages. Wider spaces, quieter streets. But living in a walkable, energetic city like Hoboken gives us the opportunity to explore and visit all sorts of unique places and activities that are all easy to access. Because of that, we’re able to take part in Movies Under the Stars at Pier A, trivia nights at 8^th Street Tavern and a handful of coffee shops in a single morning all within the span of one month.

Getting to see the coffee crawls grow from an idea to help out small businesses during the pandemic, to a Hoboken Grace staple has been an incredible thing to witness. Because of this event, we’ve been able to build rapport with local coffee shop owners to the point they know our name and our church just because of us stopping by to use their business for our meeting points. Just last month, we experienced this in action by starting our coffee crawl at Café Vista (great spot on 5^th & Monroe), where we had a group so large that we filled the entire place out, and the employees took notice. They asked if they could take our picture to use for their Instagram and tag our church in the post. While this may seem like a small, passive gesture in the grand scheme of things, I see it as a local business wanting to give us a shoutout and choose to be associated with our name, when years ago, some others would have tried to ignore the work we’re doing.

Being a church that is “for our city” means getting out into the city and being out along WITH the people who live in it. It’s not just staying in the comfort of our building, but meeting other people where they’re at. Our connection events team has the mission to connect the unconnected, but I believe that goes beyond only people who are already in our church family. It also means connecting people to our city and all the wonderful things it has to offer. Whether it’s a cup of coffee at a spot you’ve never heard of, or a crawl searching for the best pizza spots in town, I encourage every single one of you to take a chance with these events. Meet someone new, and learn more about this awesome city we get to call home in the process.