Our Story

The story of Terra Nova Church is that of a few good friends who wanted to be a part of a church that resonated with their souls and spoke to the very core of their beings. They felt that such a church had the potential of reaching others who were not being reached by existing churches. In 2004, this small group began to dream, plan, and strategize. In April of 2005 our first public worship service was held at The Arts Center of the Capital Region on River St. in Troy. The vision and core values of this new church were shared there by Ed Marcelle. Another worship service was held in the same location in June.

A launch date was set for the fall of 06′ and the search for a temporary location was on. Basically we needed an incubator, a play pen, a place where we could begin to discover what Terra Nova Worship was going to look like. Oh, and we needed it to be free, or nearly free since we didn’t have any money. Loudonville Community Church was gracious enough to allow us to borrow their old sanctuary for our first three months of services and we can’t thank them enough.

As comfortable as LCC was for those first few months, one can only crash on a friends couch for a short period of time. So we used those three months to tie up loose ends on our new location. Actually, we tied up loose ends on our new locations . . . plural. In all of our planning for Terra Nova’s launch, we as a team sensed very clearly that we were to pursue a Sunday lease with Revolution Hall on River St. in Troy. It had the right look and feel for what we wanted to do. It also had a solid reputation in the area as a place to see great shows [the night we launched at LCC, Matisyahu played to packed crowd of over 500]. Revolution Hall was a perfect fit. The problem was that we would need space for classrooms and a few offices somewhere nearby. Amazingly, we were able to lease 409 River st., just three doors down from Rev. Hall. All it needed was new carpeting and a new coat of paint [which we did while meeting at LCC]. This gave us a great worship space on Sunday mornings, and a great space for offices and education. The sense of God’s provision was clear and humbling.

On January 8th, 2006 we began having weekly worship services at Revolution Hall. There were about 60 people in attendance that first Sunday. They all fit on the first level, with plenty of extra space. Over time, we added more rows, opened up the balcony, then added a system of risers to fit in additional rows of seats. In September of 2008, we added a second service. Throughout that numerical growth, we have continued to emphasize the need for smaller group community through our many New Tribes, which meet in living rooms throughout the capital region. Currently, roughly 75% of the church are involved in a New Tribe for small group worship, bible study, prayer and community.

In the summer of 2006, we welcomed Matthew Miller into the eldership process and officially recognized him as Community Extension Pastor in October 2007. Matthew has worked hard at developing strategies to help the people of Terra Nova increase their Missional Footprint both individually and collectively. You can read more about this in the Missional section of this website. Through his efforts, we have become a church that is passionate about issues of justice and compassion.

Matthew has also taken on co-leadership (along with Scott Womer) of our popular Terra Nova Gallery. The gallery began it’s first promoted show early in 2006 and has since become a standard on the Troy Night Out Arts Walk map. We see hundreds come through the gallery space every month during Troy Night Out (final Friday of each month). You can read more about the gallery in that section of this site.

The future is unwritten! We believe that each person in the church plays a role in writing our story and we would love to welcome you into the narrative.