Set on eighteen acres at the corner of Home Road and State Route 315 in Delaware, Ohio, Liberty Barn Church is a Presbyterian congregation whose Sunday morning worship fills a stone-end bank barn that may be the largest of its kind built by Amish craftsmen in the country. Two centuries after eight members of the Cellar and Monroe families organized the church in 1810, Liberty has grown from a small farming-village meeting into a regional congregation that runs its own preschool, sends mission teams to Honduras, frames houses for new Habitat homeowners, and feeds the homeless on the streets of inner-city Columbus - all while keeping the same open, come-as-you-are spirit its long-time members describe.
The Barn Sanctuary and the Campus Around It
The Barn Sanctuary, where Sunday services are held, dominates the Liberty site. Inside its timber-frame walls, twin grand pianos anchor a stage area where vocalists, instrumentalists, and a seasonal choir lead the congregation. The lower level of the Barn houses children's Sunday School classrooms, and the adjoining Carriage House (built in 2009) provides classrooms for adults and youth. Together with the historic 1820 Chapel, an Administration Building, Fearing Hall meeting room (renovated in 2019-2020 in memory of member Doris Fearing), an outdoor Shelter House, a children's playground, and the Pathway to the Son Memorial Garden, the campus has grown steadily to meet a congregation that now draws from across the rapidly expanding Olentangy School District.
Visitors arriving for the first time find easy access from the upper parking lot; overflow spaces sit behind the Barn and in the lower lot. The 1820 Chapel, the oldest continuously used worship building in Delaware County, still stands beside the original settlers' cemetery and is used for weddings, baptisms, and small gatherings.
Sunday Worship: Two Services, One Welcome
Liberty holds two Sunday services each week in the Barn Sanctuary, at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM. The later service is livestreamed online for those unable to attend in person. Each service runs about an hour and typically includes congregational singing, prayers, a children's message, Scripture reading, a sermon, and an offering - a portion of which, by Session policy, goes directly to outreach causes supported by the church.
The style is intentionally informal. Clapping, laughter, and humor are welcome, and attire runs the full spectrum from jeans to dresses. Members regularly describe the services as inspirational and joyous. Music is a hallmark: a blended mix of traditional hymns, gospel songs, folk, classical, and contemporary worship led by a team of vocalists, soloists, and instrumentalists, often with the twin grand pianos. A seasonal adult choir sings twice a year at Easter and Christmas, and children in preschool through fifth grade have their own choirs that perform during worship and at the annual Christmas program.
A small "Gathering Room" (Room 101 on the first floor of the Carriage House) is available for parents with babies or children who need a moment during worship, and a Prayer Labyrinth near the entrance to the Pathway to the Son Memorial Garden offers a quiet outdoor space for meditation and prayer.
Kids, Youth, and Family Ministry
A recent wave of young families has made children's ministry one of the most visible parts of Liberty. Children from birth through fifth grade are registered in the Sunday School program, and middle and high school youth have a full slate of their own gatherings.
For the youngest children, the Nursery cares for infants through three-year-olds with pagers available for parents. The room opens fifteen minutes before worship starts. Preschool and kindergarten classes use a sensory-rich curriculum with crafts, music, snacks, and story time; first through third grades follow a high-energy, camp-style digital curriculum; and fourth and fifth graders (called "Christians In Action") explore Scripture through hands-on team-building activities. Children are dismissed from worship after the pastor's Kids' Message each Sunday.
Middle and high school youth meet for Sunday School at the 10:30 AM service, gathering in the downstairs welcome area and heading to class before worship begins. There is no youth class on the first Sunday of each month so students can join the rest of the congregation for worship and communion. Sunday evenings are reserved for Youth Group: middle school from 5:15 to 7:15 PM and high school from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, with dinner, small groups, games, and worship. Wednesdays bring "Digging Deeper," a high school Bible study that meets from 8:00 to 9:00 PM in member homes. A youth-led service called Ignite Worship takes place Sunday evenings at 6:00 PM in the Loft, with dinner and games afterward. Annual fall and winter retreats, a two-year Confirmation journey for older students, and summer mission trips round out the program.
Special family events fill the year: a Palm Sunday Processional, an Easter Egg Hunt, a Prepare-the-Way Advent day, and the Children's Christmas Pageant. Vacation Bible School runs for one week each July with crafts, music, drama, and games, and a strong community outreach emphasis.
Care, Prayer, and Walking with One Another
Liberty's Care Ministry is supported by an Associate Pastor for Adult Ministries, a Care Coordinator, and a Parish Visitor, together with dozens of trained lay volunteers. Stephen Ministry, a one-to-one caring ministry now active at Liberty with forty trained Stephen Ministers and four Stephen Leaders, walks alongside people going through difficult seasons, including grief. Stephen Ministers also coordinate a Service of Healing and Remembrance each December.
GriefShare support sessions and Bereavement ministries serve those who have lost loved ones, and parish visitors, prayer shawls and blessing blankets, an emailed prayer-request list, and occasional all-church prayer events (such as past Easter Vigils in the Chapel) round out the prayer life of the congregation. The Prayer Labyrinth - a single walking path built in memory of two Liberty members - and the Pathway to the Son Memorial Garden, where ashes may be interred beneath engraved stones beside a limestone path through light woods and a small reflecting pond, give members places to pray, remember, and grieve in nature.
Outreach and Mission Partners
Liberty commits a percentage of every offering "off the top" to missions at home, regionally, and internationally. Three long-standing partnerships anchor this work.
Through Heart to Honduras, Liberty sends mission teams to walk alongside Honduran brothers and sisters in Christ. In Columbus, Liberty serves St. John's Episcopal Church in Franklinton with a food pantry, Sunday worship and a hot meal for the homeless and housing-insecure at "Street Church," and tutoring for adults working toward their GED at the Franklinton Learning Center. Twice each year, Liberty partners with Crossroads Missions and Delaware and Union Counties Habitat for Humanity to frame the walls for an upcoming Habitat home, with adults, children, and youth all encouraged to participate.
Around the region, Liberty members volunteer with the Common Ground Free Store, Kairos Prison Ministries at Marion Correctional, People in Need food pantry, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Strengthening Families Middle School Program, Family Promise, Andrews House, CRIS Ohio refugee resettlement, Grace Clinic, Ohio Living - Sarah Moore, Stockhands Horses for Healing, Help Build Hope, and Buckeye Military Moms (which mails care packages to deployed service members). MOMCO at Liberty gathers mothers for support and community, and the Walk to Emmaus offers three-day retreats focused on Christian growth and spiritual renewal.
The Pickle Jar Ministry, a confidential fund supported by donations placed in jars at the Sanctuary entrances, provides short-term financial help to Liberty members and Delaware County neighbors in critical need, often assisting with rent, mortgage, and heating bills. Each November, Liberty fills hundreds of Thanksgiving Boxes with all the fixings for a holiday meal, and each December the Adopt-a-Family program matches church members with local families in need of gifts.
Liberty Barn Preschool
Liberty Barn Preschool is a ministry of the church that follows Ohio's Early Learning Standards and the "Creative Curriculum for Preschool." Children learn and engage with the Bible through integrated faith-based learning across language, literacy, math, science, sensory exploration, creative expression, and emotional, physical, and social development.
Morning programs run from 9:00 AM to noon for three-year-olds (two- or three-day options), four-year-olds, and five-year-olds in a four- or five-day Pre-K. A new KD Club enrichment serves kindergartners enrolled in the Olentangy School District or homeschooled from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM on days off. The preschool draws families from Powell, Lewis Center, and Delaware.
Weddings, Baptisms, Funerals
Liberty welcomes both members and non-members to be married in the Barn Sanctuary or the historic 1820 Chapel, treating the marriage ceremony as an act of Christian worship. Baptisms - both infant/child and adult - are celebrated as part of Sunday worship on the second, fourth, and fifth Sundays of the month, except for holidays, and follow the sacramental theology of the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Parents of infants and children ordinarily include at least one Liberty member, take vows to raise their child in the Christian life, and meet with a pastor for baptismal counseling; sponsors must be active Christian church members approved by the Session.
Funerals and memorial services may be held in the Barn Sanctuary, the Chapel, or the Pathway to the Son Memorial Garden and are led by a Liberty pastor. Receptions are an optional add-on. The Pathway allows ashes to be interred beneath engraved stones along a tranquil limestone path with a small fountain and reflecting pond, offering a quiet space for remembrance. Memorial stones may also be purchased without interring ashes.
A Presbyterian Congregation on the Banks of the Olentangy
Liberty's story begins in 1810 when eight members of the extended Thomas and Sarah Cellar family, along with Leonard Monroe, organized what was then Liberty Presbyterian Church. For its first twenty-six years, Liberty shared a pastor and Session with Presbyterian congregations in Delaware and Radnor. In 1820, Thomas's sons George and John built the wood-frame Chapel that still stands on the property - the oldest continuously used worship building in Delaware County. Liberty became a stand-alone congregation in 1836.
The growth of Columbus's suburbs in the late 1960s brought steady growth, and by 1995 the congregation had grown enough to build the Barn Sanctuary, transforming Liberty into a large regional church. The Carriage House followed in 2009, and during 2019-2020 the historic grange meeting hall was fully renovated and renamed Fearing Hall. Liberty has been recognized twice as a "Rural Church of Distinction."
Beliefs, Values, and Stewardship
Liberty's mission is to make wholehearted followers of Jesus, and its vision is to create a community of believers where grace is always found and all people are welcomed into Liberty's historic family of faith. Six values shape the congregation's identity: Faithful, Welcoming, Communal, Humble, Generous, and Joyous. Two key scriptures frame the work: Christ's great commandment to love God and neighbor (Mark 12:29-31) and the great commission to make disciples of all people (Matthew 28:18-20).
The church describes Sunday mornings as a "big tent" where people from across the political and economic spectrum worship together, united by love of Jesus. The Stewardship Committee's philosophy emphasizes giving proportionately, with a goal of contributing 10% to gospel-supporting causes; "carrying our blessings lightly" so that God's blessings flow through to others; and financial transparency, with a monthly income and expenditure summary shared with members.
Pastors, Staff, and Lay Leadership
Rev. Kelsey Sorge serves as Pastor for Next Generation Ministries. She holds an MDiv and MACEF from Princeton Theological Seminary and a BA and Masters in Middle Childhood Education from The Ohio State University. Rev. Dr. Jonathan Seitz serves as Pastor for Adult Ministries; a son of Presbyterian pastors, he trained at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he also earned his PhD, and served with his wife Emily for more than fifteen years as a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mission Co-Worker teaching at Taiwan Graduate School of Theology in Taipei. Steve Banks has served as Worship & Music Director and lead pianist since 1993. Amy King is the Care Coordinator, Jenny Dodson is the Kids Ministry Coordinator, Kelly Arehart is the Preschool Director, Mike Kivett is the Parish Visitor, and David Sandritter serves as Executive Director.
The congregation is led by a Session of Elders elected by the congregation to three-year terms; both men and women of all ages are eligible to serve. The Session works to be a good steward of contributions through appropriate controls and financial transparency.
Ways to Connect and Give
Visitors can explore the church through the Church Center mobile app (available for iPhone and Android), which provides a directory, calendar, online giving, event registration, group connections, and contribution records. Online giving is processed through Church Center, and gifts may also be made by text ("GIVE $25" to (855) 214-8771), through a bank's online bill pay, by check mailed to the Finance Department, by stock transfer through Fidelity, by qualified charitable distributions from an IRA, and through legacy gifts in a will or trust. Kroger Community Rewards participants can link their Plus Card to Liberty under organization number JR138 to direct a percentage of their purchases to the church's General Fund at no extra cost.
Liberty meets at 7080 Olentangy River Road, Delaware, Ohio 43015, at the corner of Home Road and SR 315. Sunday services are held at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM in the Barn Sanctuary, with the 10:30 AM service livestreamed online.