The establishment of the Church of the Incarnation cannot be fully understood without reference to the fact that the Diocese of the South Florida assisted in the process by acquiring deeds to properties in Liberty City for the congregation. Subsequently, on July 8, 1951, an abandoned one room wooden baptist church building was purchased and moved to the site and the congregation moved from “the Liberty City Center” to its first permanent church home, located on the corner of Northwest 69th Street and 17th Avenue.

   The Church of the Incarnation was officially chartered at Miami-Dade County, Florida, on November 11, 1953. Meanwhile, the congregation outgrew its facilities and was forced to purchase and move to its current site, a larger baptist church building located on Northwest 54th Street on February 2, 1958. The next challenge was to pay-off an enormous debt including the mortgage on the newly acquired building purchased from Grace Baptist Church. After years of struggle and sacrifice, the mortgage on the church edifice and grounds were burned on June 9, 1968 and the congregation was elevated to parish status on June 2, 1974.

   The congregation further expanded its land holdings in 1979 when it purchased five lots west of and contiguous to the church site and in 1983 acquired the two remaining lots on the corner of Northwest 54th Street and 19th Avenue. A local architect, Harold Seckinger, designed a new church large enough to seat five hundred worshippers and a milestone was reached on October 28, 1995, when the present church building and administration annex, the only structures erected by the congregation, were dedicated and consecrated. On that occasion, the congregation realized the fruits of nearly a half-century of sacrifice and struggle. With the completion of the new addition, the congregation now possesses a parish complex consisting of a new church, adminstration annex and the “old church”, now the parish hall.

   Having originally been founded “to bring the church to those who could not get to church,” the Church of the Incarnation has been responsible, in turn, for taking its ministry to the poor and disadvantage in the community. Moreover, since the late 1960’s, the parish has played a pivotal role in starting or aiding in the establishment of a number of community outreach programs and service projects. Two such programs now exist as independent agencies: the COPE School, a program for pregnant school-age girls that enable them to continue their education and prevent school drop-out; and the Belafonte Tacolcy Center, Inc., started as an after-care place for neighborhood “at-risk” youths to be helped, heard and involved.

   Since its establishment, the following priests, each having made his contribution in his own way, have served the congregation on a continuous basis: