NEW YORK (ABP) — Matthew is one of the many stories that make up Manhattan — and little Metro Baptist Church's outsized ministry.
The young musician came to New York with dreams of making it big in the industry — and with everything he owned packed in his van. But within a few weeks of arriving in the city, the van was stolen and he was homeless, living on the streets of Hell's Kitchen and dreaming of returning home to Atlanta. That's where Metro Baptist came in — he got warm clothes and a warmer welcome there.
Hell's Kitchen, located on the west side of Manhattan, is one of the many New York neighborhoods that are rapidly gentrifying — but, as its name suggests, it has a history of being a rough area. This is due in part to the location of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the world's busiest terminal, at the south end of the neighborhood. Approximately 200,000 people move through the terminal each day, including commuters, tourists and people such as Matthew who are following their dreams — or aching to go home.
“Even with all the luxury high-rises that are now being built, this neighborhood is still one of the first stops for people coming into the city and into America,” said Ronnie Adams, one of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's field personnel. “There are still tenement buildings and lower-priced places to live, but many times there are three or four families living in one apartment — that's the only way people can live economically.”
Metro Baptist Church is next to the Manhattan side of the Lincoln Tunnel, just a few blocks from the bus terminal. Originally built as a Catholic church for Polish immigrants in the in the early 1900s, the building was purchased by Metro Baptist in 1984. CBF has partnered with Metro since 1995, when Adams began serving alongside the church.
The congregation has been intentional about identifying the needs of the Hell's Kitchen community and trying not to duplicate services that already exist in the area. For example, two nearby homeless shelters provide meals and shower facilities to people living on the streets, so the church determined there was a need for distributing toiletry kits and clothes instead. That was how Metro Baptist connected with Matthew.
“The make-up of the church is very diverse,” said Adams, a native of Dallas. “On Sunday mornings you'll have everyone — from the homeless to Wall Street lawyers — and a lot of people who are trying to make it in the theatre world. What I love about the church is that although there are only about 50 people on Sunday morning, they have a vision and faith for ministry. It's a pretty amazing story of being faithful to ministry in your area and how God will provide.”
In addition to the homeless community, Metro Baptist also reaches out to families living in the surrounding single-room-occupancy buildings, formerly referred to as “welfare hotels.” Many immigrants, who often work in the nearby factories of the clothing district or at one of Manhattan's more than 12,000 restaurants, live in these low-income buildings. The church provides a weekly food pantry, along with health education, discounted counseling services, English classes and after-school programs for youth and children.
Metro's community ministries are facilitated by church members, staff and CBF field personnel, including Amanda Hambrick, who ministers to youth at Metro Baptist. Two part-time Metro staffers returned after previous missions experiences at the church: Brice Friske, who made six trips to Hell's Kitchen with teams from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Richmond, Va.; and Katie Furr, who spent a summer serving at Metro through CBF's student-missions program.
“It's important for people to be provided a community where it doesn't matter how much money you make or where you are from, but what matters is that we are all made in God's image,” said Hambrick, a native of Georgetown, Ky. “I think that is one of the most valuable things a church can be in an urban area — a space and a place for authentic relationships.”
Each summer, Adams and Hambrick facilitate six weeks of summer camps, which are led by teams from CBF partner churches. Church volunteer teams from around the country also work for Metro Baptist ministries throughout the year.
“The whole idea here of reaching people for Christ is relational evangelism,” Adams said. “It's a long-term process of letting them see how God is reflected in your life, and, through that, having an opportunity to share with them about faith and our walk with Christ and why it's important to us.”
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