Church planters Nathan Knight and Joey Craft chose Washington, D.C., to plant a church because it was where they believed they could have the greatest influence.
Marantha Grace in Fort Lee, N. Jersey has found ways to build community and intimacy in the midst of nearby New York City’s hustle and bustle. Photos by Courtney Navey and Grace Marantha
Kwak and his team have worked to combat the congested and impersonal feeling that comes with such a figure by implementing smaller community groups around the city. This has helped in coming alongside people in the community who, like many in the Northeast, are “slower” in receiving the gospel.
This slower receptivity is perhaps the greatest challenge planters in the Northeast face. Urbanites are typically more closed off, making evangelism no quick effort. Church planters in the Northeast have come to see that building relationships is the key to seeing evangelism efforts pay off. For this to happen, however, they have to make a more arduous commitment to dig in their heels and be patient in the slow process of church and community growth.
“Receptivity toward the gospel is not lower in our region—just slower,” Allen explains. “Church plants in the Northeast designed to reach more than just Southern Baptist transplants to the area will typically require more time to develop.”
Freddy Wyatt, pastor of the growing Gallery Church in New York City, echoes this sentiment: “It’s tough. The Northeast often requires years of investment to draw the same size crowd that a really good mail campaign might draw in the South.”
Church planters, like Craft of D.C., have to work a little longer to gain the trust of their neighbors and communities before they can see evangelism spread. Craft and his team attempt to combat this skepticism toward religion by offering events in the community rather than in the church so people may be more likely to attend.
This is also a challenge for planters of the suburban Northeast. Though the areas are not as crowded, the people still come with skepticism toward organized religion.
“People here have a strong, independent spirit,” says Larry Thiessen, director of missions for the Keystone Baptist Association of Pennsylvania. “Building relationships, and subsequently trust, is key. But relationships take time and membership growth is slow.”
John Smith of First Baptist Church Essex, Md., is working in his church to better present the gospel to the members of his Baltimore suburb who come to him with a lack of trust.
“I have encountered more unbelievers here than anywhere else I have ever served,” Smith states. “But I love their willingness to take a straight answer, to disrespect spin. It challenges us to present them with the truth of the gospel, no sugar coating or emotional spin allowed.”
Fast facts
Within the region, Rhode Island is the state with the lowest SBC church to population ratio: 1 for every 81,016 people.
In one ZIP code in Queens, N.Y. there are 138 languages spoken.
Financially, the Northeast accounts for one-fourth of the gross domestic product in the nation.
The average family in the Northeast must earn $5,000 more per household than families in other parts of the U.S. As a result of the high cost of living, many Southern Baptist pastors in the region must be bivocational in order to provide for their families.
ON MISSION • Summer 2011 23
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