The First Baptist Church in the City of New York is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

church based in a sanctuary built in 1890–93 at the intersection of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and West 79th Street in the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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. The church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

History

Early attempts to form a Baptist church in Flushing, Queens were organized by

William Wickenden William Wickenden (c. 1614–1671) was an early Anglo-American Baptist minister, co-founder of Providence Plantations, and signer of the Providence Compact. Wickenden Street in Providence marks where he originally settled in the seventeenth c ...

and others in the 1650s.Newman, Albert Henry
''A history of the Baptist churches in the United States''
v.2 of ''American church history'' series (6th ed.) C. Scribner's Sons, 1915. p.233 In 1745, Jeremiah Dodge settled in New York City, and began holding prayer meetings in his home. He was a member of the Fishkill Baptist Church. When he learned of Benjamin Miller at nearby Scotch Plains Baptist Church in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, he asked him to come and hold preaching services at the prayer meetings, which he did. Other ministers preached to this group from time to time, and in 1753, all thirteen of them joined the Scotch Plains Baptist Church after Miller had baptized some of them. They were organized as an independent Baptist church on June 19, 1762 by Benjamin Miller and

John Gano John Gano (July 22, 1727– August 10, 1804) was a Baptist minister, soldier, and Revolutionary War chaplain who allegedly baptized his friend, General George Washington."Religion: Washington's Baptism" ''Time Magazine'', September 5, 1932 http: ...

– the latter being called as Pastor – and took the name "First Baptist Church in the City of New York". Gano served as pastor until 1776 when he became Chaplain in General Washington's American Army. The congregation's first sanctuary was at 35 Gold Street in Lower Manhattan, built in 1759–60., p.73

Early 19th century

From 1801–02, the First Baptist Church built a new stone structure at its site on Gold Street. During the period they were located there, the congregation's "inhospitality" to African-Americans provoked the founding of the

Abyssinian Baptist Church The Abyssinian Baptist Church is a Baptist megachurch located at 132 West 138th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the National Baptist Con ...

. Under the leadership of Dr. Spencer Cone, the congregation relocated in 1842 to a Gothic revival structure at 354 Broome Street at the intersection of Elizabeth Street. This was also the headquarters of the Baptist Home and Foreign Mission Board. This sanctuary is still in use today by the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew is the oldest Lutheran congregation in North America. The congregation is a member of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Since 2006, the congregation has been located at the Cornerstone Center, 1 ...

Sanctuary at Broadway and 79th Street

The First Baptist Church relocated to the present facility in 1890. It occupies a site that, because of a bend in the direction of Broadway, is prominent from a distance down the avenue. The building is set at an angle of 45 degrees to the street grid. In the sanctuary, the Hebrew text is the essence of Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God..." The Greek text is the essence of John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus Christ)." In the upper right are the Greek symbols of Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Jesus refers to Himself as the Alpha and Omega in Revelation 1:8 and 22:13. In the upper left are the Greek characters pi and chi. This may stand for Pater and Christos, Father and Christ.

References

Notes Bibliography *Haldeman, Isaac Massey
''Ten Sermons on the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ''
Fleming H. Revell Company, 1916. *Mindlin, Alex

''

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'' (October 29, 2006)

External links

* ttp://www.firstbaptist-nyc.org/ Official website {{Authority control Baptist churches in New York City General Association of Regular Baptist Churches 1762 establishments in the Province of New York Upper West Side Religious organizations established in 1762 Churches in Manhattan 18th-century Baptist churches in the United States Broadway (Manhattan) 19th-century Baptist churches in the United States