Times Square Church is an

interdenominational Interdenominationalism is an evangelical Protestant movement of cooperation among various Christian denominations. History The movement has its origins in the founding of the London Missionary Society, a missionary society, in 1795 by variou ...

congregation located at the

Mark Hellinger Theatre The Mark Hellinger Theatre (formerly the 51st Street Theatre and the Hollywood Theatre) is a church (building), church building at 237 West 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, which forme ...

on 237 West 51st Street in the Theater District of

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 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Times Square Church was founded by Pastor

David Wilkerson David Ray Wilkerson (May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011) was an American Christian evangelist, best known for his book ''The Cross and the Switchblade''. He was the founder of the addiction recovery program Teen Challenge, and founding pastor of th ...

in 1987 and bought the Mark Hellinger Theatre in 1991.

Church history

The Times Square Church was founded by David Wilkerson in 1987. At the time, Times Square was known as a center of X-rated films, strip clubs, prostitution, and drug addiction. Wilkerson opened the church in response to what he described as "the physically destitute and spiritually dead people" he saw among the pimps, runaways and crack dealers who populated the area. The Times Square Church briefly held its services at Town Hall on 43rd Street in

and then in the

Nederlander Theatre The Nederlander Theatre (formerly the National Theatre, the Billy Rose Theatre, and the Trafalgar Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 208 West 41st Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, it was des ...

on 41st Street. Hellinger Theatre auditorium 2006

In 1989 the church leased the former

. Times Square Church purchased the building from the Nederlander Organization for an undisclosed amount in 1991. At the time, the value of the building was estimated to be between $15 million–$18 million. Upon its purchase, Pastor Donald W. Wilkerson, brother of David Wilkerson and one of the church leaders, declared that the theater would not be altered, saying "The theater is landmarked and it will remain the same." The church was described as an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

church headed by three pastors: David Wilkerson, his brother, Donald Wilkerson, and Robert Phillips. The theater is still the church's current location on 51st Street. In 2001, David Wilkerson entrusted the senior pastorate to Carter Conlon, formerly an evangelical pastor from eastern Canada and associate pastor at Times Square Church from 1994-2001. There are also visiting ministers and missionaries who come to preach from all over the world. The church places an emphasis on prayer and even has a "prayer during preaching ministry". There are also high school and young adults programs to teach the truth and love in the Word of God. From 2007 to 2009 the church organized an event called ''Prayer in the Square'', a prayer rally which took place in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

. On May 5, 2020, Tim Dilena became Senior Pastor, the third since the church’s founding. He had a lifelong association with founding pastor David Wilkerson and has regularly preached at the church for many years.

Building

The Mark Hellinger Theatre was originally built by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

in 1930 as a movie palace, the Warner Hollywood Theatre, which was later converted to a

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 ...

venue. Notable Broadway musicals that have played at the theater include ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'', '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', and the Katharine Hepburn musical '' Coco''.Times Square Church
at Internet Broadway Database

References

Notes

External links

* {{Midtown North, Manhattan Evangelical megachurches in the United States Megachurches in New York (state) Churches in Manhattan Theater District, Manhattan