Far from the Bible Belt, a New York congregation led by first-generation Christians works to reach the lost.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
LINDENHURST, N.Y. — Prayer kneelers and organ pipes aren’t typical in a Church of Christ.
Then again, the Long Island Church of Christ — a diverse body with members representing roughly two dozen nationalities — isn’t an ordinary congregation.
Far from the Bible Belt, the growing church meets for now in space rented from St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, about 45 miles east of New York City. Thus, the aforementioned kneelers and pipes.
More than four decades after its founding, the Long Island church recently appointed its first five elders — all first-generation Christians, just like the majority of the congregation — along with 11 deacons.
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“We always longed for having elders and deacons, but because of the nature of the congregation, we had to grow into that,” said evangelist Pedro Gelabert, a former atheist who grew up in Puerto Rico.
The church, which each Sunday draws about 250 worshipers to its English assembly and 100 to its Spanish service, launched in 1980 in Kent Field’s basement. Field returned to his native Long Island to plant the church after studying preaching at Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas.
ater, the congregation met in a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, two YMCA facilities and a rented chapel before leasing the Lutheran church about five years ago.
By now, church members had intended to move into their own building, but the pandemic delayed construction in Hauppauge, N.Y., about 20 miles from Lindenhurst.
This story appears in the October print edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Photo by Audrey Jackson
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