Baptists in the Northeast will quickly tell a Baptist from the South that things are different in that part of the world — not necessarily better or worse, just different.
The Northeast itself has differences from region to region as one travels southward from New England to New York, then to Pennsylvania and Maryland; while Washington, D.C., has its own culture. But still there are similarities.
“It’s not a foreign land,” but it is a different culture, said David Lee, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware.
There are “not many Baptists,” said Tom Schenk, pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church, near Pittsburgh. That can make ministry difficult. “People don’t have an evangelical mindset. They’re not used to Baptists being so strongly oriented to reaching out to people.”
As a result, many Baptists throughout the Northeast talk about the importance of “relational evangelism,” building enduring friendships as a means to conversion.
“It’s very relational here,” said Tommy Kennedy, pastor of Cross Point Fellowship in Harrisburg, Pa. “People want to get to know you.”
“Impressing people with your genuineness and love is a powerful tool anywhere but especially up here,” said Karl Novak, pastor of Cicero Baptist Church in New York.
Christians have to “show them the difference Christ makes” in their lives, Schenk said. People simply are not used to the concept of “making a decision for Christ.”
Just being a Baptist can cause problems in reaching out to the unchurched. “The name Baptist itself is looked down on here,” said Kirk Strawbridge, a semester missionary at the University of Pittsburgh.
People “think of Baptists as being very judgmental and straight-laced,” trying to tell others what’s wrong with them, Novak said. The people “tend to be skeptical,” but it’s not impossible to go door-to-door.
Carl Anderson, director of missions for Keystone Baptist Association in south central Pennsylvania, agreed.
People in the South think there is little receptivity to the gospel in the North; but, he said, “I’ve yet to have a door slammed in my face.”
People in the Northeast do have a reputation for not being as friendly as those from the South.
Sometimes they can be “a little bit less than polite,” Novak said.
Rob Karl, a church planter in south central Pennsylvania, said the people are “not as friendly” as in his home state of Virginia, but they’re “not mean.”
Lisa Hoffman, a semester missionary from Kentucky working in Boston, had a different perspective. It may be cold outside during the winter, but “it’s not a cold place as far as people go,” she said.
As for Baptist life itself, common themes surface in talking to ministers — great need for both prayer and financial resources.
“The price of housing is ridiculous,” said Michael Dean, international ministries coordinator for Greater Boston Baptist Association. A safe, three-bedroom house will cost $300,000 in the Boston area.
Those prices affect ministers’ personal living conditions, as well as church structures. “Southern Baptists don’t have property,” Dean said. “They have churches that are meeting in places that are unbelievable.”
The same situation exists in all of the large cities, where real estate prices make buying land or buildings for churches difficult.
“Land is almost all gone,” Charles Barnes, coordinator of Impact Northeast, said regarding the Baltimore-Washington area. “And it is very, very expensive.”
David Lee, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, said a way is needed to connect, on one end, “people with a missions heart” who have been blessed with resources to those needs on the other end in the Northeast.
While much of the Northeast is largely secular today, it is not a region without its own Baptist and Christian heritage. The first Baptist church in the continent was started in Rhode Island some 350 years ago, and the Great Awakening of the 18th century centered in that part of the country.
Many in New England are probably not aware of their Christian history, Dean said.
Despite inherent difficulties, Hoffman called Boston “really a perfect ministry area.”
Baptists from the South who minister in the Northeast for short or long spans will have to cross cultural boundaries, said Robert Cochran of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention. “They will discover that God crosses (the boundaries) with them.”
“Church might look a little different,” said Dean. But he encouraged Baptists in the South to “look behind (the differences)” and “you might see a spiritual vitality.” That’s because “Jesus Christ is here.” (ABP)
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