Planting a new church is tough in any circumstance, but the stakes are even higher at Mosaic Manhattan — which meets in a school auditorium just two blocks north of Ground Zero in New York. It’s an area where evangelical churches traditionally have been near the bottom of most priority lists, and new churches particularly are viewed with skepticism until they have passed the test of time.
“For a culture steeped in Catholicism or Judaism, starting a church is not going to make sense to a lot of people,” said Gregg Farah, the church’s pastor. “New Yorkers are going to watch us and just wait and see whether we are going to be here long term, and whether our actions match what we’re saying.”
Farah and his wife, Janine, are among nearly 5,200 missionaries in the United States and Canada and U.S. territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. They were featured during the Week of Prayer and the North American Mission Study.
The Farahs moved to New York from Southern California, where Gregg served on the youth ministry staff of Saddleback Church, known worldwide for its “purpose-driven” approach to ministry.
But he grew up a New Yorker, living on the upper west side of Manhattan until he was 10 years old — then moving to suburban Connecticut and, during his college years, to the West Coast.
“During my 15 years on the West Coast, I knew it was just a matter of time before coming home,” Farah said. “And during the last five years God made it clear that this was the time.”
The Farahs had been planning to plant a church in the city in 2001 as part of Southern Baptists’ New Hope New York emphasis in the city.
After the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, those plans began to accelerate. That December Farah was asked to consider leading a new congregation in the Battery Park neighborhood most directly affected by the attack, funded largely through contributions to Southern Baptist entities for long-term relief efforts.
The Farahs moved to the city in April 2002 and began public worship services about a year later. Servant evangelism has been one of their principal outreach tools.
“We wanted to meet practical needs and have fun doing it,” Farah said. “So we do surveys, but we also hand out Krispy Kreme doughnuts. In the summer we hand out bottles of water, and in the winter cups of Starbucks’ coffee.”
“Often those types of interactions stir up questions like, ‘Why are you doing this?’ and ‘What’s the catch?’” Farah added. “Those questions lead to great conversations.”
Mosaic Manhattan is modeled after the original Mosaic, a Los Angeles congregation that has grown to thousands of members with its emphasis on experiencing God through the arts and welcoming all segments of a culturally diverse society.
The church also draws from Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., which teaches the importance of leading a church and Christian life according to the biblical purposes.
Their slogan of “help us redefine church” has also helped them attract people who have not found in the traditional church what they are seeking.
“It’s not that we want to come up with a new way of doing church, but we want to redefine in people’s minds what church is, what the church can be,” he said, “what God originally intended.”
Farah is realistic about how long it will take to develop the church — maybe five years, maybe 10. But he also has a bold vision for what it could become if they keep following God’s lead. It’s all about multiplication, with new churches being started that eventually will multiply themselves. Two staff members already are being groomed to take on future church plants in the New York area.
“Our vision is to provide a church home for the 21 million people of metro New York,” Farah said. “That’s going to take thousands of churches, and we want to be a part of a movement of church planting that seeks that goal,” he said. (BP)
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