I: Beginnings

Emmanuel is one of a number of churches inspired by the vision of Redeemer to saturate New York with city-loving churches committed to the great God-centered doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. Redeemer's vision is, in turn, kindled by the conviction that Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations is best fulfilled by establishing new churches in urban areas. Cities like New York are centers of cultural influence: churches that reach New Yorkers are churches that reach the world.

A lover of the arts who had served churches in university towns for twenty years, Charlie was drawn almost immediately to Morningside Heights. He found the socio-economic diversity and the mix of internationals, students, musicians, families, and the urban poor exhilarating and challenging. With the permission of the Redeemer leadership he began a series of monthly "Vision Meetings" in May 2000 and a weekly prayer meetings in June.

During this time our leadership began to grow. A strategic planning group of four, meeting for the first time in early July, evolved by September 9 into a task force of ten that we called our Launch Team. Comprised originally of Keith Clements, Iara Peng, Deb Christensen, Jeannie Drew, Cynthia Lyman, Mike Kuo, Sarah Han (later Kuo!), Chun Lai, Kim Lai, Andre Solomon, Selma Smith, Kathy Riddle (later Chao!), and Rosemary McCullough, we met regularly in Cynthia's apartment to dream, plan, coordinate, pray and work to give shape to our vision. Embracing the goal to be "up and running by March 2001," we hunted for office and worship sites, set up task forces for university ministry, prayer, home fellowship groups, Sunday operations, and community outreach.

II: 2001--The "Tabernacling" Period

To our delight and encouragement we secured the Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist on 112th Street and were able to begin weekly evening worship in late October, four months ahead of schedule. The following excerpt from our November 2000 newsletter captures the excitement of that first night:

On October 29 we began weekly worship in our beautiful new space. An hour before the service was to begin, the place began to hum with energy as a score of volunteers rushed purposefully about, setting up the audio, preparing communion, finalizing the bulletins, praying in the balcony, prepping for child care, setting up refreshments, and rehearsing for special music. It felt very much like an opening night (I guess it was!). To our immense encouragement nearly 120 folks gathered for a rich time of worship. I spoke from Acts 1 on the necessity of waiting for the Holy Spirit, stressing that without his help we could not possibly fulfill our mission, nor would we care to.

Following the service about twenty of us celebrated at a nearby restaurant. The "opening night" highlight for me was the privilege of chatting comfortably about the gospel over dinner with a mainland Chinese graduate student who had been brought to church by a friend. She had been to Christian worship only three times in her life, all within the last few weeks since her arrival in New York. Suddenly, and to her delight, the whole group gathered around and surprised her with a cake and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday". I had just preached on Acts 1:8, where Jesus said," You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." And here we were, the "ends of the earth" brought to our doorstep, bearing witness to his life and love.

Office space at a very good rate became available at the turn of the year and with the generous help of a number of gifted volunteers we were able to design, furnish, and move into our beautiful office overlooking Morningside Heights by March 2001.

With Emmanuel's "launching" in late 2000, the Launch Team began to phase out and the Exec Team began its work. A sub committee of the original Launch Team, the Exec Team (comprised of Chun Lai, Jeannie Drew, Mike Kuo, Andre Solomon, Rosemary McCullough, and Larry Christensen--with the later additions of John Chao, Scott Strickman and Melissa Locher) began to meet once or twice monthly for what was to exceed two years to consult with Charlie Drew, to pray, and to shape our ministry. Under their guidance we became a Mission Church (June 2001), incorporated and elected trustees (September 2001), developed budgets for 2002 and 2003, and continued to grow and minister.