Reaching the Nations, No Passports Needed

New York City (NYC) is a mission field like no other. Over 3.3 million people or nearly 40 percent of NYC’s 8.3 million residents are foreign-borne from more than 150 countries.

No passports are necessary to reach this fertile mission field with the gospel, explain AG U.S missionary with Intercultural Ministries Steve T. Kulish and his wife Deborah, founders of Intensive Care Urban Ministry (ICUM).

For almost three decades the Kulishes have stood by multi-ethnic pastors and aided numerous ethnic fellowships in the city’s five boroughs. Through ICUM they coach, mentor, provide resources, open local government doors, support evangelism, and train leaders to help navigate the Big Apple’s particular cultural and social norms.

“We had to earn their respect and confidence as we walked side by side with them in their neighborhoods,” Steve Kulish, 68, says. “There were no models to follow about launching urban ethnic churches when we began, except relying on the Holy Spirit’s guidance.”

Kulish helps strategize new churches from home meetings to rental space, scouting properties for purchase, and showing up for emergencies.

He recalls how the Holy Spirit prompted him to visit a church planter who lived in public housing. Somehow, Kulish felt led to give the pastor four cartons of food.

He had no idea that the man had lost his bi-vocational job and had only $5 left to buy food for his family. Their cupboard was empty. Breaking down in tears, the pastor thanked God for Kulish’s intervention.

ICUM assists new arrivals to understand and comply with changing immigration regulations. Many come by faith, answering God’s call. They carry few belongings and meager funds, and have limited understanding of how to do church in NYC. Some need immediate housing. Yet they trust God’s provision fully.

“Their faith staggers me,” Kulish admits.

Haniff Bacchus, lead pastor of Calvary Assembly of God in Ozone Park, Queens, New York, landed at JFK International Airport from Guyana with his wife Shantie and five-year-old daughter in 1988. They had one suitcase and $78 between them.

Within one month, he had started a church, partnering with his brother-in-law. It opened in his brother-in-law’s basement in Ozone Park, Queens, with 13 family members and friends.

Bacchus had planted and pastored an AG church in Guyana for five years until God impressed him to move to New York City. His wife’s mother had sponsored his family. While Shantie quickly found employment, he waited three months before finding a Christmas temp job.

The fledgling fellowship outgrew the basement within three years. Deciding against renting, the congregation purchased a nearby abandoned textile mill. It was an unsightly buffet of garbage and industrial debris. It needed a total clean-up, including gutting and upgrading to obey local building codes. The New York Ministry Network arranged the mortgage, unavailable through bank financing, because the rundown property was initially uninsurable.

“The NYMN was very kind to us,” Bacchus, 70, says. “Steve Kulish has also supported us from our early stages arranging help teams from AG churches, doing street evangelism, providing gospel literature, donating winter clothing, and helping with VBS and Sunday school programs.”

After three years in the old mill, Calvary’s congregation soared to about 300, which maxed out the building’s capacity. The next step was purchasing the current property, which has expanded to seat 650 congregants representing 33 nationalities.

Bacchus always highlights Calvary’s diverse cultures at missions’ conventions and other church events. “We show equal love and appreciation for their special talents, foods and customs,” he says.

He also reminds everyone of Colossians 2:10 at annual pastor appreciation services, “Our focus must always be on Christ and what he wants, and that we are complete in him.”

Like other ethnic churches, Calvary stresses evangelism such as meetings in parks, door-to-door tract and goodie bag giveaways, and home thanksgiving services on Saturdays during the spring and summer.

Home thanksgiving services highlight joyful events like baby arrivals, weddings, birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries. Congregants invite relatives, friends, and neighbors, providing ethnic meals and sharing the gospel in a non-threatening venue. A recent home service celebrating a son’s birthday and a wife’s healing, attracted 100 people.

Bethlehem Punjabi Church (BPC) is another testimony of trusting God’s provision, says Jatinder P. Gill, pastor, and a third-generation Christian from the state Punjab, in northwestern India. He pioneered BPC in 2003 to reach South Asian Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu speaking followers of Hinduism and Sikhism who live in Long Island, Queens, and Brooklyn.

He began with six people meeting in a school followed by space in Bethlehem AG and Elohim Christian Center in Richmond Hill, Queens before purchasing a Hindu Temple in Baldwin, Long Island, in September 2023 for $1 million.

AG Financial provided the loan for half of the mortgage, and 200 church members sacrificially provided the difference - withdrawing personal savings, selling coveted gold jewelry and cars, and working odd jobs.

“We have renovated the building and plan on expanding further to reach children and young people,” Gill, 47, says. “When Hindus and Sikhs taste the salvation of Jesus and experience the power of the gospel in their lives, they believe.”

Steve Kulish trusts God will put his stamp on the next generation via vibrant multicultural ministries, citing Psalm 102:18. “Kingdom building in New York City neighborhoods will continue to flourish among the nations as we display the gospel by meeting tangible needs with Christ’s love,” he says.

Peter K. Johnson

Peter K. Johnson is a freelance writer living in Saranac Lake, New York. More than 500 of his articles and short stories have appeared in Christian and mainstream magazines and newspapers, including the Pentecostal Evangel,Charisma, the Saturday Evening Post, Guideposts, and Decision. He also serves as a consultant and contributing editor to a scientific journal.