About Us
We are more than just a congregation—we are a family united under the banner of faith and the transformative love of Jesus Christ. We uphold the enduring wisdom of the Bible as our guiding light, cherishing its age-old teachings and contemporary relevance.
We Believe
In a Triune God
We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence, and redemption.
God the Father
We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. We believe He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men and He hears and answers prayer. We believe God is loving and compassionate, just and kind, and that His deepest desire is to live in an intimate relationship with all people.
God the Son
We believe that because of His desire to live in relationship with us, God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ. We believe Christ is God in the flesh, born of a virgin, fully God and fully man. Through his sacrificial, substitutionary, atoning death and victorious bodily resurrection Jesus made it possible for all people to live in a relationship with God. We believe Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Through Him and him alone can people enter into a relationship with God. We believe Jesus is presently interceding perpetually for His people, and that one day He will return, personally and visibly, to earth to establish His eternal kingdom.
God the Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is God’s presence among us. We believe the Holy Spirit came forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide. We believe that He gives gifts to every believer to enable him or her to share in the ministry of God’s purposes in the world. We believe in all the biblical gifts of the Spirit and encourage people to discover and use their gifts properly for the benefit of God’s Kingdom.
The Bible is the Living Word of God
We believe the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, and that the entire Bible was written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit and thus has supreme authority in our lives. We believe God reveals himself to us through the Scriptures of both Old and New Testaments, and that the Scriptures are the standard and basis upon which we build our faith and live our lives.
The Practices of Baptism and the Lord's Supper
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water into the name of the triune God and that through baptism we identify ourselves with the death and resurrection of Jesus. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ to both remind us of His atoning death and to serve as a proclamation of what Christ’s death has accomplished. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In New Life by Grace
We believe that because all human beings are created in God’s image, every person has dignity and their worth is dependent, not on accomplishments, but on God’s love. Because God sees humanity as worth dying for, we affirm and acknowledge the dignity of all.
At the same time, we acknowledge that all human beings are sinners by nature and choice and are therefore relationally separated from God and under condemnation. However, we joyfully proclaim and receive the Good News that because of Jesus Christ forgiveness is possible and salvation comes to the repentant sinner only by grace through faith in what God has done, not through good works or even good religion.
In the Universal Church
We believe the church of Jesus Christ is a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all who have believed in the atoning work of the cross and received the forgiveness offered by Christ are members of His church, regardless of denominational affiliation.
In Religious Freedom
We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith. We also believe each church is independent and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority. Therefore, Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation or patronage of the other.
In Living for God's Glory
We believe empowered followers of Jesus Christ should continually seek to glorify God in all they do, bearing witness to His presence in their lives. To do so, we believe it is imperative that followers of Jesus embrace these characteristics of a vital faith:
- Regular participation in worship and corporate prayer
- Daily devotion and personal prayer
- Personal growth through Bible study and group learning activities
- Obedience to Christ and the Scriptures in personal behavior
- Commitment to others in the Body of Christ through caring for one another
- Stewardship of God’s blessings, sacrificially and generously giving of our time, talents and treasures
- Sharing God’s love in mission and service to others outside the church
In Heaven and Hell
We believe every person has an eternal destiny and that destiny is determined by whether or not they place faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We believe that all believers will spend eternity with their loving Creator in a place void of sorrow, pain or difficulty. We believe all who do not believe will spend eternity separated from God, the source of love and goodness, in a place devoid of anything that is good, a place of endless suffering.
Our Values
Service
The New Testament term, diakonos, derives from a verb meaning “to wait at table, to serve.” As the Son of man, Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45).
The diakonos gives hospitality (Matt. 8:15), distributes food (Acts 6:1), sets a table (John 12:2), does the work of a deacon (1 Tim. 3:10), or exercises spiritual gifts (1 Peter 4:10-11). In the New Testament, the idea of “serving at table” is expanded to encompass “the service of the saints” (1 Cor. 16:15). Paul regarded the collection of money for the church in Jerusalem as a “service” (2 Cor. 8:4; 9:11-13), along with preaching and ministering in spiritual things.
Significant Relationships
In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35 ESV). The New Testament repeatedly admonishes Christians to love one another (1 Thess. 4:9; 1 Tim. 1:5; 1 Peter 1:22). Because of his or her relationship with God, the believer now has a special connection with other believers. The love of God binds them together in a way nothing else can. Christians are to encourage one another, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Rom. 15:2 ESV; cf. 1:12).
Celebratory Worship
One definition of worship is “where the sacred meets the profane”, where we center on God, and include everyone who is interested in meeting Him, even curious onlookers. We regularly come before our Heavenly Father and submit to His authority and power. We come with reverence and holy fear, but also in love and joy for the redemptive work He is doing in our individual lives, and in His church. We come together as a body of believers, whose Head is Jesus Christ, and celebrate His life, death, resurrection; and, the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work through us. Worship is the process of giving everything over to Him, setting ourselves apart for His purpose, and transcending our brokenness.
Rom. 12:1-2 – “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Being Doers of the Word
Our greatest understanding of God comes from the Bible. It is life-giving, and we become life-giving as we do what it says. The Holy Spirit helps us to interpret scripture, and the Word helps us discern what is of the Spirit and what is not. Tim Keller has said, “An authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is a precondition for it.”
James 1:22-25 – “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
Practical Biblical Teaching
We believe that the Bible is God’s word to His people. In order to do what the scripture says, we need to help each other understand what it says, and to continue to engage with scripture for the rest of our lives. The Bible is historical, “His story”, yet its truth transcends time. In order for Trinity to continually improve our understanding of God and obedience to Him, we need to better interpret His Word through learning, studying, and meditating on it. Then we will know what it says, what it means, and what it means for us.
2 Tim. 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God (lit. you, a man of God) may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Reconciliation
To be reconciled with one another is to glorify God as we are the body of Christ “And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his
presence.” Eph. 1:23.
We should be a showcase for his forgiving grace and to be full of love for God and each other. “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:37-40)
We are to be a community of harmony and peace living together in love, bound together by the Holy Spirit. “Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose.” (Phil. 2:1-2)
Reconciliation demonstrates God’s reality among unbelievers. “My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father–that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.” (John 17:21)
Generosity
In seeking to live generously, we must first recognize that we are the recipients of the greatest act of generosity ever known! Generosity is born out of overflowing love and is demonstrated through sacrifice, as modeled by Jesus’s death on the cross – “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)
Because we also submit that all our blessings come from God (James 1:17) and we are simply stewards of that with which he entrusted us, we are free to generously pour out our time, energy, talents, and resources on others across our city, and the world (2 Cor. 8:1-5 & 9:6-8), knowing that we have been blessed to be a blessing! (1 Tim. 6:17-19)
As Erwin McManus says, “The apex of generosity is sacrifice”, thus our goal in seeking to live generously should not be about how much we give, but how much it costs us.
Staff
Brian Newby
Lead Pastor
Ryan Dennis
Executive Pastor
Methergin de Belen
Facilities Manager
Jose Gallego
Bookkeeper
Marty Mikles
Worship Director
Heidi Miesle
Marketing & Communications Manager
Genille Perez
Family Ministries Director
Elders
Our elders are shepherds. Their role extends beyond just guidance; they engage with our congregation, offering prayer, counseling, and practical solutions to life’s challenges. From a theological standpoint, they ensure the spiritual vitality of our community, check that our teachings remain faithful to the scripture, and that our outreach aligns with our core values. When needed, they also maintain church discipline. They help to shape our future direction, refine our mission, and oversee our dedicated deacons.
Fred Atkins
Fred has attended Trinity since 1994. He has served on the Trinity Board as Board Chair, Interim Board member, and was the head of the 2003 Pastoral Search Committee. He and his wife, Susannah, have been involved in various levels of ministry including youth, prayer, and small groups. Both are licensed social workers with a calling to help people achieve wholeness. Fred also taught middle school math and is particularly interested in reconciliation and mediation work.
Dave Page
Dave moved to New York in late 2008 and has been attending Trinity since early 2010. During his time at Trinity, he has served in various capacities: teaching Sunday School, leading the Newcomer’s Welcome, volunteering in the International Students’ Ministry, as well as over two years as the Deacon of Men’s Ministries. He has also gone on three Trinity mission trips to Rwanda. In 2014, Dave became an elder. Dave works in the finance sector and lives in New York City with his wife, Sarah, and their sons.
Duane Smith
Duane has attended Trinity with his family since 2004. He has served in many roles here, including as a trustee (and Chair of the Board), a small group leader, and as a guest preacher. In 2022, Duane became an elder at Trinity. He and his wife, Linnie, professionally serve as medical doctors in NYC and they have two grown sons, Brian and Andre.
Timothy Tien
Timothy has attended Trinity since 2002. His involvement in church life since that time includes the Worship Ministry, couples’ small groups, Children’s Ministry, youth, and the Elder Nominating Committee. His previous local church experience includes roles as a Sunday School teacher, youth minister, worship director, governing board member, deacon, and elder. He and his wife, Alice, have been married since 1995, and they have two daughters and a son: Ellie, Gabi, and Theo.
Our Trustees
Our Trustees are essential in ensuring our church’s resources and properties are managed with integrity and foresight. As caretakers of our church’s assets, they work closely with the elders and the Executive Pastor to provide financial wisdom. Their responsibilities span from reviewing financial statements, supervising external audits, and laying out comprehensive yearly financial reports to crafting the annual budget. On top of this, they’re our go-to team for any legal matters, ensuring Trinity’s best interests are always upheld.
Tania Agrawal
Tania has been attending Trinity with her younger son, Alex, since 2011 when they moved into the neighborhood. Tania has served as part of the Welcome and Connection Ministry and as a parent helper for Sunday School. Tania is originally from Singapore, but has lived in the United States for more than thirty years. She is currently VP of Compensation for an insurance company and has worked in the area of compensation for fifteen years.
Jeeho Bae
Jeeho has been attending Trinity with his wife, Yongju, since 2014 and has been a member since 2017. They have one daughter, Kate. He served with the youth group from 2014 to 2015. Jeeho’s professional background is in the finance / data consulting industry.
Wanda Yu
Wanda has been attending Trinity for over a year and has been involved in small groups, the Welcome and Connection ministry, and in helping a less mobile church member return home from our Sunday worship services. She grew up in Queens, NY, and graduated from Baruch College; she is taking continuing education courses in law and taxation at New York University. She currently works as a budget officer and before that as a mutual fund accountant.
Pam Clayton
Pamela (Pam) Clayton has been attending Trinity since 2016. Her history of service at Trinity includes serving as a Trinity Trustee for two years, volunteering in the Trinity office on Fridays, and being a member of the Welcome and Connection Committee. Pam’s professional background is in the Finance/Security industry. In addition to volunteering at Trinity, Pam also volunteers at New York Presbyterian Hospital and at a local animal shelter (Bidawee).
Kim Littrell
Kim has been attending Trinity since 2019 and attends the Tuesday Night Women’s Bible Study. Originally from Kentucky, she loves living in New York City. Kim is a CPA and a CMA and works as a Controller in the construction industry. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her daughter and son-in-law.
Janice Meyers
Janice Meyers: Janice has attended Trinity Baptist Church with her husband Joe since 2021. They have a son, Joseph, and daughter-in-law, Lana, who live in Los Angeles, CA. Janice’s service at Trinity includes member of the Welcome Committee, sponsor of a child from Rwanda through Africa Life. Janice worked as a CPA for five years before making the decision to stay at home after the birth of Joseph. In 2006 she returned to school to pursue a Masters in Nursing. Since 2008 Janice has worked as a nurse practitioner.
Austin Lin
Austin Lin: Austin joined Trinity with his son Ayrton on Palm Sunday 2022, marking the beginning of his involvement within the congregation. Since then, Austin has participated in various capacities, including choir, teaching in the Children’s Ministry, and joining in the Alpha course. Professionally, Austin brings experience as a controller for tech startups with seven years in this role and prior experience as a finance consultant. He has traveled to 7 continents and over 70 countries, but his favorite adventure is being a dad.
Trinity’s Rich Tapestry of Faith
Our history at Trinity isn’t just a series of dates—it’s a vibrant journey of faith, resilience, and community.
Today, Trinity Baptist Church is remarkably young and vibrant, but the congregation has a long history. Our enjoyment of Trinity’s ministry owes much to the legacies bestowed upon us by past visionaries and dreamers, whose hard work shaped the nature of our church.
Origins Evangelized during visits to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, Swedish sailors returned to their country enthusiastically sharing the Baptist emphasis on grace and salvation. However, they suffered persecution and banishment because they did not use pastors appointed by the official state church, preferred immersion instead of infant baptism, and worshipped at home meetings. Many Swedish Baptists fled to seek refuge in America.
Incorporation Captain R. E. Jeanson of Gothenberg converted to the Baptist faith and settled in New York in 1865. Under his leadership, fifteen men and nineteen women met to found the “First Swedish Baptist Church of New York” on Sunday, December 22, 1867. Initially worshipping at the Mariner’s Church near the docks in lower Manhattan, the congregation moved uptown to the Colgate Chapel on 20th Street in 1884. Then, as the congregation grew and prospered, it bought its own building on 27th Street in 1893.
Prosperity Although its beginnings were humble, by the turn of the century the Church spawned three daughter congregations in Brooklyn, New Jersey, and the Bronx. In 1899, it purchased a larger church on 55th Street, from which it ministered to the growing influx of Swedish immigrants. Recalling its origins, the church sent missionaries to the docks to draw new arrivals into the church and provide them with a spiritual home.
New Building In 1929, a building boom, accompanied by rising property values, enabled the congregation to sell its worn-out building to developers. With the proceeds, they purchased land on 61st Street and decided to build a new, first-class building. Martin Gravely Hedmark, the architect, designed a beautiful and richly symbolic church home dedicated on January 21, 1931.
New Name As time went by, the need for a Swedish language church decreased. Swedish immigration slowed, many Swedes migrated westward, and descendants of the original settlers learned English as their native tongue. Thus, in 1942 the worship language of the church was changed from Swedish to English, and the official church name was changed to “Trinity Baptist Church.”
Decline Even the new spirit of cultural inclusiveness could not stave off the eventual effects of the great exodus to the suburbs that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. By the mid-sixties, it was questionable whether Trinity could last much longer. In a time when scores of New York City churches were closing their doors and selling their property to developers, it seemed only a matter of time before Trinity would be one more church in a city’s past.
Vision Trinity kept its doors open in these difficult years thanks to the foresight and leadership of the Baptist General Conference (a network of Baptists across the USA) and the efforts of a small cadre of committed New York Christians. There was a renewal of commitment to the future of Trinity–a belief that a new congregation would rise up to be a witness for Jesus Christ on Manhattan’s East Side.
Restoration Visionaries foresaw the long-term possibilities in the urban renewal of New York. The dismantling of the elevated trains on Second and Third Avenues paved the way for slum areas to regain new commercial and residential value. What had become an ugly part of the city suddenly became one of Manhattan’s most attractive and New York society began to move into the East Side neighborhoods. Today, the area surrounding the Trinity building is a center for many of the activities for which New York City is famous.
Revival In the 1980s, Trinity began to see the possibilities of new life. In the 1990s, it witnesses a renewed interest in spiritual and personal values. While its congregation grows at incredible rates, Trinity sets new standards of excellence as it meets the spiritual needs of the new urban person: a congregation that believes strongly in the gospel of Jesus Christ and clearly perceives how to share that gospel with today’s New Yorker.
Today, Trinity continues to draw in and welcome a steady progression of newcomers to New York, integrating them into a unified spiritual fellowship. It serves New Yorkers with the same hospitality it has shown since 1867. With an impressive variety of races, cultures, personalities, and professions, Trinity’s people participate in a spirit of love and caring that suggests the presence of God.
Worship A visit to Trinity, where people gather to encounter God in worship and one another in fellowship, is a powerful experience. One feels the vitality of men and women who step from the pews of the sanctuary to lead various parts of the public services. A surprising breadth of contemporary to classical forms of worship prevail, as services move quickly back and forth from traditional chorales or ancient creeds, to the exuberant notes of gospel songs and contemporary prayers. The number of open Bibles and notebooks when sermon time comes indicates the commitment and intensity of the spiritual quest of Trinity.
The Future The ministry of Trinity Baptist is vital to our city. We believe it will endure for the benefit of future generations for many reasons.Evangelical witness in a world-class city is of utmost importance. In a world becoming increasingly urbanized, Trinity is committed to applying the gospel of Jesus Christ in ways uniquely understood by city people.
Trinity is one of a very few Evangelical congregations on Manhattan’s East Side, an area of more than a half million people in a city of over eight million.
Trinity is strategically located to draw, develop, and infuse the presence of Christ in young men and women who are on the “cutting edge” in world financial institutions, the greatest medical and research facilities, influential educational institutions, major business organizations, world diplomacy at the United Nations and embassies, famous cultural and entertainment centers, and the power of the media, advertising, and retailing industries.
Trinity will be a place where men and women will continue to come to study, model, and develop the processes of new urban ministries.
Worship and Meditation Our church building inspires worship–and we appreciate it, not for itself, but for the sources in the Word of God to which its symbols direct our attention. Spend a silent afternoon, or a day, in the Trinity sanctuary, with a Bible and a concordance. See what you have not seen before. Meditate on the significance of each of the references represented here: the scenes in Christ’s life and ministry, the baptism of the Spirit and water, the vine, the garden, the bread and wine, sowing and reaping, the dove of the Holy Spirit, the all-knowing God, and a multitude of other themes. Such a quest will enrich your every moment of worship experience at Trinity and equip you well for life in Christ.