North Dutch Church

In 1857, the California gold rush was in decline. The railroad bubble peaked in July. Business failures began in August.

The fashionable churches were moving north, but Jeremiah Lanphier lived in the nonreligious lower part of the city. Lanphier never married, and had no formal schooling to prepare him for ministry, but he was commissioned as a lay missionary of North Dutch Church (torn down in 1860s)

He found his ministry in prayer, and started a prayer meeting on Wednesday, September 23, 1857 at the Fulton Street entrance to the church.

“Prayer meeting from 12 to 1 o’clock. Stop 5, 10 or 20 minutes, or the whole time, as your time admits.”

Nobody showed at noon, so he prayed by himself. By the end of the hour there were five others. Next week there were 20, and 40 the week after that. By October the meetings were daily, and by the end of March over ten thousand were meeting for prayer meetings on a daily basis. Even ships approaching New York were hit with conviction before they could land. Over one million were born again in two years. D.L. Moody was already saved but motivated by the spirit of prayer in the revival.

On the 150^th anniversary, a statue was commissioned for outside the American Bible Society, and in 2015 it was moved to The King’s College.

Featured Image Credit: “North Dutch Church – NYC in 1769.” History 101 NYC, www.history101.nyc/north-dutch-church-1769.