Engaging Culture: Christlikeness in New York City
It’s 5:15 p.m. on a Tuesday night in Manhattan, and Abbey Chow is about to leave her 6th floor apartment. If it were Monday, she’d be headed on a subway north to lead a small group in Bible study. But tonight, she heads east, leaving her apartment and hopping on the M14 crosstown bus. Taking a seat, she spends the next few minutes watching the usual hodgepodge of city dwellers boarding and exiting the bus, avenue by avenue, stop by stop.
The bus pulls up to Avenue A, and Abbey exits from the rear door, walking the last couple blocks to a small building with a sign that reads, in snap letters, “The Father’s Heart Ministry.” Above the building hangs a neon sign proclaiming “Jesus Saves.” With a confident smile, she heads in.
A Heart for the City
In the United States, one in 38 people live in New York City, where more than 800 languages are spoken. Comprised of five boroughs, New York is the largest and most densely populated city in the country.
The city is like poetry: it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.
E.B. White
Abbey was only 10 years old when her family immigrated to the United States from South Korea, settling just outside New York City. After graduating high school, she moved to Manhattan to attend college and, later, graduate school. During her school years, Abbey began to witness the many tensions comprising this great city: the wealthy and the poor, the powerful and the vulnerable, the exalted and the oppressed, all living as neighbors, sharing sidewalks and subways.
“It’s really heartbreaking to see all the brokenness and my powerlessness in helping people. I am comforted that God is sovereign, and He is good, but wherever I look, there is always someone who is in need. As I’m reading through the Bible and meditating on God’s Word while walking the streets, there exists a daily question, ‘What are you going to do for this person?’ ”
A Heart for the Word
In 2015, at the encouragement of a friend, Abbey began attending Bible Study Fellowship and immediately felt at home. In addition to the in-depth study, she loved the diversity of age and demographics she encountered there, imagining it to be a foretaste of heaven. And although she had always volunteered across the city, through BSF she found the Scriptures prompting her on a daily basis.
“This is how God wants us to live … that is to be out there and engage with the culture in a way that really spreads the fragrance of Christ.
I think when you are really getting into the crux of the gospel, you realize life isn’t about yourself, it’s about serving the needs of others. The heart of God is that He first loved us, and in turn we get to be his hands and feet, loving those around us.”
A Heart for the People
It’s 5:45 p.m., and Abbey heads upstairs to settle in with other volunteers. Over the next half hour, clients from throughout the neighborhood begin to arrive — many discouraged and insecure, stemming from a life of challenges and disappointment. Their pasts are both diverse and similar at the same time, but they show up on Tuesday nights hoping to change their future.
“We really want to be able to listen to them and care for them in ways outside of what they came for sometimes.”
Throughout the evening, Abbey and others tutor, coach, pray with and listen to people who have been told a high school degree was beyond their reach. Tonight, she helps a man in his thirties navigate some algebra work. He and Abbey have found a rhythm in the work — practice, check, practice more, encourage, smile, repeat. The work is collaborative and affirming.
Across the room, another client mentions he is within eight points of earning his GED, after years of attending tutoring classes.
There are dozens of success stories in the tutoring program, adults who have moved out of homelessness and despair through the compassion and prayerful efforts of Christlike volunteers.
Around 7:30 p.m., daylight begins to leave the upstairs room. Clients and volunteers transition from studies to stories, from focus to fun — closing computers and chatting warmly about the week ahead. The group eventually makes their way downstairs and onto the street, merging with a sea of children leaving their after school program.
The day has now faded, and everyone heads out into the summer night. With a slight breeze behind her, Abbey decides to skip the bus and begins walking home.
“I don’t think you have to be on the street preaching the gospel to really do Kingdom work. When you are kind and compassionate, you really stand out. And it’s a great way to invite someone to ask you, ‘Why are you joyful, why are you so compassionate?’ ”
Learn more about The Father’s Heart Ministries at fathersheartnyc.org.
Learn more about Bible Study Fellowship at bsfinternational.org.
