At 101 West 123rd Street, on the corner of Lenox Avenue in the heart of Harlem, New York City, the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church has been gathering for worship for more than a century. Founded in 1924 as Harlem No. 2 and renamed Ephesus in 1930, the congregation grew into the largest gathering of Black Adventism and a symbol of the movement in New York City. It is known for its 1886 sanctuary with a soaring steeple and stained glass, for members who fought racial injustice and housing discrimination in Harlem, and for a ministry of service that works the block around the church door with meals, clothing, mobile showers, health screenings and classes for children and adults.
The church's welcome is plain and warm: "No matter where you are at on life's journey, you are welcome here!" Those who believe and those who are seeking are both invited, and the congregation describes itself as "a spiritual and growing church preparing to meet God."
A Sabbath in Harlem: School, Worship and Midweek Prayer
Ephesus keeps the seventh-day rhythm of Seventh-day Adventist life, with the busiest hours falling on Saturday and a midweek gathering on Wednesday evening.
- 9:30 AM, Sabbath School. Bible study and fellowship for the congregation, meeting in the building and online.
- 9:30 AM, Children's Sabbath School. The Lower Division class serves younger children and can be joined in person or through Zoom.
- 11:00 AM, Divine Worship Service. Also called the Divine Hour, the service runs until 1:30 PM.
- 11:30 AM, Youth Church. A second worship gathering on the first and third Sabbath of each month.
- 3:00 PM, Personal Ministries Workshop. Held in the Youth Church and led by Brother Vessard Miyanda.
- 4:30 PM, Adventist Youth Ministries. Bible study, sports and fellowship, with the meeting closing at 6:00 PM.
- Wednesday, 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Bible Study and Prayer Meeting. Held by Zoom, with telephone dial-in available.
Services are livestreamed, and the live stream can be watched on Vimeo. The congregation also shares messages through its YouTube channel, and Youth Church worship is broadcast from a channel of its own, the Ephesus Youth Church channel. A sermon archive keeps past messages available to listeners, and the midweek Bible study and prayer meeting draws people in by Zoom from home.
The church publishes the Sabbath program outline along with community resources and the week's activities, so guests can follow worship and know what else is happening. The church office at 101 West 123rd Street can be reached at 212.662.5536, and driving directions lead to the corner of 123rd Street and Lenox Avenue.
From Harlem No. 2 to Ephesus
The roots of Ephesus reach back to 1903, when the evangelistic ministry of James K. Humphrey gave rise to Black Adventism in New York City and, over the next two decades, established seven congregations. The largest of them, known as the "Mother Church," stood at 144 West 131st Street in Harlem, and it grew crowded.
That overcrowding produced Harlem No. 2 in 1924. Some 130 members, pastored by Matthew C. Strachan, met at Carlton Hall, a former dance hall on 127th Street at Lenox Avenue. Carlton Hall also housed Harlem Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist school founded in 1920 and operated jointly by the two Harlem churches. James L. Moran served as principal for much of the 1920s and later became the first Black president of Oakwood College, and the Harlem Renaissance author Arna Bontemps taught on the faculty from 1924 to 1931, two of those years as principal. Depression pressures ended the secondary grades in 1932, but the school's legacy was carried forward later by Northeastern Academy, which Ephesus continues to support.
Race and self-determination also shaped Adventist life in Harlem. Conflict over equality and control of the Black church caused Elder Humphrey and the 600-member Harlem No. 1 congregation to withdraw from denominational governance near the end of 1929. On June 18, 1930, roughly 250 members of Harlem No. 2, led by Pastor G. E. Peters, marched from Carlton Hall to the present edifice at 123rd Street and Lenox Avenue. That day the church took the name Ephesus, drawn from the first of the seven churches in Revelation. The name has loosely come to mean "first amongst equals," and the congregation became a central hub for the African American Adventist community in New York City.
The "Ephesus Effect"
Newly settled, the congregation faced the possibility of losing its building. After nine years of leasing it, the owners wanted $150,000, far beyond what the members could raise, and other buyers, including the controversial religious leader Father Divine, were also interested. Elder Peters, with the support of loyal members, filled the sanctuary with hundreds of new members.
On July 5, 1939, J. L. McElhany, president of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and other executive officers arrived in Harlem, joined by the presidents of the Atlantic Union Conference, the Greater New York Conference and every union conference in North America. McElhany recognized that Ephesus had proven indispensable to the Adventist cause among African Americans and called for a joint effort to finance the purchase. Elder Thomas M. Rowe, Peters's successor, moved quickly. The congregation raised $5,000 in donations and another $15,000 through the sale of equities in smaller properties, the General Conference arranged a loan, and the General Conference, Atlantic Union and Greater New York Conference agreed to share the debt with Ephesus over eight years. They paid it in six and burned the mortgage two years early, in 1945.
The same drive to build Black leadership inside the denomination shaped the regional conferences organized in 1944 and 1945. Those conferences did not bring the full desegregation many Black Adventists sought, but they gave Black church members the right to elect their own conference leaders. Ephesus made up close to half of the 2,200 members of the Northeastern Conference in its first full year of operation in 1945, and it anchored that conference for decades, providing a financial base and a reservoir of lay leadership that helped it reach 62,075 members in 2022, the largest of the Black conferences in the United States. By 2023, thirty-six congregations and nine schools in the United States, Canada, Barbados and Jamaica bore the name Ephesus.
Pastors of Ephesus and the positions they carried
- G. E. Peters, Director of the North American Colored Department
- Thomas M. Rowe, President, Central States Conference
- W. S. Lee, Director, Regional Affairs Department of the Pacific Union Conference; Executive Secretary, Central Union Conference
- R. T. Hudson, President, Northeastern Conference
- Calvin Rock, President of Oakwood University and later Vice President of the General Conference
- John Nixon, Pastor of churches at Atlantic Union College, Oakwood University and Southern Adventist University
- Robert H. Carter, President, Lake Union Conference and the first African American union president
- R. Clifford Jones, President, Lake Region Conference; Dean, School of Theology, Oakwood University
- Ron Smith, Editor of Message Magazine; President, Southern Union Conference
- Sherwin Jack, Pastor, Atlanta Berean
- Dedrick Blue, Dean, School of Theology, Oakwood University; Ministerial Director, Northeastern Conference
The Fire of 1969 and the Wilderness Years
The most painful chapter in Ephesus's history came in 1969, when fire gutted the church building. Only two stained glass windows could be saved. The top 20 feet of the majestic steeple had to be removed because of structural damage, and the fire brigade worked carefully to preserve the structure itself, which had been built in 1886. The building had been refurbished only a year before, in 1968.
Members called the rebuilding period "the wilderness years." It took eight years to reconstruct the church, including its two sanctuaries, at a cost of $2.3 million. Throughout that time the congregation worshiped at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, whose members opened their sanctuary from 1969 to 1977. In 1977 the members of Ephesus marched triumphantly from St. Andrews back to their own home, and they burned the rebuilding mortgage in 1983. The steeple stayed uncapped for many years; the final 20 feet were replaced in 2006 as part of an exterior restoration project costing $1.6 million. The New York Times hailed the restored steeple as a testimony to the faith and will of a congregation determined to keep its symbol as a beacon of hope for all who gaze on it.
Civic Courage in Harlem
Service and advocacy have run together at Ephesus from the beginning. During the civil rights era the church took a stand against racial injustice, and its leaders were on the frontline to save Harlem Hospital. Through the 1980s the congregation fought for fair housing in New York City and for adequate health care for all, and into the new millennium it has continued to advocate for fair rezoning laws that guarantee affordable housing to the poor and vulnerable.
One of the most difficult periods in New York City came with the crack epidemic, when members volunteered at Hale House to help care for babies born drug-dependent, and the church launched a weekly feeding program and clothing distribution for a growing homeless population.
Music has been another Ephesus hallmark. The church has been the seat of soloists, award-winning choirs and acclaimed groups and ensembles, and the famed Boys' Choir of Harlem started there, with several members singing and touring with the choir. Over the years, figures from across the world and from Harlem itself, including Fidel Castro and Malcolm X, attended services at Ephesus.
Adventist Community Service on the Block
The Adventist Community Services department of Ephesus, directed by Dr. Hydie Aurelien, serves the neighborhood around Lenox Avenue with both immediate relief and skills for life. It distributes clothing so that individuals and families have essential attire for the seasons, and it feeds Harlem residents through communal meals and food distribution, describing the shared table as a way of fostering belonging as well as easing hunger. The department also offers classes in piano, crochet and CPR, giving people creative outlets and lifesaving skills at the same time.
The church's Showers of Blessings outreach brings free mobile showers, hygiene kits, snacks and a place to rest to people in the community. Families in need of food are also directed to a network of food pantries across New York City.
That work reaches beyond the block. The church once operated Harlem Trailblazers, a community-based organization offering training and skills coaching to neighborhood youth, and a Resource Center that provided computer training and GED classes; financial seminars are offered to the community as well. Ephesus has had representation on the local police precinct community affairs board, on Community Board 4 and in the Mount Morris Park neighborhood associations, and members take part in the Night Out Against Crime, the African American Day Parade and neighborhood cleanups. A Sabbath School extension operated for years at the Rikers Island Correctional facility, and Sabbath School members have brought weekly fellowship and activities to residents of the Greater Harlem Nursing Home.
From Dorcas Society to Adventist Community Services
The tradition behind the department runs deep in Adventist history. In 1874, Adventist Community Services began as the Dorcas and Benevolent Association, made up of women who provided clothing, food, financial support and services to needy families in their churches and communities, which is why until the World War II era the humanitarian work of local Seventh-day Adventist churches was known as the Dorcas Society. The name comes from Dorcas of Joppa, who was always doing good and helping those in need, as Acts 9:36-43 describes. In 1879 the Dorcas societies wanted their husbands involved, and the Good Samaritan Society was organized. In 1953 the General Conference broadened the concept of service to urban ministry through Seventh-day Adventist Health and Welfare Services, and in 1972 the name became Adventist Community Services. In 1983 the church organized the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, or ADRA, a church-owned organization sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church to provide international relief and development, and in 2005 ACS International was added to focus on Adventists serving in community services and outreach ministries at the local church level.
Health Ministries and the Daniel Plan
Health ministry at Ephesus is led by Sister Karen Phipps and is built on the Adventist health message and the Scripture teaching that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The ministry takes a wholistic view of health covering physical, mental and spiritual well-being, and it works to give the community both knowledge and resources for healthful living.
An annual health fair offers free health screenings, professional consultations and practical advice. A cycling class makes exercise enjoyable and supports cardiovascular health, and vegan cooking classes show how satisfying a plant-based diet can be. The Daniel diet plan is presented regularly, alongside classes in vegan and vegetarian cooking, smoking cessation and eliminating alcohol use. A cycling club meets year round, and CPR certification is offered on a rotating basis for members and community personnel. The church has partnered with the New York City Department of Health on health concerns that disproportionately affect the African American community, and with Touro College and Cornell Medical Center to provide health screenings for the community.
Health teaching also reaches people who cannot attend in person through short videos, including a "Golden Nugget" series on introduction, proper rest, proper exercise and sunshine. The church also collects health testimonies, sharing how the Daniel challenge has changed the lives of those who took part.
Raising the Next Generation
Ephesus Youth Church was organized in 1955 and was the first of its kind in the conference. It gave young people a platform for training and development so they could better serve the church and the world. The youth of Ephesus has built a strong record in Adventist Youth Ministries, Pathfinders and sports teams, and has been a repeated champion in Bible Bowls and in conference-wide basketball and baseball.
Today the Adventist Youth Ministries team is guided by Christina Callwood, Tony Graham and Alexa Lewis. The program blends biblical teaching with the pressures young people face, working through dating, mental health, bullying, academic and career pressure and social media. Sports are central, and the basketball program is described as a place where teamwork, perseverance and spiritual growth come together on the court. Retreats in Stamford, Connecticut, held with the Northeastern Conference, give the group space for workshops, worship sessions and fellowship, and the ministry also partners with other churches and with Columbia University's Triumph Team. Gospel concerts close out the program with music the church describes as a celebration of faith, talent and community.
The Personal Ministries Workshops, led by Brother Vessard Miyanda, meet every Sabbath in the Youth Church for spiritual growth and the practical work of learning to share testimony. The church's annual Vacation Bible School offers daily classes and activities for children during the summer months, and an Adventurers club gives younger children a place in the life of the church alongside the Lower Division Sabbath School at 9:30 AM.
Christian Education and Scholarship
Ephesus has valued Christian education since 1948, when it co-founded a primary school, and the congregation remains a stalwart supporter of Northeastern Academy. Clubs and organizations within the church have made Christian education their mission, including the King's Daughters, the Concerned Committee for Christian Education, the Carlyle Donovan Scholarship Fund, the Oakwood Alumni Association, the Labelles and the Early Morning Prayer band. Together they have provided scholarships, tuition assistance and financial aid to dozens of students, and Ephesus also awards three-way scholarships to its members attending Adventist institutions of higher learning. Stewardship teaching at the church treats the development of leadership and the nurture of the mind as part of faithful living, not only the support of a building and a budget.
Women's Ministries
Ephesus Women's Ministries is dedicated to the personal and spiritual growth of women, addressing their concerns and preparing them for effective service and leadership. The ministry offers resources, educational programs and support groups that build knowledge, skills and spiritual maturity, and it emphasizes mentorship, fellowship and advocacy so that women's voices are heard in the church and in the community. Discipleship and stepping beyond comfort zones are central themes, and the annual Tea 'N Sip gathering brings the women together for praise and worship.
Seniors and Mental Health
Ephesus's seniors have long been active in the life of the church. They have won swimming and golf championships, and classes in crocheting, quilt making, photography and an introduction to computers are taught to senior members. For 50 continuous years, the Helping Hands group has provided a hot meal on Thanksgiving and Christmas to senior members of the community.
The church has also taken up mental health as a community concern. Working with the Triumph Research Team from Columbia University and with other churches in the Greater New York region, Ephesus has joined efforts to foster discussion of mental health and wellness within the context of the Black church. Ongoing mental health screenings, advocacy, panel discussions and workshops aim to break the silence and stigma that have kept people away from care.
Stewardship and Giving
Stewardship at Ephesus is understood as guardianship over everything God has entrusted: financial resources, time, talents, the body and the environment. The church teaches intentional living, aligning daily choices with the values of the gospel, and it connects stewardship with the disciplined lifestyle of worship and careful use of time, resources and body, along with mentoring and leadership development, care for the earth, volunteer work and everyday acts of kindness.
Giving can be made in three ways. Tithes and offerings can be submitted online through Adventist Giving, either as a guest or as a recurring donor; an account makes it easy to log in and give as you would with a regular tithe envelope. Offerings can also be sent by CashApp to $ephesusSDANYC, or mailed to the church.
The Leadership Team
Dr. Willie J. Wright Jr., Senior Pastor
Dr. Wright was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the son of Willie J. Wright Sr. and Barbara Wright, one of five siblings. A passion for basketball shaped his youth, but he says God had other plans, leading him into a lifelong calling of ministry, teaching and service. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theology with a minor in Computer Science from Oakwood University, a Master of Divinity from Andrews University and a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Beyond pastoral ministry he is a trained chaplain who has served in hospice care, an experience he credits with deepening his pastoral sensitivity and commitment to holistic spiritual care.
He has pastored in the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for twenty-seven years, conducting evangelistic crusades and Bible prophecy seminars that resulted in hundreds of baptisms. His particular passions are Bible prophecy, Bible studies, counseling and strengthening marriages. He founded and hosts Prophecy Plus, a media-based teaching ministry that explores Bible prophecy in the light of current world events and is livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook. He also writes devotionals and spiritual growth resources.
Dr. Wright and his wife Sylvia VanHorn Wright have been married for 39 years and have five adult daughters and eight grandchildren. Sylvia Wright is a registered nurse of more than 33 years who works as a Registered Nurse Assessor for the State of New York, is co-owner of Gabby's Gourmade Granola, and has interests in naturopathy, healthy alternative lifestyle living and natural products. Dr. Wright's favorite text is Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." His motto is "Excellence, not prominence," and his personal mission statement is "To strive for Christ's excellence in mind, body, and spirit, influencing others to follow Him."
Pastor Gibson LaCroix, Assistant Pastor
Pastor LaCroix, affectionately known as "Pastah Gibby," came to Ephesus from Nassau in the Bahamas. He graduated from Northern Caribbean University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Theology with an emphasis in pastoral ministry, and during his studies he served as Vice President of Student Services and Social Affairs and as Sports Director of the United Students' Movement from 2017 to 2019, along with earlier service as Vice President of Spiritual Affairs and Projects Director of the International Students' Association from 2015 to 2016.
From 2020 to 2023 he served as associate pastor in the South Bahamas Conference at Living Faith Seventh-day Adventist Church and La Senda de la Vida Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nassau, working closely with the Youth Department and serving on the Youth Committee as Sports Coordinator. He was chaplain at Bahamas Academy Elementary and Secondary School, a Master Guide and Senior Youth Leader, and in 2023 he received the "Youth Leadership in Religion" award for his ministry in youth, sports and culture for 2022-2023. He completed Unit One of Clinical Pastoral Education in 2024. His philosophy is to be a man called by God to minister to the needs of the people and to spread the gospel to all the world, and he is married to Chevaen LaCroix.
Elliott S. Phipps, First Elder
Elliott S. Phipps is president and founder of Lynx Logistics LLC, a business professional and life coach who led the Eastern Region Corporate Sales organization for FedEx until retiring in 2019 to pursue a doctorate in education with the express purpose of restoring the image of the Creator in every child. He believes experiential learning through problem solving is key to developing critical thinking. Among his career achievements are the design and delivery of corporate sales training at FedEx, flight crew training at ATA and the launch of Selcon Airlines, a joint venture airline with Nigerian partners.
A product of Adventist education, he attended R.T. Hudson School, Northeastern Academy and Oakwood College before graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. At Ephesus he was instrumental in starting the Spin Cycle, the cycling group that encourages health and wellness. While board chair at Capitol City SDA School in the Lake Region Conference, the school received a $500,000 matching grant from the Ely Lilly Foundation to enhance its physical plant, and enrollment grew from 60 to 250 students. He and his wife Karen enjoy cycling, running, hiking, beekeeping and gardening, and they have three adult children and four grandchildren. He considers Adventist Education the greatest opportunity for the church's survival and for fulfilling the mandate to teach children to observe all things God has commanded until the redemption of man and the restoration of creation.
What Ephesus Believes
Ephesus states its core beliefs plainly, beginning with the Holy Scriptures. The Old and New Testaments are described as the written Word of God given by divine inspiration, the supreme and authoritative revelation of God's will, the standard of character, the test of experience and the trustworthy record of God's acts in history. The church holds to the Trinity: one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons, immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present, and known through God's self-revelation. The Father is named as Creator, Source, Sustainer and Sovereign of all creation. The Son, God the eternal Son, became incarnate in Jesus Christ, was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, suffered and died voluntarily on the cross for our sins, was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven to minister in the heavenly sanctuary, and will come again in glory for the final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things. The Holy Spirit, as much a person as the Father and the Son, inspired the writers of Scripture, draws and convicts human beings, renews and transforms them into the image of God, and leads the church into all truth.
On creation, Ephesus teaches the recent six-day account of God's creative work and the rest on the seventh day that established the Sabbath as a perpetual memorial. The first man and woman were made in the image of God and given responsibility to care for the world. The church also states three commitments in shorthand: salvation is theirs through faith, made possible by God's grace and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is the Sabbath of the Lord; and the Second Coming of Christ is literal and near, with Christ now in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary making intercession for mankind. These beliefs are not only studied but practiced, the church says, through a disciplined lifestyle that emphasizes worship and stewardship of time, resources and body.
More than a century after the first march from Carlton Hall, Ephesus still describes itself in simple terms: a spiritual and growing church preparing to meet God. The sanctuary at 101 West 123rd Street, with its restored steeple and saved stained glass, remains the anchor of a congregation that keeps Sabbath worship, education, health ministry and direct service to Harlem in the same movement, and that continues to call itself "first amongst equals."