A Brooklyn Congregation on Eastern Parkway
Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church meets at 449 Eastern Parkway in the heart of the borough, a stone's throw from some of Brooklyn's most recognizable brownstones. The address is also the church's permanent home, a building purchased in the late 1970s and held ever since as the settled place of worship for a congregation that spent its early years on the move. Today Shiloh runs a Saturday Sabbath rhythm, a Wednesday night gathering, and a Thursday food pantry that opens its doors to neighbors across the surrounding blocks.
Shiloh is part of the global Seventh-day Adventist Church and is served by the North Eastern Conference. The pastor is Omar Jarvis, identified as the eleventh senior pastor of the church. Visitors are welcomed in the same terms the church uses for its members: as family. The congregation's mission statement names the work plainly. Shiloh exists to serve as God's agency for the salvation of men, revealing His character; to be the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Grace, reaching men where they are; to call men to worship God and to honor His commandments, including the seventh day Sabbath, so that by faith they may be ready for the soon coming of Jesus.
From Two Missions to a Brooklyn Landmark
Shiloh's story begins in June 1972, with the result of the merging of two missions - the Bergen Street and the Seventh Avenue missions. At that time Shiloh received its first pastor, Simon R. Johnson, a humble, well appreciated, and devoted man who worked diligently alongside Elders Herbert Potter, Isadore DeSouza, Oscar Williams, Moses Brathwaite, and the highly active members.
The starting membership was approximately fifty-four, with no church of their own, very little funds, and plenty of hard work ahead. The Word of God strengthened the faithful followers and kept them together through many trying times. With God's blessing, the congregation rented a Lutheran church on Washington Avenue for roughly two years, but an extreme increase in rent forced a move. With no place to go, the members prayed and were led to a Baptist church on Fulton Street. The pastor of that church was a kind man, but he was followed by death two years later, and soon after the host church asked Shiloh to leave.
Sometimes the congregation was literally heading for the street, but the members never forgot to pray. From there the church worshipped at Brooklyn City Tabernacle, then an Episcopalian church for six months, then a Church of God on Rogers Avenue for about six months more. From one Sabbath to the next, God led the members to a place of worship. During those years of journey the assurance never faded that He was with them, and as the congregation endeavored to do His will, new members were pleased to join.
In the mid-1970s the congregation decided to start a church building fund. The stewardship committee called Elder Hoyt for a one-week stewardship workshop. Many faithful members gave two tithes, some one and a half, others gave as the Lord prospered them. Through that faithful giving the church raised almost one hundred thousand dollars in about three years. The timing of God led the congregation to the Hebron French SDA church at 449 Eastern Parkway, which was for sale just when Shiloh could pay for it. The down payment was presented as the permanent home the members had prayed for.
By the time of that milestone, Shiloh's membership had grown from fifty-four to two hundred and twenty-five. Forty-four of the original members were still active, working faithfully. The early history was written by Brother Leonard Fraser and printed in the Gleaner, May 9, 1978, page 7.
Sabbath on Eastern Parkway
Worship at Shiloh centers on the seventh-day Sabbath, the Adventist observance from Friday sunset through Saturday evening. The week begins on the church calendar Saturday and opens the door to visitors who have never attended before.
Sabbath School opens the day at 9:15 am. Classes meet for both children and adults before the main service, and early arrivals are invited to take part. The Sabbath School hour is a study time shaped by the wider Adventist tradition of small-group lessons and discussion.
The Divine Hour follows at 11:00 am. The Divine Hour is Shiloh's main worship gathering. It is broadcast live on Saturdays at 11:00 am EST, so members who travel, who are unwell, or who live elsewhere can join in real time. The service is described as lively and accommodating, with a praise team leading the congregation in a time of congregational praise, and choirs for children, youth, and adults that combine from time to time into a mass choir. Greeters meet worshipers at the door, pray with them on the way in, and answer questions about what comes next.
Wednesday Power Night meets at 7:00 pm. Power Night is the midweek gathering for prayer, Bible study, and spiritual refreshment between Sabbaths.
The Food Pantry opens on Thursdays from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. The Thursday food pantry is a community-facing ministry open to neighbors in and around the church's Eastern Parkway address.
Ministries for the Whole Congregation
Shiloh's ministries are organized to walk alongside people at each stage of life and to extend care into the wider community. Each one carries a short purpose statement the church uses to introduce the work.
- Children's Ministry nurtures children into a loving, serving relationship with Jesus.
- Community Services exists to serve the community in Christ's name, with the food pantry as one of its hands-on expressions.
- Family Life Ministry is dedicated to strengthening relationships at every stage.
- Health Ministry works toward a healthy lifestyle for body, mind, and spirit.
- Men's Ministry brings together older men sharing experiences and younger men learning how to lead.
- Music Ministry enhances the worship service to God through instruments and vocals.
- Pathfinders Club is a church-centered spiritual-recreational-activity program designed for young people, drawing on the wider Adventist Pathfinder tradition.
- Personal Ministries exists to inspire, motivate, equip, train, and mobilize members for service.
- Religious Liberty Ministry carries the Adventist conviction that a person's conscience, not government, should dictate his or her choice to worship - or not.
- Stewardship Ministry seeks, by God's grace, to educate, inspire, and motivate the entire congregation to become and remain faithful stewards of God.
- Women's Ministry ministers to the spiritual, emotional, physical, and social needs of women.
- Youth Ministry gathers Adventist youth with the song that runs, from every land and sea.
The Pathfinder program is a particular point of pride. Adventurer Club, for younger children, meets in the afternoon on Sabbath with arts, crafts, and other activities. Pathfinders takes the same church-centered approach for older youth. Bible Quiz Competition has been one way the youth ministry has sharpened scripture knowledge, and Daniel Health Challenge and a Virtual Fitness Program have given the Health Ministry practical ways to extend its teaching.
One on One, Hospital Visits, and Benevolence
Pastoral care at Shiloh is built around personal attention. The One on One ministry offers personalized help through conversations with someone who stands solidly on biblical principles. Counselors can help with a range of issues, from men's and women's issues to those affecting married couples and the elderly. To inquire about counseling, members are pointed to the pastor or to the elders.
The Hospital and Home Visits ministry provides support through personal visits, prayer, administering communion, and phone or written communication to individuals in the hospital or confined to their home or a facility. The Benevolence ministry works to meet practical needs inside the local church and out into the community, with the conviction that the church is cooperating with God in His plan to restore hope and faith to many.
Health, Fitness, and Financial Empowerment
Health Ministry at Shiloh grew out of a long Adventist conviction that the body, mind, and spirit belong together. The Daniel Health Challenge has been one ongoing way the ministry has invited members to put that conviction into practice. A Virtual Fitness Program has extended the same work into the home. The Stewpot, The Little Gifts is a long-running community effort the church has used to bring tangible help to families in and around Brooklyn.
Financial Empowerment Seminars have met on the third Sunday of each month at 9:15 am, connecting through the Zoom platform. Topics have included taxes, investments, insurance policies, wills and trusts, debt elimination, and saving and investing for students. Past speakers have included Esther Desire, Elder Owen George, Ann Marie Fraser, Trevor Baker, and Margaret Neckles.
Community Connections
Shiloh's partnership work has reached beyond the church walls into the surrounding neighborhoods of North Crown Heights and Eastern Parkway. Dr. Marlving P. Charlet has joined with the New York Regional Census Center's Partnership Newsletter to carry Shiloh's voice into a wider civic conversation. A Saint Vincent Relief Drive has gathered supplies for neighbors affected by natural disasters.
What Shiloh Believes
Shiloh accepts the Bible as the only creed and holds certain fundamental beliefs to be the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. These beliefs, as set forth by the Seventh-day Adventist church, constitute the church's understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture. Revision of these statements may be expected at a General Conference session when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truth, or finds better language in which to express the teachings of God's Holy Word.
Shiloh's own statement of mission places the work in Adventist terms. The congregation exists to serve as God's agency for the salvation of men, revealing His character; to be the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Grace, reaching men where they are; to call men to worship God and to honor His commandments, including the seventh day Sabbath, so that by faith they may be ready for the soon coming of Jesus.
Giving, Media, and the Wider Adventist World
Members and friends can return their tithe and give offerings online through the Adventist Giving platform. Cash App giving is also available for those who prefer to give that way. Online giving, the church explains, simplifies life, reduces post-office trips and postage costs, and helps the church keep cleaner records. The same page quotes Malachi 3:10, Proverbs 11:25, and Acts 20:35 to frame faithful giving as a spiritual discipline that draws the giver closer to God.
Media at Shiloh centers on the weekly livestream of the 11:00 am Divine Hour on Saturdays. The channel also keeps an archive of services for those who want to revisit a recent sermon or catch up after travel.
Shiloh points members and visitors to a wide range of wider Adventist resources: the Adventist World Church, the Biblical Research Institute, the Ellen White Estate, the Sabbath School Network, Sabbath Truth, Adventist Youth Ministries, Children's Ministries, Junior PowerPoints, Pathfinders Online, and a teen page. Media resources include the Adventist Review, Adventist World Radio, Amazing Facts, Hope Channel, It Is Written, Lifestyle Magazine, Message Magazine, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, and the Voice of Prophecy.
A Daily Devotional Library
Shiloh keeps an extensive devotional archive online, with a new entry each day. The devotionals are drawn largely from the writings of Ellen G. White, the co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist movement, and from the Spirit of Prophecy books and the Bible. Recent entries have included The Sanctifying Power of the Truth, Firm Reliance on Christ, The Power of God's Love, The Plan of Redemption a Gift, Christ Has Promised Us Rest, Hid With Christ in God, Spiritual Development Through Service, Fruit Bearing, Body and Mind Inseparable, Moral Powers to Be Tested, Physical Mental and Spiritual Development, Salvation of Children, Be Strong in His Grace, Spiritual Power, Think of God Continually, Moral and Spiritual Perfection Promised, Wait Upon the Lord for Strength, The Fruits of Self-Denial, Strong in the Strength of God, Health to Body and Soul, Healing for Spiritual Blindness, Spiritual and Physical Maladies Healed, A Crucified and Risen Saviour, Lay Your Guilt at the Foot of the Cross, Nature in the Light of Calvary, Gather About the Cross, This World a Battlefield, and Love and Justice Harmonized.
The devotionals are anchored to Scripture and often to the wider Seventh-day Mission. The Plan of Redemption a Gift, for instance, opens with Ephesians 1:3 and turns to 2 Corinthians 8:9 and Romans 1:14 to unfold a vision of salvation as a gift. Body and Mind Inseparable draws on 1 Corinthians 3:17 and on Testimonies for the Church 3:485-488 to teach that the body is a temple. Salvation of Children turns to Proverbs 20:11 and to Testimonies for the Church 3:146, 147 for parents. Healings - Spiritual and Physical Maladies Healed - pairs Matthew 4:23 with John 9:7, John 5:14, Exodus 15:26, and Psalm 105:37 to make the case that Christ is still the Great Physician today.
Coming to Shiloh for the First Time
Greeters meet visitors at the door, and a prayer is offered before going in. The Sabbath School classes meet at 9:15 am for both children and adults, the Divine Hour at 11:00 am, and Power Night at 7:00 pm on Wednesdays. The food pantry opens Thursdays from 9:30 am to 11:30 am for community members. Music is led by a praise team and by choirs for children, youth, and adults that sometimes combine into a mass choir. Volunteers can join community charity efforts or lend expertise to various areas of church life. Anyone with more questions can speak to a greeter or a member, or use the online contact form to reach the church office. The church phone number is 929-500-1575, the email is clerks@shilohbrooklyn.org, and the address is 449 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11216.