jun 1, 1925 - Harry Emerson Fosdick preaches
first sermon as pastor at J. D. Rockerfellers
Church with "Progressive" ideology
Description:
In 1924, John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated $500,000 to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights, further uptown in Manhattan, in an unsuccessful attempt to influence the cathedral's ideology in a progressive direction.[15] The following January, Harry E. Edmonds—leader of the International House in Morningside Heights for whose construction Rockefeller had provided funds—wrote to Rockefeller to propose creating a new church in the neighborhood. Edmonds suggested progressive pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick should head such a church. Rockefeller then told the Park Avenue Baptist Church's leaders about the plan and hired an agent to inspect the planned church site.[16]
Woelfkin quit in mid-May 1925 and Rockefeller Jr. immediately started looking for a new minister, ultimately deciding on Harry Emerson Fosdick, who had declined Rockefeller's offers several times, saying he did not "want to be known as the pastor of the richest man in the country". Fosdick stated he would accept the minister position on the conditions that the church would move to Morningside Heights, follow a policy of religious liberalism, remove the requirement for members to be baptized, and become nondenominational.[19][20][21][22] At the end of May 1925, Fosdick agreed to become minister of the Park Avenue Baptist Church.[20][21][23][24] Only fifteen percent of congregants voted against Fosdick's appointment.[25]
Under Fosdick's leadership, the congregation doubled in size by 1930.[18][26] The new members were diverse; of the 158 people who joined in the year after Fosdick became minister, about half were not Baptists.[18][27] Though some existing congregants had doubts about whether the Park Avenue Baptist Church should move from its recently completed edifice, the church's board, which was in favor of the relocation, stated congregants would not have to pay any of the costs for the new church.
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