Highland Avenue Baptist Church was constituted with 63 charter members on June 8, 1964, 22 of whom were members of their Portuguese mission.  Highland Church had the privilege of being the first church in the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association to have a mission at the time of its constitution.  The first two and a half years in the church were spent acquiring a church building and parsonage.  After a long search, a church building was bought from the Seventh Day Adventists in the geographical center of this 2 million-plus populate borough of New York City.

 

After two and a half years of faithful service; Ps. Siegfried Enge, the church’s first pastor, entered foreign mission service in South America.  The resignation of Pastor Enge left the church upon dark days.  In January of 1967, James S. Wright was appointed by the Home Mission Board to be pastor of the Highland Church.  It was in one of the most difficult stages of the church history as well as in the life of the senior pastor that allowed both the church and the pastor to be open to the message of the Spirit– filled life. Highland church then entered into the Charismatic movement and into the move of the Holy Spirit.  A window had been opened and there was a fresh new visitation and resurgence of vision and vitality.  The church embraced the message of reconciliation and opened the door to both changes and cultures.

 

Over the years, the church began a dramatic transformation.  In the process, while losing people with strong Baptist traditions, the church was able to attract much more people who felt at home in a non- denominational setting that had the word but also the freedom of worship and spiritual experience.  In 1983, the Lord supernaturally led Ps. Subash Cherian to Jamaica, NY where he was to become Ps. James Wright’s successor.  Ps. Subash Cherian is the current senior pastor of Highland Church and is striving to accomplish the vision.