Due to its unique ministry to seamen, the First Baptist Mariners’ Church was considered to be ‘the first regularly organized church of the kind in the United States.” Church members were charged to go out into the streets and neighboring boarding houses to distribute tracts and invite sailors to come to the church for worship. Although Steward lamented the lack of members willing to engage in such evangelistic work, he speaks in his brief history of the females who “make some of the best laborers in this department.” He mentions “two sisters, who going out together with the spirit of Samaria, have brought in fifty or sixty persons per month.” Committees were established to distribute Bibles and religious books, each featuring a card inviting sailors to church. Nearly 200 Bibles were distributed annually in different languages and between 50,000 and 60,000 pages of religious books and tracts were given out.
Each brother of the First Baptist Mariners’ Church was also sent out as a special missionary, complete with a commission “got up in an interesting style; having on it a beautiful engraving of a meeting-house, and a baptismal scene; a letter of recommendation, and a missionary chart with instruction to regulate his course, and teach him that this is the highest business of his life.” Sailors were required to show the commission to officers and shipmates when he boarded a vessel as well as those in foreign lands. Says Steward, “In this way these converted mariners commit themselves, or show their colors at once as Christians, which has a salutary influence on them and others.” They were also required to send home written reports and to give a verbal report upon their return. To encourage the sailors to file their written reports, a correspondence committee was established to answer every letter.
As shipping activities moved west to the Hudson River, ministry to seamen was phased out, giving rise to another innovative brand of ministry. This new brand of ministry emerged in response to the great influx of European immigration. Mariners’ Temple gained the reputation as “The Mother of Churches.” Mariners’ launched the first Swedish, Italian, Latvian, Russian and Chinese Baptist Churches, and the Norwegian-Danish Mission of New York City as each new arrival of immigrants moved through the Lower East Side.
Mariners’ is also credited with exporting the Baptist movement to Scandinavia in the mid-nineteenth century through Scandinavian seamen. In 1844, Captain Gustavas W. Schroeder, a Swedish seaman attended a meeting at Mariners’ Temple. He was baptized and joined Mariners’ shortly after that first meeting. In 1861, Schroeder returned to Sweden as a Baptist missionary and built a Baptist Meeting House. Captain Schroeder called Mariners’ the “Mother of Swedish Baptist Churches both in Sweden and America.”
Captain Schroeder was instrumental in the spiritual awakening of another seaman, F.O. Nilsson. Nilsson was baptized in July, 1847, in Hamburg, Germany and established the first Baptist Church in Sweden in 1848. By the end of February 1849, the congregation of the fledgling church had grown from six to twenty-eight. When Nilsson was temporarily banished from Sweden, he returned to the United States and continued his mission work among Swedish communities in Minnesota. Throughout the late nineteenth century, Mariners’ Temple continued to make a significant impact on the development of the Baptist movement in Sweden. Many of its proponents, such as Anders Wilberg and John Alexis Edgren, received support, evangelistic fellowship, guidance and training at Mariners’. Mariners’ also supported missionaries who took Baptist teachings to Norway, Denmark, and Chile.
In 1867, the First Swedish Baptist Church was organized at Mariners’ under the leadership of Captain R.E. Jeanson of Gothenberg, who converted to the Baptist faith and settled in New York in 1865. Initially worshipping at Mariners’, the congregation eventually became Trinity Baptist Church in 1942.
In 1884, Mariners’ Temple became a City Mission Field of the Baptist City Mission Society. By 1890, Mariners’ was declared one of the two important City Mission Fields in the world.
The First Italian Church was organized in Mariners' Temple in 1897, and became the frontier church for Italians of the United States. The ministry welcomed Italian immigrants as they left Ellis Island.
In 1903, the First Norwegian-Danish Baptist Church got its start at Mariners’ Temple. It later became the First Norwegian Baptist Church. An article entitled “City Mission Work” that appeared in the Baptist Home Mission Monthly at the time described Mariners’ Temple as “the mother of churches.”
Through the New York City Mission Society Frederick Blumberg, a Latvian (Lettish) tailor who preached to his countrymen, was given free accommodation at Mariners’ Temple in 1904. The First Lettish Church was established at Mariners’ in 1905.
In July 1915, Mariners’ Temple was among the five Russian centers established in New York City. The others were the Second Avenue Baptist Church, the Beck Memorial Presbyterian Church, the Judson Memorial Church, and The Olivet Memorial Church. By 1916, the First Russian Church was organized in Mariners' Temple.
In 1920, Lin Loo went to China from Mariners’ Temple to establish a little Mariners’ in Canton. In 1926, the First Chinese Church was organized at Mariners’ Temple.
From the 1940s to the 1970s, Mariners’ Temple continued to be a spiritual center welcoming all ethnic groups in the neighborhood. Mariners’ Temple became a Christian center for Chinese, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans. With the arrival of Spanish-speaking people in the community, Mariners’ established a Spanish mission. The Spanish program began with two weeknight classes and a service on Sunday morning concurrent with the English service. By the early 1960s, both English and Spanish speaking congregations took communion together in a bilingual service. With the Chinese Baptist Mission, worship services were regularly held in three languages.
In 1985, the Lunch Hour of Power (LHOP) congregation was initiated. Wednesday noontime services were established as a midweek spiritual refuge for the many government and corporate employees in lower Manhattan.
In 1994, Mariners’ sponsored the establishment of a Thursday noontime service in the Bronx. Baptist worship or fellowship was not offered in this area of New York City. The Bronx Community Baptist Church was launched as a result of the Thursday noontime services. Mariners’ Temple continued its role as the “Mother of Churches” with the launching of this new congregation.