For the Church and for the country, New York City is a strategic location for a contextualized, accredited, evangelical seminary. What happens in New York often sets the agenda for the rest of the United States, and for the world. The functioning infrastructures of many aspects of human society and culture make New York either the center or epicenter of decisions and activities. Consider for a moment publishing, fashion, news, drama, film, finance, marketing, investment, education, art, communications, industry, architecture, international relations, food industry, ethnic culture, church governance, transportation, libraries, and museums. And in New York there is a significant presence of every country in the world. Is there any aspect of human life for which what happens in New York does not measurably affect what happens in the rest of the United States – and the world?

One out of every twelve Americans lives in the New York metropolitan area. The evangelical church is the fastest growing institution in New York. The harvest is plentiful, and the workers need training and preparation. It is estimated that there are about four million people in the evangelical communities in the metropolitan area – within 70 miles of Columbus Circle at 59th Street and Broadway. This is the official metropolitan region for the United States Census Bureau.The evangelical community of New York metropolitan area is as large as a major city in its own right.

Half of the African-American population in the New York metropolitan area is evangelical, with evangelical beliefs and values (more than 1.8 million out of 3.5 million), and at least one out of six Hispanic-Americans (500,000 out of 3 million). Perhaps one out of five Asian-Americans is evangelical, especially in the Korean community (more than 200,000 out of more than one million Asian-Americans). Finally, probably only one tenth of the European-Americans are evangelical (about 1.3 million out of 13 million.) These nearly four million people need well-trained spiritual leaders.