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A brief history of CEM.
The original Church was founded in March 1944 as The Chinese Evangelistic Center. It began as an outreach ministry to New York City's Chinese immigrant population in Chinatown. There was a great need among the immigrants for help with personal and legal problems, for translation when needed to deal with governmental agencies, and a need to learn basic English in order to communicate in the business world. The Chinese Evangelistic Center offered help in these areas, along with encouragement and Bible lessons and short Gospel messages which were interwoven with services to the community. In the Spring of 1949, there were 100+ people in English classes. Each class ended with a gospel message.
The name, "The Chinese Evangelistic Center" was changed to Chinese Evangel Mission. In October 1956, Chinese Evangel Mission purchased the building at 29 East Broadway and remained there until June 27, 1981 when the congregation moved into a newly-constructed building at 97 Madison Street. The original Certificate of Incorporation for CEM was filed in the county of NY on January 17, 1955. Since we are no longer just a mission to the Chinese, an amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation was filed to change the name to Chinese Evangel Mission Church on January 6, 1992.
Until the mid-1960s there was no English worship service, although there had been Sunday School classes and Junior Church (in English) for a number of years. Junior Church eventually expanded into an English speaking department of Chinese Evangel Mission, with approx. 30 youth (High School and early College) attending. By 1985, CEM, with its separate Chinese-speaking and English-speaking departments, had grown until there were approximately 350 in attendance at the various Sunday services. In 1989, CEM had outgrown the 97 Madison St. building and established CEMC-Queens and CEMC-New Jersey branch churches. God has truly blessed Chinese Evangel Mission. Chinese Evangel Mission in Manhattan has continued to grow and in addition to establishing a second Sunday Morning Service, is also continuing to look at other building expansion opportunities.
Pastor Lee Hearn retired in 2001 after many years of faithful service. Currently, Pastor John Eng is the pastor of the English Congregation at CEM Manhattan.
