The Reformed Church of Newtown

If you peruse the statistics of Reformed Church of America (RCA) church attendance and involvement in Queens at
(the website of RCA, the Protestant denomination to which the Newtown church belongs), you’ll notice that this church is one of the few RCA congregations that continues to experience positive growth. Why?
Many non-​religious educated folks would probably say that it is the result of continued immigration to Queens; Queens is indeed the most diverse place in the USA and has long been a neighborhood of many immigrant communities. I would suggest, however, that such an analysis is misguided. It doesn’t explain why a good number of people continue to visit THIS church. After all, Queens is home to hundreds of churches and temples. There’s another old church literally across the street from Newtown; why don’t many people go there?
The answer, I believe – and I have visited the church – is because Newtown has not taken the route of theologically liberal churches, which change their beliefs based upon who their current members happen to be. At Newtown, «what you hear is what you get.» Newtown is a welcoming church, but not because its ministers have watered down The Gospel to mean anything and everything anyone wants it to mean. Visitors are drawn to Newtown because of the warmth of members; they stay because they find that the church offers a historic, definite, and concrete truth for their lives: The salvific love of God in Jesus Christ to redeem and renew sinful humanity. (And if you think this life isn’t burdened by evil and sin, you’re either living in a gated community or you just haven’t done much serious thinking about the subject…)
Since the mid-​20^th century, the Newtown church has been blessed with Indian, Taiwanese, and now mainland Chinese immigrants. There are currently three services on Sunday morning: one in Taiwanese, one in Mandarin, and one in English. Lunch is also served. I’m sorry to the visitor below who apparently had a negative experience there; when I visited, I can say that I felt welcomed. (Obviously, if you can’t understand an East Asian language, you might not be able to chat for long with members who only speak Taiwanese or Chinese. But there are nice, younger members who speak English.)
Also – did I mention that the church appears on the whole to be well-​educated? While there are certainly «fresh of the boaters” – this is Queens – a good number of members have pursued higher education and are employed in white-​collar fields. This isn’t the Bible-​thumping, fundamentalist, religiously-​devout-​but-​ignorant immigrant church you might be imagining in your mind.
While I only visited and don’t live in NYC, I would recommend the Reformed Church of Newtown to those looking for a church in the Elmhurst, Queens neighborhood. It is a diverse community, united in the authentic confession of one faith.
Btw – here’s a recent online post about the rich history of the church (est. 1731!):

while i felt the first (or only) review was valid, there’s more to it than that. i have felt like ‘inside s.’ at rcn, but i believe it’s because the english group are so young that they’re suffering from too-​cool-​syndrome, as all young americans are.
when i first staggered into the westminster presbyterian church of austin, it was the older people (60 – 70 y.o.) that welcomed me with genuine Christian love – others just ignored the weird person that i was.
that is the ‘scandal of the church’: that we act so unlike Jesus or as He has commanded us; and yet this too is the very miracle of the church that a bunch of selfish assholes like us Christians can learn to love one another and to look beyond our pettinesses to the glory and mercy of the cross.
my wife was very sick and had to have surgery and the church, these people who don’t really ‘like’ me came to the hospital and took me out to eat and sat with me and my wife – i cannot thank yoli, sung, james, etc. enough.
all churches have problems; there is no perfect church, no perfect political party, no perfect family. give us another chance, God does.

I find it funny that Unilocal can «review» churches. we’re not a restaurant that cooks up dishes, churches can’t be «reviewed» like any other place. i’m sorry to hear that you had a bad experience here but please don’t generalize and judge all the «conceited» and «fake» ppl. here. no church is perfect and there are plenty of places where there are «cliques» because that is human nature, to stay where you feel «safe».
this seems more like a personal bitterness so, while you did have a bad experience here, i hope you are able to find the right place for you.

dont bother with this church. You have no sense of community, or spiritual-​ness. Everyone goes into their little circles leaving new comers out.
The absolute worst church I’ve ever been to. The people are very fake and conceited so watch out.