The Garden City Community Church

In 1929 the Garden City Community Church was first organized, financed and staffed by the Congregational Christian denomination. The first church building was the house at 66 Wellington Road, Garden City, New York. Garden City was initially built in the latter nineteenth century by Alexander and Cornelia Stewart to be an Episcopalian suburban village for the employees of their department stores in New York City. The village and connecting railroad were originally built around their new Episcopalian cathedral. By the 1920s some local protestant families were petitioning other protestant denominations to build in Garden City. After 1929 the Congregationalists helped nurture and finance the Garden City Community Church for the next two decades. Our church delegations to the Congregational governing bodies worked hard for the 1959 merger of the Congregational Churches with the Evangelical Reformed Churches to become part of the present United Church of Christ. Our delegations continue to be active participants in this larger national denomination.

John Gardner was our elected senior clergy from 1931 to 1945, through the Great Depression and the Second World War. In 1945 Dr. Gardner retired and James Gettemy was elected senior clergy. With Dr. Gettemy's inspiring leadership Garden City Community Church grew much larger, and was able to build the present church at 245 Stewart Avenue. In the ensuing busy years, the church opened a weekday preschool, began traditions of excellent musical programs and annual election day fairs. The congregation supported the then controversial application of the Garden City Jewish Center to open in Garden City, and began a long association with the East Harlem Protestant Parish. In 1958 Dr. Gettemy resigned to become a theological seminary president at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. Since 1958 there have been six different senior clergy supporting and shepherding the congregation. James Adelmann was elected our present senior pastor in 1990.

The Garden City Community Church has supported many outreach initiatives. The two-year confirmation program has planned and participated in summer mission trips. Recently, the congregation became an open and affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ which means we welcome all to our fellowship, regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, physical and mental ability, social and economic status, and other differences. Sundays at the Garden City Community Church include forum programs on public issues in a small, informal setting where discussion and questions are encouraged. There are also Chinese and Korean fellowship services held in the Gettamy chapel. Various members and delegations from the congregation have participated in mission programs to Angola and Honduras, supported the Long Island Council of Churches, the Interfaith Nutrition Network, and the interdenominational Parish Resource Center, helped transport children to visit their mothers in the Bedford Hills women's prison, and participated in the Marty Lyons Foundation programs for children with terminal illnesses.

To see more about the activities of the Garden City Community Church, please view the special excerpts from our video.