Rethinking Disciple Making in New York City: 200,000 Tracts Later

Rethinking disciple making became unavoidable for Rev. Paul Murphy after distributing over 200,000 tracts produced only a handful of church visitors. As Pastor of Evangelism at Messiah’s Reformed Fellowship in New York City, Murphy spent decades conducting textbook street evangelism — systematic door-to-door canvassing, free book tables, surveys, and consistent neighborhood outreach. But the disconnect between massive effort and minimal results forced an honest stewardship question: what if the problem wasn’t the message or the effort, but the method itself?

Murphy’s subsequent shift from “cold contact” evangelism to what he calls a “covenantal approach” — focusing on entire families rather than isolated individuals, integrating deeply into community needs, and leveraging digital platforms — has produced dramatically different results. His journey offers both validation for church leaders experiencing similar frustrations and a practical roadmap for reaching post-Christian urban contexts where traditional methods increasingly fail to gain traction. This is the story of how one pastor’s willingness to abandon ineffective strategies, even biblically sound ones, led to gospel conversations that actually stick.

This article is summary of a recent episode of The Great Commission Today podcast. See the video near the bottom of this page, to watch the whole podcast via YouTube.

1. Rethinking Disciple Making: The Urban Evangelism Paradox

“I hope I die before I get old,” sang The Who in their 1965 anthem, My Generation. For a young Paul Murphy, raised on a strict Jesuit education that eventually buckled under the weight of existentialism and a “hippie-dippy” fascination with comparative religions, this wasn’t just a lyric — it was an ambition. He viewed old age as thirty, and he had every intention of meeting the void before then.

Today, at age 72, Rev. Paul Murphy serves as the Pastor Emeritus and Pastor of Evangelism at Messiah’s Reformed Fellowship in New York City. His transformation from a 29-year-old atheist (or lapsed Roman Catholic) to a seasoned urban church planter is a testament to the “promiscuous” reach of the gospel. However, his tenure in the city has presented a jarring paradox: despite the church handing out in excess of 200,000 tracts over two decades, Murphy can count on one hand the number of people who walked through the sanctuary doors as a direct result.

This statistic doesn’t represent a failure of the gospel, but it does demand a strategic rethinking of street evangelism. Murphy argues that North America has shifted into what he calls an “Old Testament state.” Unlike the “New Testament” mission fields where the name of Jesus has never been heard, NYC is more like ancient Israel—a culture that has had the truth and explicitly rejected it for modern idols. In such a saturated, indifferent environment, the “cold calling” of the past often yields a low return on “man-hours” spent. To build a thriving New York disciple making church, Murphy suggests we must pivot from merely scattering paper to integrating the church into the very fabric of secular institutions.

2. Theological Foundations: The Authority and the Office

As an ecclesiological journalist would observe, methodology in the Reformed tradition is never a neutral tool; it is the visible manifestation of deep theology. For Murphy, any strategy for evangelism training must be anchored in the sovereignty of Christ and the specific offices of the church.

The Great Commission Breakdown

Murphy’s analysis of Matthew 28:16-20 begins with the context: worship. He notes a reciprocal relationship between the church at prayer and the church on mission. The authority of Christ and His promised presence provide the necessary fortitude for a task that requires, in Murphy’s words, an “infinite capacity for disappointment.” The command is to make disciples, but the mechanism is a three-fold process of going, baptizing, and teaching—actions that move an individual from “rank unbelief” to a maturing walk with Christ.

Promiscuous Sowing

To justify the use of modern means in a skeptical city, Murphy invokes the 17th-century authority of the Canons of Dort. He summarizes the Reformed conviction that the church must engage in “promiscuous sowing.”

“We should use every means and every effort to see that the gospel is heard and spread far and wide.” — Rev. Paul Murphy, explaining “promiscuous sowing.”

This theological mandate empowers the church to use technological developments and strategic social entry points to ensure the “seed” is scattered without prejudice, regardless of the perceived “quality” of the soil.

The Prophetic Office of Believers

Central to Murphy’s strategy is reclaiming the “forgotten office of the believer.” Relying on Question 32 of the Heidelberg Catechism, he argues that every Christian shares in Christ’s anointing as prophet, priest, and king. While an ordained minister speaks for Jesus from the pulpit, every layperson holds a prophetic responsibility to speak about Jesus in their vocation. This prevents “missions by proxy”—the common error where congregants pay and pray for professionals to do the work they are personally called to perform in the marketplace.

3. Methodology Shift: From “Cold” to “Covenantal”

After twenty-two years on the ground in NYC, Murphy conducted a “tactical audit.” While he remains a firm believer in seed-sowing—hoping to see the fruit of those 200,000 tracts in glory—he realized that the stewardship of his congregation’s time required a more “horizontal” approach.

Rethinking Disciple Making: Defining Covenantal Evangelism

Murphy shifted focus toward a “covenantal” model. Instead of treating a visitor as an isolated unit, he began pursuing their entire family. Recognizing the brokenness inherent in urban life, Murphy offers specific Bible studies for dysfunctional families or marital struggles as a “way in.” By entering the home to address felt needs through a biblical lens, the church transitions from a perceived nuisance to a vital resource.

Community Integration and Social Capital

To create a vital Brooklyn disciple making movement, Murphy identifies three “ingratiating” ministries that built essential social capital:

1. ESL in Public Schools: Two blocks from the church, Murphy taught English to parents in a school of 4,000 students, using the Gospel of Mark as his primary textbook.
2. Free Hospital Chaplaincy: Murphy served as an unpaid chaplain and the clergy representative on a hospital ethics committee. By visiting every patient and starting staff prayer meetings, the church became “indispensable” to the secular institution.
3. Wall Street Bible Studies: Leveraging a space “right behind Trinity Church, overlooking Wall Street on Broadway,” Murphy hosted weekly studies on business ethics and economics. This “vocational apologetic” met professionals in their own world rather than waiting for them to enter his.

These efforts represent a shift toward Community Evangelism where the church earns the right to be heard by serving the city’s practical needs.

4. Rethinking Disciple Making: The Table and the Tweet

In the modern metropolis, visibility is the first hurdle. Murphy’s current toolkit balances the tactile nature of the street with the viral potential of digital outreach.

Street Engagement and the “Free” Book Hook

The strategy on the sidewalk has moved away from “turn or burn” caricatures toward high-quality interaction. Murphy uses a tablecloth printed with Question 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism to spark dialogue. He also employs a pull-up sign that simply reads “Free Books.” In a city where, as Murphy jokes, “the only thing free is the Staten Island Ferry,” the offer of Bibles or literature by authors like John Piper and John MacArthur serves as a significant draw for “street-level apologetics.”

“Burrow Studies” and the Theology of Eating

To scale Church Growth, Murphy has launched “Borough Studies” across NYC’s five boroughs. These are not just academic meetings; they are social events centered on a meal. Murphy emphasizes that “every time God meets His people, He eats with them.” By breaking bread in a home, the church lowers the barrier for non-Christians, creating a space that is communal rather than confrontational.

The Twitter (X) Factor

The potential of a brooklyn church digital outreach program was validated when a single post on Twitter (X) regarding a Brooklyn study garnered 240 responses. However, Murphy warns that this isn’t a task for a lone pastor. Effective digital engagement requires a “whole team” dedicated to search engine optimization and platform-specific content, rather than merely posting “sermon snippets.”

5. Rethinking Disciple Making: Outreach vs. Evangelism

To avoid the “social gospel” drift, Murphy maintains a sharp distinction between being a good neighbor and being a witness.

The “So What?” here is clear: Visibility is a failing strategy if it never matures into the verbal claims of the gospel. Murphy also insists on an “in-person” follow-up mandate. He avoids mass mailings, preferring to invest “social capital” through coffee or lunch, treating every individual as someone made in the image of God (Imago Dei).

6. Rethinking Disciple Making: Engaging the “Nones” and Postmodernism

Modern Evangelism Training must account for the rise of the “Nones”—the 44% of 18-29-year-olds who Pew Research identifies as religiously unaffiliated.

Confronting the Relativist

Dealing with “postmodern products” who believe in “your truth” is significantly more difficult than dealing with the nominalism of thirty years ago. Murphy’s strategy is to “press” the relativist until their innate knowledge of God betrays itself. He uses the “Hitler example”: when a relativist claims all truth is subjective, Murphy asks if it was objectively wrong for Hitler to kill six million Jews. Almost invariably, the person’s conscience — the “works of the law” written on their heart — will affirm an objective moral standard, providing the necessary point of contact for the gospel.

The Homefield Advantage

Despite the secular tide, Murphy sees a unique opportunity in the immigrant populations of NYC. While “Anglo North Americans” may be indifferent, the nations have been brought to the church’s doorstep. This creates a New York disciple making culture where the church has a “homefield advantage” to reach people who have never heard the claims of Christ before.

7. Rethinking Disciple Making: Loving Jesus, Loving Your Neighbor

Rev. Paul Murphy’s transition from cold literature distribution to “ingratiating” relationships reflects a strategic maturation in urban missiology. It is a move from the “missions by proxy” of the pew-sitter to the “prophetic office” of the mobilized believer.

Church health, church growth and digital outreach is not found in a secret formula, but in the depth of the believer’s own spiritual life. As Murphy concludes:

“Our light will shine brightest corresponding to the depth and the nature of our relationship with Jesus… Love Jesus, and then love your neighbor. Just get to know them, love them, and see where that goes.”

For the 21st-century church leader, the question is no longer just how many tracts you can hand out, but how deeply you can weave the gospel into the institutions of your city. Are you stuck in a 1990s literature-drop mindset, or are you ready to integrate your church into the very fabric of your city’s secular life?

Rethinking Disciple Making: Related Links and Resources

• The Great Commission at the Boardwalk and Your Neighborhood
• Making Disciples Isn’t Complicated
• Tim Keller on the Christian Life
• The Great Commission Today Podcast – on Spotify
• Your Only Comfort Signage – More digital art asking Q1 from the Heidelberg Catechism
• Old Man Asking A Question – More digital art asking Q1 from the Heidelberg Catechism