History of Hephzibah House

The organization now known as Hephzibah Ministries traces its birth to December 1893 with the incorporation of "The Hephzibah House and BibleTraining School for Christian Workers" in New York City.  How the name Hephzibah was selected is not known.  However, as the Christ-centered program unfolded, the description from Isaiah seems to have made the choice appropriate.  "Thou shalt be called Hephzibah...for the LORD delighteth in thee" ( Isa. 62:4, KJV).Three objectives were cited for the organization.  The first was to provide a home for Christian women.  This was later expanded to provide temporary lodging for visiting missionaries and Christian workers in New York City.  The second objective was to provide a school for working girls to receive instruction in the Bible along with industrial training and training in Christian work.  The final objective was to provide a place where people visiting New York City, in order to pursue Christian work, could take a course in Bible study and find accomodations at moderate prices.

 Hephzibah House was an outgrowth of the Young Ladies Christian League. The Young Ladies Christian League had been formed  to “seek to promote the spiritual welfare of young women all over the world.” Its high standards and goals are best seen in the covenant each member was required to sign: “I have consecrated myself out and out to God, trusting only in Jesus Christ, divine Lord and atoning Saviour, claiming His loving, sanctifying and keeping power, and resolving by the Holy Spirit’s grace to live only for His service and glory.” Also, from the beginning the League's motto was: “Jesus only.”  In the late 1880s, weekly meetings of the League began at the home of Mrs. Cortland dePeyster Field at 21 East 26th Street.  Within two years there were sixteen branches of the League in the United States and one of the founders, Margaret Thorne, embarked on a world tour seeking to spread its influence to other countries.  In December 1893, Hephzibah House became the headquarters for the Young Ladies Christian League.  In 1917 the League ceased to exist, but the activities and missionary work were continued through Hephzibah House.

Mrs. Cortland (Virginia) dePeyster Field was one of Hephzibah’s first and foremost Trustees and also the first director of the ministry. She was a young and beautiful New York socialite who was destined to have great influence on the ministry of the House and the city. It was she who in 1893, just six days before Christmas, organized and chaired a joyous service of dedication in the first Hephzibah …a four-story brownstone residence on West 56th Street. The main speaker of the service was Dr. A.B. Simpson, with Dr. George Alexander leading in prayer, after which the large number of guests  were invited to view the newly furnished building. Two weeks later, on January 2, 1894, the Training School opened with lectures in Bible and courses taught in English, both in mornings, and nursing, sewing, and practical work in the afternoons. Students in residence were charged $4.00 per week for tuition, board and room.

In 1895,  Hephzibah House moved to larger quarters at 263 W. 25th Street, where it remained until its final relocation in 1926 to the present brownstone residence at 51 W. 75th Street. By 1897, the name had expanded into “Hephzibah House Bible Training School and Home of Rest” and this remains the official title to this day, although for simplicity’s sake, it is known as Hephzibah House.

In addition to the school and the use of its facilities by Christian workers seeking relaxation, the House began expanding its ministries in many ways. Missionary outreach stretched to mission fields around the world  through Hephzibah's workers, publications and prayers. . Greater emphasis was given to build up individual Christians through Bible classes and conference ministry.

A Woman of Vision

Much of the leadership, inspiration and vitality of Hephzibah House in those early days was due to Virginia Field. Through her dedicated and devoted life she influenced many for God. Although almost thirty years old when she came to know the Saviour, she poured out her heart and soul in an untiring effort to reach and teach many for Christ.Mrs. Field was possessed by a desire to share  three  essential truths of Scripture: The Cross of Christ, The Body of Christ, and the Return of Christ. In order to more fully make these known, she published a monthly magazine known as “The Word of the Cross” which also promoted the meetings and activities of Hephzibah House. Literature became one of the fruitful avenues of ministry of the House and on one occasion it was reported that several hundred packages of tracts were sent to forty-five countries around the world.

Mrs. Field's  world-vision did not blind her to the needs at home. She untiringly threw herself into missionary work right at her doorstep in New York City.  Reaching Jewish people for Christ was a special emphasis for Mrs. Field, but her greatest home mission effort was her constant effort to present the Gospel to prisons. As early as 1887, in response to reading Jesus’ statement: “I was in prison and ye visited me,” she began to work toward a ministry at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. She used her social position, coupled with earnest prayer, to influence prison authorities to open prison doors to the Gospel. She organized a group of Christian workers to help her. They met outside the prison walls on Saturday afternoons for a picnic lunch and then went into the prison to hold a gospel service for the several hundred inmates. Afterwards, the workers went to the prison hospital wards and even to the death cells with a personal witness of the gospel. A  Bible class was formed at Sing Sing Prison and to this day it is known as, "Mrs. Field’s Bible Class”.  Hephzibah House conducts the Sing Sing Prison Chapel service on the fourth Sunday of each month. Sing Sing Prison ministry is an integral part of the Hephzibah House outreach.

On June 20, 1922, Mrs. Field was called to her reward in Heaven. During her lifetime, her home in New York City was always open for meetings and during the warm months she opened her summer home in Peekskill, New York as a center for fellowship, instruction and evangelistic services.