Daily News from New York, New York • 6

CO 1 IF OTTO By MICHAEL O. ALLEN and CHARLES W. BELL Daily News Staff Writers vices by video. About 14,000 people will attend the Christian Life Center's Easter service today at Nassau Nancy Ammerman of Connecticut's Hartford Seminary, are conservative. Religious statistics are extraordinarily difficult to assemble, but some experts RAWN BY A YEARNING for a divine spirit, many New Yorkers will be filling theaters, storefronts and even a coliseum beyond burst Coliseum.

Twenty years ago, the center's pastor, the Rev. A.R. Bernard, was preaching to about 600 believers in a storefront "These churches are gaining in New York, if not dominance, they are certainly not to be dismissed," said Bill Howard, president of the New York Theological Seminary. They cover the theological spectrum from traditional and low-key to those who practice hands-on healing and speak in tongues. The majority, said religion Prof.

have estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 churches nationwide are independent Lyle Schaller, considered one of the foremost experts on what churches do and how they do it, believes that number has increased by at least a third in the last decade. He estimates that about 1,000 new nondenom-; inational churches start up each year. Some are evangelical groups like the charismatic Catholics. Others are independent church-; es that do not answer to any -5 higher authorities or to any sin- ing today, the happiest day of the Christian year. Beyond celebrating Easter, they are a testament to the growing evangelical ministries across the city.

They have joined congregations that call themselves such names as the Christian Life Center or just the Times Square Church. Their theology often does not come labeled "Baptist" or "Methodist" But they are members of one of America's fastest-growing families. Last year, the Times Square Church congregation in the Mark Hellinger Theater counted 4,000. Today, 8,000 worshipers will cram into the red velvet seats and make it standing room only in basements hooked up to the Rev. David Wilkerson's ser 1965 TODAY 16 2,000 cjli tiBBRmlM' ttrj iitr ijlttttfs uft 1 RKBIt flit in 3 iu.