The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions had sent missionaries to Syria in the middle of the nineteenth century, seeking to convert people to their faith. They established schools all over Lebanon and Syria and some families did indeed convert. They formed a small minority in the Syrian community on Washington Street. On Sunday mornings, they attended services at nearby Trinity Church, but in the evening, they met upstairs at 95 Washington Street. A member of the congregation would lead the service. In 1900, Elias Saadi took on the responsibility of serving as lay preacher, but his early death delayed the founding of the Syrian Presbyterian Church until 1907, when it was incorporated in Brooklyn.