Church Center for the United Nations

[4] The interior design of the chapel and church center was done by the noted American ecclesiastical architect Harold Eugene Wagoner.

[8] Some two thousand attendees heard U Thant praise both the UN and the church for the "act of faith" that led to its construction,[9] while Rusk talked about how the dangers from the ongoing Cold War were ever-present.

[8] From the beginning, the church center was considered interdenominational in spirit and purpose,[7] and nonprofit groups representing various religions have been housed there.

[9] The different parts of the church involved in it became complicated, so to simplify it came to be that it was owned and operated solely by the United Methodist Women organization.

[4] The church center has hosted people pleading causes at the United Nations, such as East Timorese independence activist José Ramos-Horta.

[16] A memorial service by the Japanese delegation to the United Nations was held at the chapel for American inventor William S. Halstead in 1987.

Some events held there have been controversial, such as a hosting a panel discussion on religion with President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2007, in which representatives of some religious groups refused to participate while others thought it important to engage.

[18] A livestream of the play Sliver of a Full Moon, a staged reading by survivors of domestic abuse on Native American tribal lands, was performed at the Chapel in 2014.

[19] The church center has often been the site where announcements are made about the winner of the annual Templeton Prize for progress in thought about religion.