Introduced with a string of military metaphors that compared New Yorkers’ struggles to being in “foxholes,” mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer addressed the faithful of East Harlem’s Greater Highway Deliverance Temple Church yesterday morning, preaching to the congregation about his religious upbringing and his dream for “one New York.”

The talk of unity from the Democratic front-runner came after fiery remarks by a minister who exhorted the assembled to seize Harlem “from the enemy.”

Mr. Ferrer, who served for 14 years as borough president of the Bronx, touched on a theme he has used often: the idea of a city divided along class lines. While he did not use his trademark “two New Yorks” phrase, as he did with mixed results in the 2001 campaign and as he did again this year in a February 8 speech at Lehman College in the Bronx, Mr. Ferrer said New York should be “a city that works for everyone, not just those who can afford multimillion-dollar condos.”

He said New Yorkers “should applaud and encourage the success of Wall Street and other entrepreneurs who are prospering,” because “God knows we need their tax money.” Mr. Ferrer stressed, however, that it is important to make sure the city’s economic growth brings “affordable housing,” “affordable health coverage,” a “living wage,” and “quality education” to all New Yorkers.

His commitment to providing those necessities to New Yorkers, Mr. Ferrer said, was the result of “the lessons of my faith.” Playing to his religious audience at East Harlem, Mr. Ferrer called on Mayor Bloomberg to end his “pay-to-pray” policy, which requires many of New York’s faithful to feed parking meters on Sundays when they attend worship services. Mr. Ferrer’s observation that “the mayor even went so far as to compare going to church to going – and I quote – ‘to be entertained, or shop, or … to school or anything else,'” was met with disapproving murmurs from the Greater Highway Deliverance Temple’s congregation.

Mr. Bloomberg’s press secretary, Edward Skyler, responded in a written statement: “Freddy certainly knows how to preach to the choir.” Mr. Skyler could not be reached to elaborate.

To the assembled faithful, Mr. Ferrer also touted his religious upbringing as an altar boy and church chorister, emphasizing his belief in an “active faith, not just idle talk.” He cited a Georgia congressman and civil-rights activist, John Lewis, as an example.

In the course of his speech, Mr. Ferrer also invoked St. Matthew – and Ernest Hemingway – as he praised New York’s potential and criticized Mr. Bloomberg for failing to seize it.

“I don’t think Mayor Bloomberg is a bad man,” Mr. Ferrer said. “He just makes bad choices.”

The worst of those, Mr. Ferrer said, was the mayor’s determination, “at a time when he’s cutting a billion dollars from the school construction budget … to spend $600 million in public funds to build a football stadium for the Jets on the West Side.”

“Ask a mother with a sick baby if she wants a pediatrician or a punter,” Mr. Ferrer said while making the case that his rival’s dreams are not those of ordinary New Yorkers and that the mayor has run New York as “a subsidiary of Bloomberg Inc.”

New York, he said, needs a mayor who will bring hope to the city, including the “hope that our dreams – the dreams God put in our hearts – can come true if opportunity meets us halfway.”

Those who introduced Mr. Ferrer, however, seemed to encourage a more active, combative approach for Harlem residents seeking to fulfill their dreams of affordable housing and quality education.

A Democratic leader and City Council candidate in the neighborhood, John Ruiz, introduced Mr. Ferrer with a political speech of his own, during which he wanted to “come on out and meet the people of God.” Mr. Ruiz said East Harlem’s people of God are “in the trenches together … in the same foxhole together, going through the same lack of services together.” This election year, he said, was an important time to redress that suffering. “The time for outrage is now,” he said to the congregation.

Mr. Ruiz’s militaristic rhetoric continued a theme of belligerence established by the executive director of Greater Highway’s outreach arm, the Metropolitan Community Development Corp., Rev. Warren Abney. Mr. Abney, while introducing Messrs. Ruiz and Ferrer, informed the congregation that “the people of God are going out to possess the land.”

“Harlem belongs to us,” he said. “We’re going to go out and take it from the enemy.”

In a phone interview after the service, Mr. Abney said the “enemy” was not a particular person or group, but instead the forces of gentrification – “this new economic of high development,” including the arrival of chain stores – that had moved into Harlem, marginalizing residents who had seen the neighborhood through its “crack epidemic” and other hard times.

“We’re being pushed out because we can’t afford $600,000 luxury homes,” Mr. Abney said. His comments echoed those of Mr. Ferrer, who mentioned more than once in his speech “the people who are getting priced out of their own city,” who he said are the “heart” of New York.

Mr. Abney said he was impressed with Mr. Ferrer’s speech and was pleased that the would-be mayor had come to worship with the congregation.

He was not alone in praising Mr. Ferrer’s vision for New York. An assistant to Mr. Ruiz, Benito Burgos, said he thought the former Bronx borough president was correct in his assessment that there are “two New Yorks,” one for the poor and another for the wealthy, and expressed confidence that Mr. Ferrer would “level the playing field.”

A member of the Greater Highway Deliverance Temple’s congregation, Onjgel Brown, 34, said she agreed with Mr. Ferrer that “Mayor Bloomberg makes the poorest decisions for low-income and low-class people.” Ms. Brown, whose son, she said, is about to be graduated from the city’s public school system, mentioned Mr. Bloomberg’s decision to funnel public funds to “a gay school” when “money would’ve been better spent on schools for low-income people.” Ms. Brown was referring to the Harvey Milk High School for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students, which opened in the East Village in 2003.

Education was cited as a community concern throughout the morning’s events. The co-pastor of the Greater Highway Deliverance Temple, Hazel Page, said before the service that one reason the church invited Mr. Ferrer to worship was to solicit his help in its plans to extend the church’s school building, and “hopefully we will help elect him the next mayor.”

The assistant executive director of the Metropolitan Community Development Corporation, Al Brown, said, however, that while he, too, was “impressed” by Mr. Ferrer, the corporation – like the church – has made no endorsement in the mayoral race.