Throughout World Conflict II, sailors departing ships for shore depart would comply with a beacon of sunshine emanating from the steeple of San Pedro United Methodist Church. Upon arriving, they might take a bathe, eat a meal ready in our kitchen, possibly write a letter residence.
Historical past is rarely distant when the church you lead, and worship in, was inbuilt 1923. It’s a grand three-story construction with stunning stained-glass home windows and a sanctuary with an open-beam vaulted ceiling that may seat 350. It’s an enormous church, and over time now we have turn into a small congregation.
A long time in the past, after we have been the one Protestant church on the town, the sanctuary stuffed up for each weekly companies. Earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, we averaged about 52 folks on Sunday mornings. In the present day about 25 parishioners collect in individual, and one other 100 from across the nation be a part of us on-line.
For the reason that pandemic, it has turn into important for us to search out methods to reinvent our ministry, to suppose outdoors the field.
Our decline in church membership mirrors a nationwide pattern. For many years, about 70% of the U.S. inhabitants belonged to a non secular congregation, however a gradual decline started across the starting of the twenty first century. Final yr, U.S. membership in homes of worship dropped beneath 50% for the primary time since Gallup started measuring it in 1937.
And for the primary time in a long time, the massive purple double doorways in entrance of our church wouldn't open for worship. We realized that our church life as we knew it will change. We might keep stagnant, and presumably slowly disappear, or change with the occasions.
Whereas greater than 4,000 church buildings in America shut their doorways in 2020, we needed to reframe what it means to have “open doorways.” We would have liked to step out of our silos, and accomplice with different faith-based organizations and events that share the widespread purpose of supporting our group.
For inspiration, I seemed again to my roots. I thought of rising up in Palmdale, watching my father, a Methodist minister, take care of a household in want throughout the midnight. It jogged my memory of the function faith-based organizations play in society, even all these years later.
We seemed for one more strategy to be a beacon of sunshine in the neighborhood, an answer that might pay the payments and nourish the San Pedro group. As church attendance has waned, so have contributions to church buildings. Thirty years in the past, about 50% of all charitable contributions went to homes of worship. That determine had shrunk to about 30% by the point the pandemic struck.
One of many best belongings many church buildings have is their buildings and surrounding property. San Pedro UMC isn't any exception. Now we have huge house throughout the church and out of doors it. Greater than 20 years in the past, an empty lot subsequent to the church was given to us. It sat vacant till we started dreaming about the way it might greatest serve our group at present.
To make the most of the land, we partnered with 1010 Improvement Corp., a nonprofit that has been a pacesetter in reasonably priced housing growth in Los Angeles. Our purpose is to construct 54 reasonably priced housing models and supply help for individuals who dwell there. We count on to interrupt floor by the tip of this yr.
It wasn’t simple throughout the pandemic to consider how folks would possibly use our campus in new methods when everybody wanted to remain residence. Nonetheless, we tried to think about what it is perhaps wish to fill the courtyard with voices and households. Since San Pedro has a big homeless inhabitants, we determined to develop our partnership with Household Promise of the South Bay, a nonprofit that gives companies to these experiencing homelessness.
The group leased half of our constructing, house that features restrooms, showers, a kitchen and fitness center, and lecture rooms. They are going to be used as a respite middle to supply sources and help to assist households get again on their toes. In February, the primary residents moved in, 4 households that may briefly stick with us whereas they work towards acquiring housing.
By renovating the identical kitchen that produced these hardy meals for sailors throughout WWII, we will develop applications to assist deal with meals insecurity in our group. In the course of the pandemic, many individuals frequented meals banks for the primary time. Our instructing kitchen will assist households study to prepare dinner wholesome meals from staples they obtain from a meals financial institution whereas supplementing them with produce from the farmers market. The kitchen may also be a spot the place folks can study a vocation.
Sure, membership in homes of worship is declining, however individuals who determine as non secular — particularly millennials — say they nonetheless yearn for one thing extra. Congregations have a novel alternative to step past the partitions of their buildings and assist change the world for the higher.
Pastor Lisa Williams has led San Pedro United Methodist for seven years.
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