Posted on 01/23/2006 8:34:43 AM PST by Onelifetogive
After more than 80 years in the inner city, San Bernardino (California) First Assembly has moved to the suburbs. Pastor Terry Henderson point outs, however, that the neighborhood isn't without a Pentecostal presence. A new AG church plant is already growing in the building Henderson's congregation vacated.
Celebration City Church, led by Pastor Willie Ulibarri Jr., has been holding services in First Assembly's fellowship hall since last March. The fledgling church already has an average attendance of more than 100 people.
On January 15, Celebration City Church took over all the facilities as First Assembly relocated to a growing suburban area to the city's north. Henderson says many of his congregants live in the newer region, and no Pentecostal churches exist there.
San Bernardino First AG has been a part of the city's downtown since 1923. Henderson is glad the old neighborhood won't be abandoned.
Is the struggle important to the survival of the church? Are there plenty of other struggles without the struggle for a building?
I was part of an inner city church plant in San Antonio. It was done in a very measured manner. It now is now 3 years old, has over 300 members and isn't even looking for a building....
There was an interesting 3 way move in Jackson, MS.
A large UMC church moved to the suburbs, a PCA church moved a few miles to the former UMC facility, and then planted a new church with a Black pastor at the old facility.
How can a religious group abandon a place?
Don't know. Ask them.
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