Presbyterian Church Dissolved

VAN NUYS —  The English-speaking First Presbyterian Church of Van Nuys, down to 75 members with less than half of them attending Sunday services, has been dissolved by Presbyterian higher-ups and will soon give way to a growing Latino congregation based there.

In a transition that some church leaders say often occurs belatedly and begrudgingly, the aging Anglo membership at the red-brick church had seen its numbers and financial resources decline, even as the neighborhood became increasingly Latino.

The Presbytery of San Fernando, a regional unit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), voted in November to dissolve the 85-year-old congregation and to combine the Latino ministries at that church and at Trinity Presbyterian Church, in North Hollywood, into a new Spanish-speaking church.

The Presbytery, which oversees churches from Palmdale to Silver Lake and from Westlake Village to La Canada, ruled that the congregation was unable “to maintain an effective and viable church.”

The final English-language service at Van Nuys First will be held Jan. 12 following a farewell luncheon at the church.

“It’s been very hard to take,” said Miriam Magill, secretary-treasurer at Van Nuys First. “A lot of people do resent it and think we could have gone on longer.”

But, she conceded, “we just couldn’t make it with our small membership now,” only 10% of the 725 members the church had when she became secretary 33 years ago.

“Rather than keep struggling,” said the Rev. Robert Fernandez, the executive presbyter--administrator--of the regional body, “we decided to bring this ministry to a close, celebrate the significant things the church has done and start with a core of Hispanic people who are there.”

About 50 or 60 people attend the Spanish-language service and Sunday school every week at Van Nuys First led by the Rev. Nelson Grande, who also ministers to two dozen people at Trinity Presbyterian.

Denominational officials have provided grants in recent years to develop a Latino congregation in the area. Since coming to Van Nuys First in late 1995 as a co-pastor, Grande, an ex-missionary with a recent master’s degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, has developed home Bible studies, music training, marriage classes and family counseling.

“We are also starting classes on Saturday mornings to help people pass high school equivalency exams--with 30 people already signed up,” Grande said.

Such church transitions from one ethnic group to another usually occur without planning or foresight, or too late, said the Rev. Jesse Miranda of Azusa Pacific University and national president of AMEN, an association of Latino clergy and lay leaders from 100 denominations and independent ministries.

“Denominations have been poor prophets in predicting the demographic changes that have been upon us,” Miranda said. The church should not “do a patch job,” he said. “There should be a five- or 10-year plan for a transition to take place.”

“Churches are often the last institution to put up a ‘For Sale’ sign, and when they do, nobody has the money to purchase it,” said Miranda, especially the fledgling, ethnic-based congregations that sometimes share or rent part of the facility of the older, Anglo church.

Miranda said that Latino church leaders admire the financial foresight of their Anglo counterparts who encourage older members to leave money to their churches in their wills. Why can’t Anglo churches in demographically changing neighborhoods foresee the church’s death and plan for a financially backed rebirth of a new or evolved congregation? he asked.

“Why can’t we do it for evangelism--to continue our spiritual legacies?”

United Methodist churches in the San Fernando Valley facing the problem of shifting demographics may be selected for intensive self-examination if the concept receives approval, said the Rev. Brandon Cho, a district superintendent based in Chatsworth.

“Some churches in a ‘survival mode’ need to be guided in intensive studies not only to justify their own existence but also to find new ways to minister to others,” Cho said. “There are many options, but one may be their actual death for the rebirth of another congregation.”

In the case of Van Nuys First Presbyterian, no decision has yet been made on whether the buildings at 14701 Friar St. will be sold. For now, Fernandez said, leases with three different types of schools there are being honored.

Fernandez and Grande said that the new, combined Latino congregation might meet at Trinity Presbyterian Church, which is in a more prominent location on Victory Boulevard.

Meanwhile, Fernandez said he was sorry to see the English-speaking congregation at Van Nuys closed. “I contributed to the ministry of that church with my own personal resources,” he said. “It grieves me to see it close.”

The congregation has been at the same location since 1912. An earlier “country church” was replaced in 1950 by the present brick-exterior church, which can seat up to 300 congregants, Magill said. “It survived the 1994 earthquake beautifully.”

Pastors have included the Revs. Tom Nalbach and James K. Morse, and presently Darrel Meyers, who was on vacation this week.

Fernandez, chief administrator of the presbytery since 1988, said that the reality is that “sometimes hard decisions provide the best results.”