Church’s cup runneth over with people

Angelique Flores

Most pastors would love to see their church grow with new membership. But

the swell of people at Living Waters Christian Fellowship has exceeded

the church’s limits.

“It’s been a crisis for us,” said Dan Moore, the church’s senior pastor.

The church, which has 1,200 members, can accommodate just 300 in its

building at a time. Even with four Sunday services, the church has not

been able to fit in everyone. Over the past six months, the problem has

worsened.

“We had to have people directing others to go to another church,” Moore

said.

Instead of finding another church, many of these people just go home, he

said. And the problem also affects the church’s parking situation.

“My daughter said she was in gridlock for almost an hour in the

driveway,” Moore said.

Living Waters has been looking for a larger facility, but to no avail.

And land to build on is both expensive and hard to find, Moore said.

Even if Living Waters finds some open land, money is still a problem.

“How could the church raise millions of dollars?” Moore asked.

Fountain Valley is largely built to capacity, said Ray Kromer, Fountain

Valley’s city manager. The city tried to make things easier for churches

by passing an ordinance last year that allows them to operate in either

residential or commercial zones, he said.

Some Huntington Beach churches are also having a difficult time finding a

building to lease on a more permanent basis. Churches such as Coastland

Foursquare Church and Seaside Community Church meet in such places as

schools, community centers and libraries.

In Huntington Beach, churches must have a permit to exist, said Steve

Purdue, Coastland Foursquare Church’s pastor. And the city, he said, has

areas that are not zoned for churches. “We’ve found that the city will

turn down churches because it robs them of commercial-based tax dollars,”

Purdue said.

The overcrowding problems stem from an increase in membership that the

pastors believe comes from a return to traditional values.

“There’s a real revival in churches. It’s a wonderful thing, but

difficult to keep up with housing them,” Moore said.

For now, pastors don’t see any answers. Living Waters has already added a

service in the afternoon, which is a drastic change for a Protestant

church. Protestants traditionally attend services in the morning.

“It’s a cultural struggle to start going in the afternoon,” Moore said.

And the extra service hasn’t fixed the problem.

Every year the church has an Easter Cantata, a musical celebrating the

resurrection of Jesus Christ. The church has canceled the event this year

because of the large crowd it draws in.

“It’s [too] demoralizing not to be able to seat them,” Moore said.