The bell tower is all that continues to be of Altadena Baptist Church, based by a Swedish congregation within the Nineteen Twenties and now a racially numerous non secular neighborhood.
About 15 households from the congregation additionally misplaced their properties to the wildfires, stated the Rev. George Van Alstine, 88, who has been an worker of the church for greater than 50 years.
Van Alstine stated a vault containing the church's historical past was seemingly misplaced within the fireplace, together with data from the church's earliest days.
He stated congregations in the neighborhood — Christian and non-Christian — typically labored collectively to serve their neighbors, together with operating the Altadena Congregations Serving Collectively meals pantry, which was positioned throughout the road from the Altadena Group Church and was additionally destroyed by the wildfires. .
Van Alstine stated church members met on-line Friday night time to test in and discuss methods to assist their neighbors and plan for the longer term. Proper now, he stated, they're taking issues at some point at a time.
“We're surviving,” he stated.
In response to the Los Angeles Occasions, at the very least 4 wildfires are at the moment raging in Southern California. A minimum of 24 useless and greater than 12,000 buildings burned, together with at the very least a dozen prayer homes, have been reported. Amongst them are the Pasadena Jewish Temple, Corpus Christi Catholic Church and at the very least 10 Protestant church buildings.
Different church buildings suffered fires however weren’t fully misplaced, together with Calvary Chapel in Pacific Palisades, the place the sanctuary was broken however not your complete campus.
“We in all probability misplaced the sanctuary and must rebuild it,” Justin Anderson, who began because the church's pastor this week, wrote on X. “However miraculously, the remainder of the property is nearly intact.”
Anderson informed Faith Information Service that the hearth was devastating and unpredictable, with some properties and buildings destroyed and others spared, seemingly at random. The church had deliberate to carry a gathering for congregation members over the weekend, however needed to postpone it because of the altering nature of the hearth. Providers over the weekend have been to be held on-line, and Anderson stated he hopes to remind church members that God remains to be with them.
“We’re not alone on this tragedy,” he stated. The church additionally established a catastrophe fund to assist church members and their neighbors. Anderson stated the congregation can assist different congregations and the broader neighborhood throughout this time.
The hermitage and different buildings on the Mater Dolorosa Retreat Middle have been additionally misplaced within the fireplace, in keeping with an replace on the retreat heart's web site.
“It makes excellent sense to know that our religion is examined by fireplace!” the director of the middle wrote within the replace. “However we’re pilgrims of hope, as Pope Francis urged us this yr. Hope is not going to fail us. We’ll get well and serve you once more.”
Van Alstine stated Altadena's religion communities affected by the hearth will proceed to assist their neighbors and start planning for the longer term within the coming days. For now, he stated the church workplace for Altadena Baptist will seemingly be primarily based in his residence. And he hopes church members will be capable of see the constructing firsthand quickly.
He additionally stated the bell within the church steeple got here from a former church in Pasadena and was used to summon volunteer firefighters within the late 1800s and early 1800s. The bell tower nonetheless standing symbolizes that the church will not be gone, Van Alstine stated, regardless that the constructing burned down.
“Perhaps we should always ask somebody to go down there on Sunday and ring the bell,” he stated.
© Spiritual Intelligence Service
