Called To Be Christ’s Light

The light of Christ has been shining forth from First Lutheran Church for nearly 140 years, making us the oldest Lutheran church in Southern California. Our congregation was organized in 1888, with 31 members present.  Since then, generation after generation, people have been faithfully gathering at First Lutheran to worship God and grow in grace and faith.

Our rich history of serving this ever-changing downtown community now calls us again to arise and shine as Christ’s light in new and challenging ways. Our church, with our “lighthouse” tower, is a beacon and a blessing to hundreds of people each week, but it is showing its age.

In 2023, our congregation decided to invest in the future and secured a $400,000 loan from the ELCA’s Mission Investment Fund to finance a new roof and replace the old AC units with new energy efficient heat pumps. We also decided it was time to capture the light of God’s good creation and install solar panels on our roof. Through this loan, and the work of many dedicated, energetic and generous people at First, these improvements have been accomplished. Now the time has come to begin paying off this loan.

The MIF loan is to be paid over 30 years at 6% interest. Our loan payments are $2500 per month. By choosing to arise and shine with a generous gift to this appeal, your gift actually multiplies itself - kind of like those five loaves and two fish that enabled Jesus to feed a huge crowd. Here are the two BIG FISH in this deal.

 
  • The First Fish: If we are able to pay off this loan in the three years of this appeal, it will save the church $430,000 in interest! That means 27 years of not having to pay $2500 per month - an incredible investment now that will yield dividends for decades.
  • The Second Fish: We have added the new element of solar panels to our facilities. Our solar company estimates that these will save us $575,364 in utility bills over the next 20 years - more than a half million dollars! That is money for ministry that otherwise would have gone towards paying our utility bills. Also, the solar panels with continue to reap benefits even after the 20 years. And to top it off, our new heat pumps for heating and cooling are estimated to be 50% more efficient than our old units.

This is a remarkable return on our investment, and an effective way to reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Called to Magnify Christ’s Light

In addition to repaying the MIF loan, leaders have identified several other proposed smaller projects that would have a significant impact on strengthening the congregation’s ability to “be the Heart of Christ in the Heart of the City.”

To address these needs, we hope to raise $450,000 over the next three years through a Capital Appeal.  We trust that the passion and generosity that characterizes our congregation will enable us to meet this financial goal.

We give thanks to God for our rich history, our beautiful church building, and the legacy of faith and service handed down from generation to generation. God has given us a vision of our church as a welcoming place of genuine community, inspiring worship, spiritual nurture, and engagement with the city around us through meaningful service and advocacy.  As we begin this journey of    Magnifying Christ’s Light, we pray together:

“Christ, be our light.

Make us your own,

your holy people,

light for the world to see.” 

Amen

 

 

       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       

 

 

 

Ministries
Green Team