OUR HISTORY

Few people realize that St. Paul’s Congregation grew indirectly from the founding of UCLA in Westwood. The Rev. Dr. Jesse W. Ball, pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Los Angeles and Secretary of the Home Mission Board of the United Lutheran Church, identified the Santa Monica Bay region as a promising mission field. Gathering a congregation of ULC Lutherans, the first worship was held January 17, 1926, in a Seventh Day Adventist sanctuary on Wilshire Boulevard. By April 23, the congregation had legally incorporated. With support from the Home Mission Board, plus a bank loan, the fledgling congregation purchased land for a church and parsonage and broke ground in October,1926. Remembering the apostle who spread the gospel and planted churches across the ancient world, they named themselves St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Santa Monica.

The cornerstone was laid in January 1927, but the first worship service in the new sanctuary wasn’t until May 15, 1927. Pastor Ball departed on August 31, 1928, and reported a congregation of 144 baptized members and $649 in year-to-date benevolence.

And so, it began.

Our First 25 Years (1926 – 1951)

In those early years, worship attendance grew rapidly. Sunday school and confirmation classes ballooned, church committees blossomed. Chief among these was the Dorcas Society, a ULC women’s group that became central to the life of St. Paul’s through its fellowship dinners, mission work, fundraising, and annual church bazaars.

Black Thursday, October 1929. Throughout the Great Depression, many St. Paul’s households struggled. But the Dorcas Society, through its philanthropic committee, not only aided members, but helped pay church staff costs, purchased choir robes and sanctuary carpeting, and even covered the mortgage for an entire year! Still, weekly receipts plummeted. Creditors threatened legal action. The mortgage became delinquent and the bank foreclosed.

Easter,1936. This was the congregation’s final service in the building because of the foreclosure. The following Sunday, they returned to the Seventh Day Adventist church where it all began. As a community, they continued worship, mission work, fundraising, and social activities, much of it led by the Dorcas Society.

In 1938, the ULC Home Missions Board repurchased the property and sold it back to the congregation for $1,000 per year. Hallelujah! That Easter, two years after exile, the congregation returned. In thanksgiving, representatives from across the United Lutheran Synod gathered with them for a Homecoming and Rededication service under the theme “Victorious Faith!”

December 7, 1941. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and fearful of further attacks, the council ordered blackout curtains so evening fellowship events might continue in the parish hall. Throughout World War II, the church supported 20 members in military service and cared for families at home. They raised funds for war bonds, shared ration coupons, volunteered weekly at The Lutheran Welcome Center to welcome service members on leave, and supported the victory effort in myriad other ways. Sadly, the cost of war hit home when Sgt. Robert Ferris Kirkelie, USAAF, confirmed at St. Paul’s in 1939, went MIA over France in 1944.

Our Next Quarter Century (1951 – 1976)

By 1955, St. Paul’s had reached its highest attendance. That year the pastor reported 900 weekly communing members and 1,150 baptized members. The Sunday school flourished, Luther League took shape, new groups for men, couples, and singles were launched. The congregation actively supported California Lutheran Hospitals, Camp Yolijwa, wider church missions, and had a robust neighborhood outreach. In 1958, the church mortgage was burned during an emotional Friday evening Lenten service.

As our 30th anniversary approached in 1956, the council envisioned an expansion of offices and Sunday school rooms. In 1960, after a successful fundraising campaign, and with additional bank financing, the project was completed. But with changing times, corporations transferred workers away; families moved to “the valley” for more affordable housing; membership declined. Always forward looking, however, the council purchased three nearby lots, two of which were combined into our current parking lot. When the bank loan for the expansion came due in 1967, the parsonage on Lincoln (completed in 1933) was sold to pay it off. In 1968, a Memorial Window campaign to replace the side windows to depict the life of Jesus in stained glass, was kicked off. The last of these was dedicated in 1971.

By the early 1970s, declining attendance had stabilized. Seeking to be good stewards, the church proposed a senior housing project on the church parking lot, but the idea was flatly rejected by the city of Santa Monica. (The idea will return in 2003 when another council forms a Parking Lot Task Force to explore the same idea.) Moving ahead, the council sold a lot adjacent to our current parking to purchase the house just north of the church. As the Vietnam War ends in 1972, the congregation offers the house to a family of Vietnamese refugees. In 1973, an ever-failing theater-style organ from the original construction was replaced by an Abbott and Sieker tracker organ for $20,900.

A Golden Anniversary and Beyond (1976 – 2001)

For the 50th anniversary in 1976, the council chose as a theme verse, Psalm 74:2: “Remember your congregation, taken long since as your own.”

Reflecting that spirit, St. Paul’s offered hospitality in 1981 to a new Westside reform synagogue, Sha’arei Am, which remained there until finding a permanent home at the decade’s end. In 1982, the church called a clergy couple, marking the first time a female pastor was called since the ordination of women first began in 1970. The congregation remained vibrant. They organized small group ministries among themselves and launched a second worship service with contemporary music. During this period, demographics shifted, and the previously all-white congregation soon welcomed people of color and differing orientation into membership. Sexuality and the Reconciling in Christ program of Lutherans Concerned are discussed for the first time in council meetings; a gay couple is given permission for their “union” to be held in the sanctuary; no vote is taken on RIC. A bequest of $400,000 from the Cora Morrow estate established what eventually became our current Mission and Ministry fund.

January 1994. A 6.7 magnitude quake centered in Northridge caused structural damage to St. Paul’s. The sanctuary was “red tagged” (for no entry) and the parish hall was “yellow tagged” (for partial entry). In a generous act of reciprocity and grace, Sha’arei Am was the first organization to contact the church and offer its space for worship. Donations flooded the church office from across the country which easily covered the $30,000 repair. The unspent portion, about $7,000, was directed to families directly affected by the quake. Miraculously, the congregation returned to a newly repaired sanctuary for Easter services.

In what the council president described as “the best of times and the worst of times,” a two-year interim ends when a new pastor is called in September 1998. But it was serious mismatch. He leaves after five difficult months. Many members had transferred out and the remaining congregation felt traumatized. Only when the synod assigned a retired interim pastor who ministered with love and compassion did healing begin. Pastor James Boline, our current pastor, arrived in September 2000.

Moving Toward 100 (2001 – 2026)

The new millennium brought significant change for the congregation and its new pastor. In 2002, St. Paul’s became a Reconciling in Christ congregation, publicly welcoming the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2005, Pastor Boline came out to the congregation and later to a Churchwide Assembly; Bishop Dean Nelson opened an investigation but took no action. In 2012, the congregation became an internship site for LGBTQIA+ ministry candidates and has since welcomed 11 vicars. Additionally, we have helped Ugandans here and abroad as they face persecution – and even death – for their sexual orientation. During these early millennium years, St. Paul’s expanded its online presence through Facebook, weekly e-blasts, and online giving. At long last, the stained-glass window (on the Lincoln side) was installed, depicting the saving death of Christ, thanks to a gift from the Gertrude Miles estate. For its 90th anniversary in 2016, the congregation embraced sustainability and replaced our lawn with decomposed granite and pavers and added a drip irrigation system and native plants to our gardens. That same year, a memorial bench for Kelly Cano, 18, who died unexpectedly, was placed in her memory.

The Great Pandemic of 2020. Seventy-two years since returning to the building in 1938, St. Paul’s cancelled worship in the sanctuary. But the congregation adapted quickly: annual meetings moved to Zoom, worship shifted to YouTube; Lenten, Christmas, and Easter services were broadcast online. A PPP loan, eventually forgiven by the US government, as well as faithful and generous giving by the congregation, helped sustain us through these difficult years.

In March 2021, the people of St. Paul’s finally returned to a weekly “hybrid worship” – both in person and online. YouTube broadcasts continue to this day. In January 2024, sudden tragedy struck: the Palisades Fire. The church escaped damage, but several of our families were displaced. The church opened its doors and assisted churches and schools that burned. With our 2026 Centennial on the horizon, a Capital Campaign Committee was formed to raise funds for major improvements. To date, these include a new HVAC system, a complete roof and gutter replacement, security cameras, solar panels, organ rebuilding, refurbished sanctuary doors, kitchen repairs, a narthex restoration, and new office and parish hall flooring. Most recently, the parish hall was named Helen Beasom Hall in honor of her long years of faithfulness to St. Paul’s.

100 Years of Grace – And Counting!

Looking back, today’s congregation gives praise and thanks for all the saints who carried St. Paul’s through our first 100 years. Looking ahead, well, God alone knows the future. But trusting in God, we pledge to worship faithfully, to continue to minister to one another, our community, and the wider world. At 100, we recommit ourselves to this ministry and invite all to join hands with us as we proclaim, “To God be the glory!”