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Standing on the corner of Santa Ana Blvd. and Main Street, in downtown Santa Ana, Calif., you experience the sights, sounds, and faces of a microcosm of the American urban story. On one side of Main Street sits First Church of Santa Ana, a downtown church celebrating this year its 125th anniversary. Considering it is in California, it is actually quite old. Once overflowing with members, more recently it is struggling to adapt to the city's changing demographics. Across Main Street, not a half block away, is the building that formerly housed Trinity United Church, the first United Presbyterian Church west of the Mississippi when it was founded in 1876. In 1958, Trinity Church, like many downtown Presbyterian churches, left the city to move out of downtown, now in the midst of a sprawling suburbia. First Church remained. Now, some 50 years later, the two churches are coming together in a partnership that may give hope to other struggling urban churches, and inspiration to their often resource-rich suburban counterparts.
Standing on the corner of Santa Ana Blvd. and Main Street, in downtown Santa Ana, Calif., you experience the sights, sounds, and faces of a microcosm of the American urban story. On one side of Main Street sits First Church of Santa Ana, a downtown church celebrating this year its 125th anniversary. Considering it is in California, it is actually quite old. Once overflowing with members, more recently it is struggling to adapt to the city's changing demographics. Across Main Street, not a half block away, is the building that formerly housed Trinity United Church, the first United Presbyterian Church west of the Mississippi when it was founded in 1876. In 1958, Trinity Church, like many downtown Presbyterian churches, left the city to move out of downtown, now in the midst of a sprawling suburbia. First Church remained. Now, some 50 years later, the two churches are coming together in a partnership that may give hope to other struggling urban churches, and inspiration to their often resource-rich suburban counterparts. Times have changed and the churches are changing, too. "In 1980 Santa Ana was 44% Hispanic but now it is 86% Hispanic," says Bill Ditewig, minister of mission and mobilization at Trinity. He also mentions demographic studies that show Santa Ana as one of the youngest cities in the nation, with a median age of 26 and points to a Rockefeller Institute survey of cities that listed it as one of the hardest cities to live in. Realizing these statistics, says Ditewig, "was a wake up call to our congregation," many of whose older members used to live and work in downtown, but moved out as part of the white flight of the 1950s and 60s. "We realized," continues Ditewig, "that we are a resource-rich church, not just in finances but in skills and connections, and so we asked ourselves how could we use these resources in partnership, to revive the idea that we are a connectional church?" The church, though in the midst of a three-year interim while searching for a new pastor, had done a capital campaign. They tithed a portion and designated it for ministry outside of their own congregation. They asked the presbytery where they could be involved, he explains. They didn't want only to write a check; members wanted an active connection. As part of that search a group from Trinity went to meet with Lance Allen, pastor at Santa Ana First. Santa Ana First had recently brought on Danny Jimenez to work part time as a tentmaker for ministry to the Spanish speaking community. Born in Mexico and trained as an environmental engineer, while a student at San Francisco Theological Seminary's Southern California campus, Jimenez had interned with Santa Ana First. "I jokingly told them," recounts Allen, "that if they wanted a way to help us out or partner with us they could fund the rest of Danny's salary so that we could bring him on full time." After the meeting the group returned to Santa Ana First and told Allen that they would fund the other half of Jimenez' salary for three years. "So then, after they picked me up off the floor ... " jokes Allen, recounting the story. First Church had good reasons to begin Spanish language ministry. "Orange County, California, is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation," says Allen, "but then you have this doughnut hole of poverty right in the middle, and that is Santa Ana." Not only does it have one of the highest rates of first generation Hispanic immigrants in the nation, but it also has one of the highest ratios of individuals per dwelling as well. Jimenez himself, when he first came from Mexico, stayed in a two-bedroom house with nine others and slept in the living room. "I know that happens and is still going on," he says, "so when we see the statistics, we know that they are real." "Our ministry is a ministry in Spanish, not just for Hispanics," Jimenez notes, "and is one that is seeking to build bridges." One such bridge is the relationship with Trinity United. Another bridge is within the Santa Ana First congregation itself. "One of the main bridges is through our youth and children, who speak both English and Spanish," says Jimenez. He notes the difficulties of first generation Spanish speaking parents raising their children in a new country. "One of the interesting and challenging things for our church," he indicates, "is that you can actually see the many faces of the city throughout the day." In the morning, white-collar workers commute to the city center to work in the courthouse and other government buildings. In the evening, the residents of the city, mostly Hispanic, return from working in the suburbs. The evening hours also see the emergence of the homeless population in the city as well. "I am proud to say that we here as a church are seeking to reach each of those communities," says Jimenez. That effort is due in part to the support of Trinity United. "Our goal is not to come up with our own ideas of what we think they might need," summarizes Bill Ditewig, "but to respond to Danny and the Spanish-speaking congregation at Santa Ana First." "A few weeks ago on the TV show The Apprentice one of the teams was at the Santa Ana Main Place mall," says Allen, "and the whole reason that they lost ... was that they did not take into account the Hispanic population. I just wonder," he asks, "if Donald Trump were to walk into our churches ... would we be the ones who get fired?" Erin Dunigan is a seminary graduate and freelance writer/photographer living in Newport Beach, Calif.
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