Covenant News

Fremont (CA) Church Dedicates Worship Center

FREMONT, CA (October 5, 2002) - South Bay Community Church celebrated the dedication of a new worship center September 22 just a month before celebrating its 17th year as a congregation, said founding pastor Stanley Long.

The new sanctuary seats 600 and attaches to the previous 16,000 square foot building, which now serves a youth group of more than 60 for community activities. The cost of the new building and renovation of the old one, which took one year, was $2 million.

Located in Northern California, Fremont is the fourth largest city in the Bay Area with 280,000 people, right behind San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. There is a large Indian, Asian, Hispanic and African American population - Anglos are a minority - Long said. The city is located just a few miles from Silicon Valley, noted as the computer software center of the world.

South Bay Community has done its best to make its facility into a ministry center in Fremont, and many have joined in the effort. From its initial group of 18, the church has evolved into a congregation with an average worship attendance of 435. The congregation has invested in a host of practical ministries, making the building addition even more important. Long is excited about his congregation's future, saying, "There's no indication that God is finished with what He's doing here. There are a lot of nice people doing the will of God."

Long is proud of the church's resolve to care for kids in Fremont and a youth ministries program headed by Robert Johnson is doing just that. He is also glad that parishioners have been willing to assist a group of local shelters, which has given the church other chances to minister to children.

South Bay Community houses homeless people one month per year in a cooperative winter relief effort with other local churches and an area homeless program. Many people volunteer during that time by cooking daily breakfasts for 30 to 40 people and caring for children in the evenings. Parishioners also aid an area domestic violence shelter by providing school supplies for children living there and help at other shelters by leading Bible studies and feeding the needy.

"I'm not sure that what we are doing in the community is in any way related to the growth of our church," Long said. "We have become very aggressive in our development in shelters, domestic shelters and homeless shelters throughout the city. They have not become members of our church, although they have benefited from our service. But the word gets out and others hear about what we're doing with the homeless and want to join our church. And we have found it to be a very effective way of building bridges in the city."

For more information about South Bay Community Church, call 510-490-9500 or check the church web site at www.sobcc.org.

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