Once-Dwindling Congregation Comes to Life, Builds New Church : Chatsworth: Now 350 strong, St. Stephen Presbyterian members move to a $1.8-million sanctuary.
In 1978, the homey meeting hall of St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in Chatsworth was nearly empty. Membership had dwindled to 68 and the tiny congregation faced a difficult decision: whether to let the 14-year-old church dissolve or fight to keep it alive.
Members chose the latter, and on Sunday the congregation--now more than 350--celebrated its first service in a new 299-seat sanctuary. And it wasn’t big enough.
About 390 people showed up to inaugurate the modern, $1.8-million building at Winnetka Avenue and Devonshire Street. Folding metal chairs accommodated some of the overflow. Even so, back aisles were jammed until the Rev. Jeffrey S. Goldsmith invited small children occupying seats to sit behind him on the stage. The insistent babbling from behind the pulpit caused some in the congregation to question the wisdom of the move.
Many longtime members credited Goldsmith, hired in 1979, with the growth at St. Stephen that made the new sanctuary possible. But other churches also are springing up along the base of the Santa Susana Mountains, creating a mini-boom of church construction in the northwest San Fernando Valley.
“There’s a real growth in churches in the West Valley,” said the Rev. David Miller, pastor of the Church at Rocky Peak.
At least three churches have been completed recently or are under construction in the area. Shepherd of the Hills plans to open a 2,000-seat auditorium near Porter Valley Country Club in February, the Rev. Jess Moody said. And the Church at Rocky Peak recently completed construction on the first phase of a three-stage development plan for 70 acres that it owns near Rocky Peak Park, Miller said.
Unlike St. Stephen’s congregation, those of Shepherd of the Hills and the Church at Rocky Peak are transplants from other locations. Both pastors said the Chatsworth area is attractive because it is one of the few places left in the Valley with space enough to accommodate a church and extras such as parking, playgrounds and preschools.
Sunday’s service at St. Stephen began in the church’s old ranch-style building, built in 1968, and the congregation used its old hymn books for the last time. With the new building came a new organ, hymn books and choir robes. The old books will go to a Presbyterian church being built in the Santa Clarita Valley and the robes will be sent to a mission church in Zaire.
From the old building, which will be used as a preschool, members lugged folding chairs 100 feet south to the new sanctuary to seat the crowd that watched Goldsmith lead an informal tour of the sanctuary.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” church member Walter Burch said as he walked into the sanctuary. “It’s like a real church.”