NEWPORT BEACH : Church Finds Home in Shopping Center

From the street, St. Matthew’s Traditional Episcopal Church looks out of place, sandwiched between a dance studio and a clock shop in the Westcliff Court shopping center.

But behind the church’s polished wooden doors, which face a rear parking lot, the atmosphere is anything but commercial.

Members have covered the bare white walls with special paper, giving them a stone-finished look. New carpet runs beneath oak pews from the front door to the pulpit, where a 6-foot-long stone crucifix hangs. Track lights illuminate the altar, which has been stained to match the other furniture.

“What makes us unique is we have really made an effort to make a beautiful environment . . . to create a sense of permanency as opposed to an auditorium with some chairs set up,” said the Rev. Stephen Scarlett, St. Matthew’s rector.

Before moving into the shopping plaza, Scarlett and his 100-member congregation--like many other churches in the county--moved from site to site every few years because of the high cost of real estate. In December, the congregation moved from a community center down the street after the landlord sold the property for development, Scarlett said.

There, the congregation shared space with other organizations and was forced to “set up and tear down” every Sunday. Scarlett said the limited space and frequent moves often left people confused about the church’s location.

“It puts people in the mind, ‘Where is the church,’ ” he said. “People need a sense of some center.” With a five-year lease and 3,500 square feet in Westcliff Court, Scarlett said members will feel a sense of “permanency.” Besides the sanctuary, the church has a kitchen, a nursery, and a space for banquets and meetings. On a bulletin board outside the nursery hangs “before” and “after” pictures of the sanctuary.

“Here is what you think of when you say storefront church,” Scarlett said, holding a picture of a room with folding chairs set up on a bare floor. Scarlett is at the altar with a sheet in the background covering an open doorway.

Members have been working since December to make improvements, he said. On Easter, members hung the stone crucifix, chipped and chiseled to give it a “rugged” appearance.

Next, Scarlett said, he wants to add more lights and paintings. “We want to have a sense that this is a church, that this is a house of worship. We think we’ve succeeded.”