Keeping the Faith : Church Facing Deadline Not Ready to Give Up

More than 10 years ago a penniless Jim Sakurai became pastor of the Orange County Holiness Church and decided to help the struggling congregation establish itself in Cypress. It was one of the few Japanese-American Christian churches in the county and lacked a regular place of worship or many congregants. To create a following, the former engineer-turned-minister began knocking on doors looking for converts. And the congregation members began raising money so they would no longer have to meet Sundays in each others’ homes.

Until recently, with 150 members and three trailers for a sanctuary and classrooms, Sakurai had felt that most of the struggle was behind him.

But instead, he and his congregation are confronting one of their most serious challenges.

A decade ago, their property was in unincorporated territory, and county officials were content with the trailers. But the city of Cypress annexed the land in 1989 and told members that they could use the makeshift sanctuary only until this month and only if they submit blueprints for a permanent building.

Now with the plans in, the congregation is stymied: It has less than half the $750,000 it needs to build a new church, and the city’s deadline for vacating the trailers is Feb. 26.

“Some people say that a church building project will either make or break a pastor,” Sakurai said. “I am walking on a very thin line.”

Sakurai will ask the City Council next month to extend the eviction deadline. But with just $230,000 in the building fund, he is still $520,000 short of the money he needs to start construction.

On Sunday, as the congregation gathered outside the brown trailer for the 11 o’clock service, the building fund was on everyone’s mind. It was also the subject of the day’s sermon.

To give them hope, guest speaker Ben Hara told the 30 or so worshipers about a successful church-raising project undertaken in Los Angeles by Japanese-Americans after they had returned from being interned during World War II.

“The people were struggling to find a place to live. It was a very dark time in their life,” Hara said. “When they were told of the project, they said it is impossible. But they did it.”

As he spoke, the worshipers sat silently in rows of metal office chairs. The altar, with its plywood walls and oak podium, resembled a school stage rather than a holy sanctuary. A wooden cross that framed Hara as he delivered his message and the hymn books tucked into the back of the chairs were the only clues that it is a church.

As simple as their sanctuary is, it is still a far cry from their earlier days, when Sunday services were held in members’ homes.

June Leark remembers those meetings in her grandmother’s house in Artesia. After being interned in Arkansas, Mitsuna Okubo returned to California and gave her house to the church, living in a trailer in the back yard. Leark doesn’t want to see the church return to those days.

“We would like to stay together. If we can’t do it here, the alternative is to sell and move somewhere else,” she said.

The Japanese Christian church, a byproduct of American missionaries going to Japan and gaining converts, was once affiliated with the Oriental Missionary Society. It draws its congregation from a number of cities, including Cypress, Fountain Valley, Anaheim and Cerritos.

In 1979, before Sakurai became pastor, the church had purchased the 1-acre Bishop Street lot with its three homes for $240,000. But it was not until he had joined them that the trailers were bought and services moved to Cypress.

The original homes were unsuitable as a church building, Sakurai said. Today, one is rented and the other two are sometimes used to provide shelter for needy families.

It’s not as if the congregation hasn’t wanted a real church. In fact, since moving to Bishop Street it has continued fund raising. But there was no urgency; the county had no problem with the trailers.

Cypress law is less forgiving.

Because the city’s development standards are more restrictive, temporary trailers are only permitted in special circumstances.

“Most of the time we do not allow temporary facilities except for construction trailers,” Planning Director Chris Eynon said.

The council recently indicated its seriousness about forcing the church to get out of its trailers and to begin building. Councilwoman Joyce C. Nicholson told church officials: “I am very concerned that for 10 years you were going to build. . . . I don’t want to see you come back in a year and ask for an extension.”

Plans for the new building were submitted Jan. 13, and the church has a year to begin construction under the city building code.

So the church is at a crossroads. Getting a loan and going back to meeting in members’ houses are among the options being considered. The building committee has also suggested selling the parsonage in Huntington Beach, which is owned by the church.

“We could sell the parsonage, but then where is the pastor going to live?” Sakurai said. With land values sky-high, buying property with a building ready-made for a church is out of reach.

There is also the possibility of moving, and renting quarters. Whatever it takes, the congregation is committed, said Fred Tanizaki, building committee member.

“We are realistic. With the recession and present credit crunch, it isn’t going to be a cakewalk,” Tanizaki said.