That Old-Time Religion : Longest-Serving Protestant Church in City Marks Its 125th Year

The elderly worshipers who attended the 125th anniversary service at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles on Sunday were equipped with more than hymnals and hearing aids.

Between them, they also brought more than 1,400 years of attendance at the oldest Protestant congregation in the city.

Marion Luenberger, 77, was only 2 when cousins dragged her kicking and screaming into the church nursery. By 16, she was hopping on streetcars to attend services when the church was on Hope Street.

“Ever since I was a young child, I’ve been very much involved in it,” said Luenberger, as she sat with her husband, Fred, 79. “It’s my life, and it’s my family. It’s hard to separate the two.”

In the 61 years that the Luenbergers have attended the church, it has been the place where they have married, christened three children, and married off two daughters. Marion Luenberger also served as director of the church’s Sunday school for four years.

At least 72 congregation members have attended the church for half a century or longer, and more than half of the congregation is over 70, church officials said.

At Sunday’s service, 27 members of the congregation shared notes and reminisced in a kind of a religious reunion. Friends hailed each other from across the room, and at a luncheon, they were greeted by well-wishers and rows of festive balloons.

But the congregation has declined as well as matured. In the mid-1960s, it boasted a membership of 5,000. Today there are only about 1,200 members, said the Rev. Mark Lansberry, associate pastor in charge of membership.

Still, no one forgets the elderly worshipers.

“We value what we call the old guard here,” Lansberry said.

None of what could be considered the old guard was born when the church was established in a modest neighborhood on New High Street in 1867.

The congregation moved to 3rd and Hill streets, then to 6th and Hill streets and to 9th and Hope streets. In 1932, parishioners built the stately Gothic cathedral at 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., where the church is housed today.

But the landscape around the church has undergone half a century of change. The cathedral, once one of the tallest buildings around, was long ago dwarfed by downtown skyscrapers. As white families moved to the suburbs, ethnic groups moved in.

Today, although a majority of the congregation is still Anglo, Lansberry said, the neighborhood is populated by Filipino, Korean and Latino families. He said church officials are trying to make inroads into those communities.

On Sunday, the crowd that listened to the sermon included Asian-Americans and African-Americans.

Some longtime members who have drifted away said they have a spot in their hearts for the First Congregational Church.

“My parents were married here in 1907,” said George Young, 93, who drove 100 miles from Hemet in Riverside County, where he and his wife, Bea, retired 13 years ago. “I grew up going to Sunday school when it was on Hope Street. This place is special.”

Bea Young, 75, said the church is where she and her husband met 45 years ago.

“There were 20 to 28 of us that would show up every Tuesday night,” she said, her face glowing. “We met here at a church dinner in 1947. We got married in 1948.”

Many of First Congregational’s elderly members still volunteer their time as ushers, receptionists and clerks at the church-owned thrift store, Lansberry said.

First Congregational is only a quarter of century older than Elma Corning, a 100-year-old native of Iowa who began attending the church 57 years ago.

“I came from a small town where the church was fundamental,” Corning said. “One day, I brought my son to Sunday school here. I liked what I heard, and I kept on coming.”

Corning said she has never considered attending another church, even though she has moved away from the neighborhood and can no longer drive. On Sunday, she had to hitch a ride with a friend.

“I feel every day is a challenge,” she said. “But I’m here every Sunday, practically. I don’t think I’ll stop now.”