RELIGION / JOHN DART : Quake-Hit Sanctuary Reopens for Services

Renovation: The 550-member First Christian Church of North Hollywood raised $450,000 and received help from its parent denomination to repair extensive damage.

Congregants of the First Christian Church of North Hollywood will worship again in their main sanctuary Sunday morning, for the first time since they gathered on Jan. 16, unaware a major quake would hit the next day.

The 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 17 did enough damage to put a yellow-tag “unsafe” warning on the Colonial-style church facing Colfax Avenue.

But by raising a surprising $450,000 in donations and pledges, and receiving prompt financial help from its parent denomination, the 550-member church was able to begin reconstruction of the red brick and colonnaded sanctuary in mid-August.

“We had no idea how much the church meant to people and how much they were willing to sacrifice,” said the Rev. Robert Bock, who marked 25 years as senior pastor in April. Total repair costs are expected to approach $500,000 for the sanctuary and related structures.

Fund-raising consultants from the Indianapolis headquarters of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the congregation’s denomination, had advised First Christian leaders to set their goal at no more than $250,000, he said.

“They couldn’t believe it when they heard how much has been raised,” Bock said.

But the congregation also was helped by money from the Disciples’ headquarters.

“Within 24 hours of the earthquake, we got an emotional uplift when someone with the denomination’s ‘Week of Compassion’ office called and said a check for $3,000 was on its way,” Bock said.

Months later, the Disciples’ Board of Church Extension granted the congregation a loan, the amount of which is still in negotiation, Bock said. “They’ve already forwarded $200,000--the first $50,000 was interest-free and the rest is at lower interest than banks charge,” the minister said.

Even as the congregation prepares to celebrate its re-entry into the sanctuary, after months of services in an undamaged social hall, memories of the near collapse of its sanctuary still linger.

“The quake lifted up the roof, the three-story south wall tilted out, but the roof came back down holding the wall in place,” said member Judy de Leuw. Bricks fell on the pews inside and on the parking lot outside.

“Standing inside the sanctuary against that wall, you could look up and clearly see a one-foot-wide by 130-foot-long line of sky,” she said.

Bock said that several weeks ago he went nine blocks north on Colfax Avenue to watch the demolition of First Presbyterian Church of North Hollywood, which had been red-tagged--condemned as uninhabitable--by city inspectors.

“I stood watching for five minutes as the huge crane placed that heavy ball with deadly accuracy,” Bock said. “It was so sad to see that sanctuary go down that I left; I couldn’t stand to see it.”

Demolishing the Presbyterian sanctuary building was unavoidable, but the Rev. John Moody of that congregation has been upset by the lack of grant money or offers of low-interest loans from his denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in order to renovate other buildings or build a new church.

In response to a protest from five Presbyterian pastors whose San Fernando Valley churches were badly damaged, the Rev. James Brown, executive director of the denomination’s General Assembly Council, met in the Valley with the pastors and regional church officials Thursday and Friday. There was no immediate comment from the participants.

Meanwhile, members of First Christian Church on Friday began their 13th annual Christmas tree sale for charity. In past years, all proceeds went to projects such as the North Hollywood Food Pantry, Habitat for Humanity, and Church World Service; but this year about 30% will go into the congregation’s building campaign.

The 10 a.m. service Sunday will feature music by a 35-voice choir and a small orchestra as well as an anthem written by the church’s music minister, Stephen Reinhardt, who is music supervisor of NBC-TV’s “Days of Our Lives.”

Accompanying the choir on a new organ will be its donor, Glenn Schieke, who toured with singer Barbra Streisand before starting his own advertising agency.