This January marked a significant milestone for the Glendale City church (GCC) as it celebrated 120 years of faith, community, and service. The two-day celebration highlighted its rich history, commitment to Christ, creative ministry, and love for the community.
In January 1906, a group of people met in the parlor of the Glendale Sanitarium (now Adventist Health Glendale) to organize the first Adventist church in Glendale. After meeting for several years, a church building was purchased in 1911 located on the corner of Wilson Ave. and Isabel St. Due to rapid growth, the church was moved one block to its present and expanded location on the corner of Isabel St. and California Ave. In January 1930, a fire destroyed this building, but members worked quickly to have the structure rebuilt for $69,000. Amid the Great Depression, the new building was dedicated two years later in 1932.
Throughout the past 12 decades, the church has become known to the city as a welcoming place for worship and community care. GCC has advocated for the arts, families, social justice reforms, and more. Through partnerships with organizations in the city and beyond, the church lives out its mission to “reveal the love of Christ in all its tenderness and grandeur to the community in which we live.”
Celebrations began Friday night with a contemporary worship service in the chapel with guest speaker Pastor Andy Palomares. Sabbath morning started with breakfast in the courtyard followed by the history of Glendale City church lecture presented by Michael Scofield, MBA, assistant clinical professor, school of nursing at Loma Linda University.
“We are not celebrating this 120th anniversary in a vacuum; we are celebrating this in a very particular time in the history of our city and our country where we find ourselves being pulled in different directions,” said GCC Senior Pastor Uriel Herinirina. In his message taken from Deuteronomy 30, he encouraged the congregation to “choose life—shaped by divine presence and divine guidance that generates more life for others. We know that it’s the only way that we can continue to be a church that represents what God is doing in this world.”
The service reflected its tradition of music performance by featuring the GCC choir and flutist Kathy Marsh, who is a regular performer at the noon concert series the church holds every first and third Wednesday of the month in the sanctuary. The day concluded with an afternoon lunch, organ concert by Kemp Smeal, the church’s organist for more than 25 years, and a look toward the future.