Church is not just a place in the beach cities
Father Ray Mallett of Our Lady Of Guadalupe is among the local pastors who have moved the Church out of the church. Photo by Chris Barnes On January 27 of this year, Malibu Presbyterian Church opened the doors of their newly rebuilt sanctuary. Five years earlier, their church had been gutted by the Canyon Fire, which charred more than 4,000 acres and destroyed 21 structures. When asked by local media how it felt to have his church burn to the ground, Senior Pastor Greg Hughes replied plainly, “Our church didn’t burn down. Our building did.” And in one brief moment, Pastor Hughes reminded us of how far we have drifted in our understanding of “church.” The Church is not a place, but a people. I’ve spent my entire 51 years in the South Bay as a regular church-goer. From my formative years as a Catholic at St. John Fisher, to my early days in ministry at Hope Chapel, to my current role as Lead Pastor of King’s Harbor Church, I know a little something about church life in the South Bay. People talk about “going” to church. It’s a part of our vernacular now. But it wasn’t always that way. When Saul of Tarsus went about persecuting the Church, he didn’t go to a building. He went “house…
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