March 10, 2005

FOCUS ON FAITH: CHINESE CHURCH OF CHRIST SOUTH VALLEY

Plans to build church on McKean Road abandoned after
construction costs skyrocket

After a decade in Almaden, Chinese congregation finds
permanent home in Blossom Valley

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

After years without a place to call their own, Almaden’s Chinese Church in Christ South Valley congregation has permanently found a building where they hope to grow roots.

Chinese Church in Christ South Valley congregations gathered March 5 for a dedicatory service of their new building, the former home of St. Andrew Lutheran Church, which moved to Almaden Valley. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

On March 5, the non-denominational congregation officially dedicated its new building, located at 5805 Cahalan Ave., in the Blossom Valley area of San Jose, during a morning two-hour religious service.

“It’s amazing that we have a place to meet,” said church member Timothy Chu, 20. “We have waited for this building for so long.”

Last December the church bid farewell to the South Hills Community Church building on Camden Avenue, where its members had worshipped by renting space for the past 10 years.

Plans to build on a 10-acre site in Almaden along McKean Road were abandoned when the church’s building committee learned the project would be too expensive.

The church had also applied for a use permit from the city’s planning department to build an 18,000-square-foot-building, which was rejected. It appealed, eventually obtaining the permit to build a 10,000-square-foot building similar in size to St. Anthony’s Catholic Church a block away that had received similar permission.

Building designs were soon drafted, but when construction costs reached $3.4 million, well beyond the church’s building budget, church leaders began “praying for guidance” and looking for other options.

After learning from a congregation member about the building on Cahalan Avenue for sale, the church sold the land in Almaden, obtained a loan and purchased the 8,500-square-foot worship house for $3 million in December.
The building was formerly used by St. Andrew Lutheran Church, which ironically turned around and relocated its small congregation to Almaden and is holding worship services at Castillero Middle School.

The Cahalan Avenue worship house has a sanctuary, two classrooms, a library, a nursery, a toddler room and a large fellowship hall, which is being partitioned into additional classrooms to accommodate the growing congregation.

“Selling the land gave us a good starting point and then we raised a lot of money in a short period. By the time we talked to the bank, we only needed to borrow a third of the price for the building,” said Church deacon Rosa Hwang, who’s lived in Almaden for more than 30 years and is one of the church’s founding members.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said church member Cindy Yen, 32. “Before we could only look at a big piece of land and now we’re so happy to just walk in here and have a place to call home.”

Head Pastor Rupert Hsu expressed gratitude for the new building and wrote in the church’s special dedicatory issue that as the church entered its 13th year without a permanent location and worshippers began asking for a resolution to the building project, “in no time at all God gave us this building, something that we had not dreamed of.”

On Jan. 2, the congregation began holding Sunday services at the new building. Their lease on an office suite on Camden Avenue, which they had transformed into a hospitality center, was also ending in January, making it easier for the congregation to move to the remodeled church building on Cahalan Avenue, Yen said.

Caren Yao, 40, an architect and member of the church’s building committee for the past seven years, said in a matter of days, the church’s real estate agent contacted St. Andrew Lutheran Church officials, who sold the building to the CCIC South Valley because of their mission, nonprofit status and divine intervention.

“We’ve been serving the Almaden community for Chinese Christians during the past 12 years,” added Yao. “We were so established that they gave us a chance to raise our bid. They were so gracious that they gave us a good deal.”

Chinese Church in Christ South Valley head Pastor Rupert Hsu thanked God for the purchase of the new building that will house the two growing non-denominational congregations that had worshipped for 12 years at South Hills Community Church in Almaden. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

“This was given to us by God,” Yao said, with tears in her eyes.
“This has been a long process. This is God’s miracle.”

Centered on the Biblical reference of Haggai 2:1-9, CCIC South Valley English congregation Pastor Peter Fong read the scriptures during the Saturday dedication service which laid the foundation for Pastor and church founder Tom Chow’s sermon titled, “House of Glory.”

The scriptures inspired worshippers to be strong, reminded them that God’s spirit is with them, encouraged them to appreciate the new building and promised them God’s Spirit and peace making it a “house of glory.”

Chow, speaking Mandarin translated to English, asked the congregation several questions and said, “All the things that people are desirous (of) will come to this temple. What is it that all nations desire? Is it silver, gold, stocks, real estate… all these things men already have in a rich country… Today people who reside in Silicon Valley are millionaires and have what they want. But what is it that they (really) want?

“How can we fill this church with the glory of God?” he asked.

He then encouraged devotees to follow Jesus and practice his teachings of love and service. “When people meet Jesus the blind will see and the sorrow will turn to joy. People will come to the church and people will change from darkness to light, from children of the world to children of the spirit, from selfishness to generosity, from self centered to others centered.”

In his sermon, Chow said his vision for the church is of people rushing to join because it will be a light amid the darkness. “The Glory of God will be revealed in this place,” he said.

The mostly Mandarin service attracted nearly 300 people, including leaders from the congregations’ sister churches of Cupertino, North Valley, Mt. View and San Jose.

The Rev. Hans Wilhelm, a missionary who has been closely related to all the CCIC churches in the South Bay, encouraged worshippers to study the word of God to have Him in their midst. “God is with us,” he said. “Christ is the answer.”

The CCIC offers a Chinese-language worship service at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays and an English-language worship service at 11 a.m. For more information on the church, located at 5805 Cahalan Ave., San Jose, Calif., 95123, call (408) 365-8839 or log onto www.ccic-sv.org.