In the summer of 1995, First Christian Church, Whittier marked 100 years of meeting together as a body. The centennial was celebrated with several activities all with the theme "Catch the Spirit of Our 2nd Century", with the idea that we were moving forward in our mission to spread God's love in our community and in our world.
In 1895, a group of 22, met in a classroom on the 2nd floor of the old Jonathan Bailey schoolhouse, which was located on Pickering St. The congregation was led by 2 of its members, for its early years. One was a rancher, and the other worked in a packing house. The first paid minister was R.H. Bateman, who began his ministry in 1898, the year the church was incorporated, at a salary of 50 dollars per month.
After a stint of meeting in the Lindley Building, the church was able to buy land and build a church on the corner of Philadelphia and Pickering Sts. The small church grew, offering a variety of activities along with its Sunday services, including Sunday Schools, adult retreats, choirs, and youth groups. By 1918 the church had grown to over 500.
In 1923, under the leadership of the current minister, George Elder, with many members of the church, contracted out work to construct the building in which we now meet. On February 23, 1923, the building was dedicated upon its completion at a cost of 150,000 dollars.
The church continued to grow in numbers, peaking at around 700 when WWII was concluded. The Sunday School program was extremely popular, and the number of children who participated, neccesitated the construction of a new Youth Building. It was built and dedicated in 1954. A Childrens Building was constructed alongside it in 1959.
Throughout the 100+ years of its existance, First Christian Church, Whittier has sought to strengthen the faith of its members, and reach out to its community. The list of what the members of this church have been able to accomplish through their faith is too numerous to recount. Some examples would include our Vacation Bible School, the homeless shelter ministry, Skate a thon, Unity Walk, paper recycling, Last Supper re enactments, Christmas Family night, paper recycling, and Easter work camps. The church has provided facilities for the Whittier Head Start program, STRIDE, Plaza de la Raza, Laubach Literacy, , and the Women/Children Crisis center.
In the 1990's the Stephens Ministry was begun, which trained persons as Stephens ministers, to help in times of crisis. The mid 1990's saw our Water Stop/Baby Change Station ministry during the Uptown Festival. We recently began a tutoring program for students from Lincoln School. As the 21st century begins First Christian Church, Whittier looks to the future to continue to be a dynamic institution dedicated to bringing God's word to it's community, and world.