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First
Evangelical Church (FEC) began on October 10,
1965 as an Amoy-speaking home service held at
the residence of our
founding Pastor, Rev. George Chua. Eleven months
later, Rev.
Chua returned to the Philippines and Rev. Eddie
Lo came on board to continue the ministry. By
August of 1967, attendance outgrew the seating
and standing capacity of his recently enlarged
living room, so we moved to a newly purchased
church on Fargo Street in the Silver Lake area.
The
"new" home was dedicated on our second
anniversary, October 8, 1967. At the time, the
services alternated between Mandarin and Taiwanese
with translation into English. In October 1970,
with tremendous growth, the Taiwanese congregation
formed the Evangelical Formosan Church (FEC) and
departed from FEC to start their own ministry.
We
continued to grow and purchased our current Glendale
churchsite in November 1973. On December 9, 1973,
the first worship service was held in Glendale,
and this home was dedicated on March 10, 1974.
By
November 1974, an English-only worship service
was started and soon thereafter a Mandarin-only
service was initiated. The Cantonese service was
introduced in 1981 at the same time as the groundbreaking
for the construction of the present sanctuary,
which was completed the following year.
This
sanctuary was dedicated on October 10, 1982 and
the previous sanctuary was converted into what
we know today as our Christian Education Building.
The preschool and elementary Sunday School classes
are held there along with the Youth Worship Service,
which meet in the Auxiliary Chapel.
With
God's blessing, we branched out into the San Gabriel
Valley (SGV) in 1965, Cerritos in 1988, and Diamond
Bar in 1999. Today, these sister churches are
self-supporting and doing well. In 2001, FEC Glendale
planted a new church in Arcadia with services
in Cantonese, Mandarin and English adults and
youth. Demolition of three adjoining houses in
the back for construction of a new children's
center in Glendale will begin in 2002.
In
January 1997, the First Evangelical Church Association
(FECA) was formed, with the purpose of furthering
the work of church planting and missions work.
To date, this includes churches in Taiwan, St.
Petersburg, Russia, and extensive work in India.
We are looking to expand our ministry in the coming
years.
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