When the South Central Los Angeles Spanish church planned to plant a new group 10 years ago, serving the community was high on its list of priorities. At the time, Pastor Carlos Ramirez was the pastor of the Central Spanish Church, which parented the new congregation. (Ramirez currently pastors the San Fernando Spanish Church.)

“The group had rented buildings,” said Ramirez, “and members wanted to establish a church and have their own building. They found adjacent buildings in South Central L. A. that were vacant, separated by space suitable for parking. We learned that one building belonged to the Mid City Adventist African-American Church which had left the area to join with the Los Angeles Central City Church.

‘We had been able to buy the first building and then negotiated with the Adventist owners for their sanctuary. Long vacant, it had been vandalized and burned, requiring extensive renovation,” he said.

Attendance in the South Central Los Angeles Spanish Church, which organized at the end of 2004, is now 150. Its many youth and children worship on the small building’s second floor, leaving the first-floor sanctuary for adults while renovation of the second, larger building is underway.

According to Pastor Ricardo Lopez, “We have a food bank for the community and we are planning to offer tutoring, GED, computer training and ESL programs when renovations are complete.” The extensive renovation and rebuilding program will include a 450-seat sanctuary that will eventually replace the smaller building.

Said Lopez, “Though we are located at a busy major intersection in the area, we could be discouraged by the amount of work still to be done. We have willing volunteers for the work—the only thing we lack right now is money, but we know that the Lord knows our needs and challenges.” The location of the South Central Los Angeles Spanish Church is 976 East Jefferson Boulevard (323-232-7762.)