All Saints RP Church

Location: Brea, Calif.

Membership: 50 communicant; 12 baptized

Organized: 2012

Pastor: John Sawtelle

Our History

All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church began as a Bible study in Chino Hills, Calif., in spring 2005. By early 2006 we started to hold worship services in Diamond Bar, Calif., first in a hotel and then in a public school building. Just a few months after moving, our little plant was greatly encouraged by receiving into membership the Spitzer family, who lived right up the hill from the school where we worshiped. Later, John Spitzer would be installed as an elder.

Believing that the Lord was leading us south of Diamond Bar, All Saints moved to Brea in fall 2007. About this time, the Lord began adding new families and some single adults. We became particularized as a congregation in the United Reformed Churches (URC) in June 2011, but, as we grew in our understanding of worship and doctrine, we came to believe that it would be prudent to seek membership in the RPCNA. Here we could receive mutual support and encouragement of like-minded churches and more heartily participate with them in church planting and missions. By spring 2012 we were received into the Pacific Coast Presbytery, and we continue to thank the Lord for this rich blessing of being a part of the RPCNA.

Our Congregation

It has been a blessing to see the Lord growing the families of our church. We have the pleasant experience of hearing many “covenant noises” during our services, and in 2014 it looks like we will be hearing many more of these noises as several families are expecting. With all of these new children, we will soon be expanding the covenant catechism classes held on the Lord’s Day. In addition to our 62 members, we have about 10-12 regular adherents. Another interesting feature of All Saints is its rich ethnic diversity. In our small congregation we have people of Mexican, Costa Rican, Nicaraguan, Peruvian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, African American, and western European descent. In addition, we have a certified ASL interpreter signing for the numerous deaf members and adherents who worship with us each Lord’s Day. All Saints began with a vision to have a church that looked like the people in the neighborhoods around it, and over the years we have seen the Lord fulfill that wish in surprising and remarkable ways.

Our Mission

Our primary means of outreach is prayer and personal witness. We have been persuaded from the start that the most organic and fruitful way to reach our community is through personal friendships. Our members have been very diligent over the years at inviting friends and family to worship, and the Lord has thoroughly blessed those efforts. We are also working on planting churches in our area. Currently we have a group of members in Irvine who hold a Bible study that ministers exclusively to Chinese-speaking immigrants, and we hope to start worship services as soon as feasible. At the far eastern end of the L.A. basin in San Bernardino, we are in the early stages of starting a Spanish-speaking Bible study with the aim of planting a Spanish-speaking church to minister to the vast Latino population that lives in the Inland Empire.

Our Prayer Requests

• We need a facility that better suits our needs for worship. With the arrival of many new infants, we need a place where moms can take their children out of worship to nurse or quiet them.

• Pray for opportunity for our members to make more contacts within their communities so they can evangelize their neighbors.

• Pray that, as a church, we would diligently pursue a wholesome and Christ-honoring balance of doctrine and application.

• Pray for opportunities to plant more churches in the L.A. basin.