GRACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
TALE OF TWO CHURCHES
The history of Grace United Methodist Church begins with the Tale of Two Churches, namely: Parkside Methodist Church and Filipino Wesley Methodist Church. The merging of these two churches gave birth to Grace United Methodist Church on June 25, 1969. PARKSIDE METHODIST CHURCH
Parkside Methodist Church, one of the two parent-churches of Grace Uni
ted Methodist Church opened its doors on November 30, 1941, about week before World War II, at 1729 Taraval Street, San Francisco. On January 23, 1944, after the war, the church moved to 2540 Taraval Street, the present location. In 1948, the membership increased to 276, while Sunday School enrollment was 400 with full compliment of administrative and teaching staff. From 1948 to 1958, a span of ten years, the church changed its ministers five times. Its membership declined rapidly. The decline was caused by social changes, which led members to move out of the community. FILIPINO WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH
The other parent-church, Filipino Wesley Methodist Church, was organized in 1918 by a small group of Filipino immigrant who, with a sense of belonging, felt a dire need for Christian fellowship. They were in a new and strange land. They met regularly for worship as they grew in numbers in spite of the fact that they had no clergy leadership for two years. Then in 1920, a Dr. Stanley was appointed to provide pastoral leadership. Inspired by the presence of their pastor, the congregation began to think of a name for their church. Eventually, they decided on the name “Filipino Fellowship Church.”
Dr. Stanley was succeeded by Rev. Palmejar, who was replaced by Rev. Worship services were held in different places until an Apartment Building at 2012-14 Pine Street was purchased. Having a much more permanent location, the congregation voted to change the name of their church from Filipino Fellowship Church to Filipino Community Church. Amadeo Fayloga was appointed pastor of the Filipino Community Church. He led the congregation in remodeling the newly acquired property. About this time, the congregation decided to change again the church’s name to Filipino Wesley Methodist Church. The remodeling project was never completed due to the sudden death of Rev. Fayloga. In 1967, Rev. Leonard Autajay was appointed pastor of Wesley Methodist Church. Parkside had a church building at 2540 Taraval. But it had only a handful of remaining members. Wesley on the other hand had a building, which was not good enough for a growing congregation. So on June 25, 1969, the two churches merged to give birth to Grace United Methodist Church at 2540 Taraval Street. Rev, Leonard Autajay became the First Pastor. He served for the next ten consecutive years. In 1979, he was replaced by Rev. Juan Ancheta who served for two conference years, 1979-1980, 1980-1981. Arturo D. Capuli was appointed on July 1, 1981 and reappointed yearly thereafter until he retired on June 30, 2003. By local arrangement, Assistants to the Pastor served one after the other namely: Rev. Benjamin Soriano (deceased), Rev. Nathaniel Cortez (deceased), Rev. Odon Agustin, and Rev. Florentino Caole, Jr. There were also students from Pacific School of Religion who served as Intern Pastors: Ruth Panganiban and Ruth O. Cortez. Grace employed full-time deaconesses to serve as Education and Nurture Directors: Ellen R. Dizon and Miriam G. Baluyot. Professional Musicians have served as Choir Directors and Organist/Pianist: Grace S. Mallare Clarence Satuito, Brian Mark, Beverly Serafica, and now, Xing Wang. Other Religious Workers employed: Julius Abundo and now, Jessica Manuel. On June 4, 1999 Grace United Methodist Church at 2540 Taraval St., S.F., Ca. 94116 and St. Francis United Methodist Church at 3601 Noriega St., S.F., Ca. 94122, merged, combining their membership, leadership, assets, liabilities, and resulting into one congregation. St. Francis United Methodist Church became St. Francis Chapel. Members and constituents of the merged congregations now have the opportunity to worship
on Sundays at Grace at 11:00 A.M. and Vesper
Service at 4:30 P.M. (except the 1st). In the year 2001, long delayed maintenance and repair work on the buildings at Taraval and Noriega Streets were begun and completed in 2002. New windows and doors, new fences and repainting of interior and exterior part of the buildings were done. A new handicap elevator was also installed. This was led by the Board of Trustees with its Chair, Willie B. Ampon. On July 1, 2003, Rev. was appointed as Grace UMC’s Interim Pastor by the Rev. Jane Schlager, District Superintendent until June 30, 2004. In the year of Rev. Caole as Church Administrator, the construction of the Parsonage at Noriega Street was accomplished together with Church Council Members. Josue L. Florendo was appointed on July 1, 2004 as Resident Pastor of Grace UMC until June 30, 2007. Reynaldo F. Letana was appointed on July 1, 2007 until June 30, 2011 as Minister of Grace UMC. Now, Rev. John D. Current, Sr. is the Interim Pastor since July 1, 2011. GRACE TODAY
At the start of the new millennium, Grace UMC adopted as its theme “Making Disciples for the New Millennium”. The theme itself poses a challenge to everyone. In accepting the challenge, we, by the grace of God, have made a commitment to express our faith in the ways we care for one another and serve others not only within our Bay Area Community by reaching out and bringing the Good news of Christ’s love in words and deeds, and inviting people to become Christ’s disciples and members of Christ’s Church at Grace. Through prayer, visitation, church School for all ages, confirmation class, Sunday morning Worship Service, Mid-week Bible Study, Adult’s Refresher’s Class, Cell Group Meetings, UMMen/UMWomen Discipleship Study, UMMen and UMWomen Joint Breakfast Meeting, Children/Youth/Adults’ Breakfast Fellowship, Bible Study, Music Ministry, Choir Practice, Visitation & Caring Ministry. We continue to grow in a closer relationship, with God and caring relationship with one another. We have our weekly Worship Bulletin, Grace Notes, most of the time with different inserts of good news. We continue to make the facilities at Grace and St. Francis available to other churches, groups and community organizations for office, education, worship, and fellowship. We continue to extend a cordial invitation to you to join us for worship and fellowship, and we assure you that it will be a mutually rewarding and enjoyable experience. YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!
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TALE OF TWO CHURCHES
The history of Grace United Methodist Church begins with the Tale of Two Churches, namely: Parkside Methodist Church and Filipino Wesley Methodist Church. PARKSIDE METHODIST CHURCH
Parkside Methodist Church, one of the two parent churches of Grace UMC, opened its doors on November 30, 1941, about a week before World War II, at 1729 Taraval Street, San Francisco. In 1948, membership increased to 276, while Sunday School enrolment was 400 with a full complement of administrative and teaching staff. FILIPINO WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH
The other parent church, Filipino Wesley Methodist Church, was organized in 1918 by a small group of Filipino immigrants, who with a sense of belonging felt a dire need for Christian Fellowship. Then in 1920, one Dr. Stanley was appointed to provide pastoral leadership. Eventually, they decided on the name Filipino Fellowship Church. Palmejar, who was in turn replaced by Rev. Armie Obien, succeeded Dr. Stanley. Worship services were held in different places until an apartment building at 2012-14 Pine Street was purchased. Having a permanent location, the congregation voted to change the name of their church from Filipino Fellowship Church to Filipino Community Church. Amado Fayloga was appointed pastor of the Filipino Community Church. Leonard Autajay was appointed pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church. THE MERGER
Parkside had a church building at 2540 Taraval but only had a handful of remaining members. Wesley on the other hand had a building that was not good enough for a growing congregation. Leonard Autajay became the first pastor. In 1979, Rev. Juan Ancheta who served for two years replaced him. In 1981, Rev. Capuli was appointed pastor of Grace United Methodist Church. He was reappointed yearly thereafter until his retirement in July 2003. He served Grace UMC for 22 consecutive years. Florentino Caole Jr. who is assigned as Interim Pastor for one year succeeds him. By local arrangement, assistants to the pastor served one after the other namely: Rev. Florentino Caole. Grace employed full-time deaconesses to serve as Education and Nurture Directors. We had Ellen Dizon and at present Miriam Baluyot. Professional musicians have served as Choir/Music Directors, with Grace S. Mallare as the most recent. She still is Grace’s Choir Director and Pianist. On June 4, 1999 Grace UMC and St. Francis UMC at 3601 Noriega merged, combining their membership, leadership, assets and liabilities, with Grace UMC as the surviving congregation. Francis UMC became St. With the merger, members and constituents of the two congregation now have the opportunity to worship on Sunday mornings at Grace UMC at 11:00 a.m. and Vesper service at St. Francis Chapel at 5:00 p.m. In the year 2001, long delayed maintenance and repair work begun on the buildings at Taraval and Noriega Streets. New windows and doors, new fences and repainting of interior and exterior parts of the building are in progress. GRACE TODAY
At the start of the new millennium, Grace UMC adopted for its theme “Making Disciples for the New Millennium”. In accepting the challenge, we, by the grace of God, have made a commitment to express our faith in the ways we care for one another and serve others not only within our Bay area community by reaching out and bringing out the Good News of Christ’s love in words and in deeds, and inviting people to become Christ’s disciples and members of Christ’s church at Grace. Through prayer, visitation, church school for all ages, confirmation class, Sunday morning worship and afternoon Vesper service, Mid-week Bible Study, Adults’ Refresher Class, Cell Group Meetings, UMMen and UMWomen Fellowship, Youth Ministry and Music Ministry, we continue to grow in a closer relationship with God and caring relationship with one another.
