Church of the Month
Pasadena domani Church
the regular Sunday school rolls. Fifty per cent of the babies enrolled eventually find their way to the Sunday school. i The youth department consists of five groups be ginning with a Jr. League (ages 9-11), a Hi League (ages 12-14), a Senior Hi League (ages 15-18) and a Covenant Youth Fellowship for college age. The Courier Class has a strong social program for the 25-35 age group. A full-time youth director plus a corps of trained workers are on the church staff. Recently a week end was spent in concentrated effort to analyze future goals and programs. Older folks have a real part in this church. There is a solid adult department in the Sunday school and a men’s fellowship and a women’s missionary group. Hospitality is part of the over-all program. A plan has been adopted which divides the church constituency into thirteen geographical and membership areas. Meetings are held in each district once a month. Evidence of the missionary vision is seen in the sup port of five full-time foreign missionaries. The church also cooperates in inter-denominational and city-wide evangelistic movements. A Swedish immigrant boy came to America. He was 8 years old at the time. Los Angeles became his new home. He graduated from B iola in 1939 and two days later was married. His bride was a native Califor nian, daughter of Rev. C. J. Ledin, Covenant minister for 50 years. A ll this is part of the life of Arvid Carlson, now pastor of the Mission Covenant Church of Pasadena. Education followed in ’39 at Los Angeles Pacific Col lege and at North Park Seminary in Chicago. After a period of pastorates and evangelistic work he assumed duties in Pasadena in November 1946. Today the mem bership has increased about 75 per cent. As well as his many responsibilities as pastor of this growing church, Carlson is active in other evangelistic work. He was chairman of the southwest regional board of the National Association of Evangelicals and has served on its national board. He has been on the tem porary faculty of Fuller Seminary for two years. He spends much time speaking to nearby campus Christian clubs and has spoken in nearly every major Youth for Christ rally from Los Angeles to Seattle. He and his wife, Linnea, are happy parents of Linda Arline, 11, and Pamela Gail, 6. Latest addition is Charles Frederick, born March 29,1953. A Native of Sweden, Pastor Carlson has been at Pasadena church seven years.
I laith and vision are responsible for the growth of Pasa- |dena and also the growth of the Mission Covenant . Church in that city. The church was started in 1922 when a band of believers met for worship and Bible study. Today the membership totals 400 and that of the Sunday school is 500. A glance at the origin and spiritual heritage of this denomination may be of interest. This church is a part of a national organization whose birth is traced to the revivals which moved across Scandinavia in the 1850’s. Its present constituency in America is 52,000 members. Returning to the physical aspects of the local church — the present sanctuary was completed in 1947 at a cost of over $100,000 and a Sunday school unit was added in 1949. The superstructure for this unit was erected in one day by a crew of 40 men — all members of the church. In 1951 a parsonage was completed. Also a branch church in Monrovia was erected. Most of the labor on these projects was donated by the artisans within the church. “ Teamwork for the Lord” best sums up the spirit of these folks, many of whom are Swedish- American Christians, but people from many other na tionalities form the membership as well. The church has carried on a very extensive visitation and cradle roll program. This department now has 250 families on the roll. A unique idea is to send out post cards on the basis of the vital statistics columns in local papers and then follow these up with personal calls. Then an invitation is given to attend the Mother’s class.
These meetings are held one night a month and the average attendance is 50. Teaching material consists of child study and a brief Bible lesson. A buzz session and social hour follows, and twice a year the fathers are invited to attend. After the child is four, he is automatically placed on
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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