Congregation Spotlight: Revive Covenant Church

This week’s congregation spotlight highlights another one of our host congregations, Revive Covenant Church, located in Orange, California. We are very thankful to work with this wonderful congregation. The community of this congregation is led by Bryan Johnson and his wife, Katie Johnson. Bryan serves as Head Pastor, and Katie serves as Coordinator for the Family Promise ministry.

Pastor Johnson is extremely passionate about teaching others about God’s truth and attempts to live out these beliefs in his daily life at home and at the church. Overall, Revive Covenant Church focuses on Scripture passages that teach the messages of God and Jesus Christ. They value the importance of love and strive to demonstrate these beliefs in their everyday lives.

Revive has been a longtime partner of Family Promise. Katie was involved in Family Promise in LA County prior to moving to Orange County. Revive has been such a strong supporter of our program. They have hosted our families quarterly on their campus, providing warm meals and safe shelter. Last year when the congregational rotation was shut down due to the pandemic, Revive supported our families in a different way by providing gas and grocery gift cards to help supplement the lost income many of our families faced. We are so grateful for their partnership!

Housing Is Not Affordable!

Being able to afford safe and healthy housing for families has been a continuous problem over the past few decades; however, the problem only seems to be getting worse. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people all over the country lost jobs and suffered financial instability, causing housing to become a major issue as well.

As housing prices continue to increase every year, the minimum wage that workers earn does not increase fast enough in order to accommodate the housing prices. In a report conducted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “A renter in search of a modest two-bedroom home, who is seeking to stay within the 30% income window, needs to earn $24.90 per hour, the study says” (Source: npr.org). This dollar amount is over 3 times higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, which shows how unrealistic and difficult finding and maintaining affordable housing is for people across the U.S.

When looking specifically at California and the Orange County area, the minimum wage is $14.00 per hour. In the National Low Income Housing Coalition report, it was concluded that workers who earn minimum wage here in Orange County would have to work a minimum of 89 hours per week in order to afford and pay rent for a one-bedroom apartment. These conditions show the severity of the housing crisis in our community.

Congregation Spotlight: Aldersgate United Methodist Church Tustin

Aldersgate United Methodist Church, located in Tustin, California, has been a “Spiritual Home for All'' in Orange County for more than 50 years: children, youth, young adults, adults, families – people of all ages connecting through Christ. The church welcomes all people to come learn about and celebrate the teachings of God and Jesus Christ. The congregation is led spiritually by Senior Pastor, Reverend Kenneth K. Suhr, and Teaching Pastor, Reverend Tim Ellington.

The Family Promise host congregation ministry at Aldersgate is helmed by Coordinator Dave Kendall. Dave works alongside a great group of men who have volunteered their time to maintain this amazing partnership and make a difference in the lives of local families. Aldersgate currently hosts our families four times a year, providing shelter and meals for them as they work towards their own stability and self-reliance. Because of the wonderful partnership and support of Aldersgate UMC Tustin, Family Promise has also been able to host events on the congregation’s campus, such as the Chili Cookoff fundraiser event in 2019.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aldersgate was able to take our partnership even further to make an impact in the local community. Due to the pandemic, the Family Promise shower trailer that was usually used by our families in the Emergency Shelter program was out of commission. Aldersgate was able to connect us with their frequent partner church across the street, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tustin, and Family Promise was able to lend them the shower trailer in order for them to be able to provide showers for individuals attending St. Paul’s longstanding Sunday Supper ministry. The collaboration and partnership between Aldersgate United Methodist Church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Family Promise of Orange County has truly blessed many in the Tustin community who have needed help in a very difficult time.

Thank you, Aldersgate, for your continued support and leadership for both the families in our program, and the Tustin community!