Bethlehem Church Pasadena Hosts Saturday Festival to Celebrate 67 Years of Service

Northwest’s Pasadena’s own Bethlehem Church is ringing in its 67th year in the city by throwing a community festival Saturday to provide fun for the entire family and to bring people together through delicious food, music, ZUMBA classes and much more for anyone and everyone to enjoy.

“It’s our church’s sixty seventh anniversary and we want to impact our community. This is a major thing for me in a time where there seems to be so much separation of church and community. What we wanted to do was to create an environment of fellowship and community and just make every culture and every ethnicity feel comfortable and feel welcome,” said Bethlehem Church Pasadena Pastor Chris Bourne.

Nearly seven decades of service to the Pasadena community is a legacy that Bourne is proud to be a part of since coming on board as the church’s pastor since 2002.

“This is home for me. One of the things we try to exemplify to everyone is ‘welcome home’. We want to provide that safe environment. It’s been that to me and my family. It’s been a safe haven for many. To me, it provides a wholeness for every human being,” said Bourne who was a church member before he became its pastor.

The Bethlehem Church is active in various programs of community outreach including tending to youth, troubled teens, homelessness, job programs, tutoring, single mothers, seniors and more.

“Anything we can possibly think of we’ve been trying to do that, not only for our membership, but for our community,” said Bourne about the church’s active efforts in giving back to the community.
A longstanding program the Bethlehem Church provides is feeding the homeless every first Saturday of the month for six months total from October to March every year. Additional programs include providing literacy services to the youth as well as hosting free health fairs for families to receive complimentary medical screenings.

“It’s my hope that we will be able to positively impact our community so that we’re able to provide job and career opportunities, healthcare opportunities and ultimately provide something for our young children. I think down the line we will be able to grow in education,” said Bourne about his vision for the church’s future.

Bourne is dedicated to serving the neighborhood around the 1500 block of N. Fair Oaks Ave where the church is located by providing a safe haven for anyone in need.

“We’re here in Northwest Pasadena and I think this church is needed because right here where there seems to be hopelessness and a lot of gang activities, we can provide something other than what the norm is that stems from community and a hostile environment. We try to provide hope and resources to help people, not only in their spiritual walk, but day to day,” explained Bourne.

The Bethlehem Church Pasadena community festival will feature a video game truck provided by “Thrills On Wheels”, a free ZUMBA class, volleyball, give-aways, and various food trucks.

Festivities will kick off on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on church grounds located at 1550 N. Fair Oaks Ave.

For more information, visit http://www.bethlehemchurchpasadena.org/.