The California-Pacific Conference’s vision: Ending Spiritual and Physical Hunger resonates and inspires the laity and clergy of our area to give, lead, and serve in new and exciting ways. Each week we will share a video from one of our churches that is living into the vision. Many of the examples and expressions of grace, connection, and service have been realized and grown exponentially during the pandemic and subsequent seasons.  

This week we feature Santa Ana United Methodist Church in Santa Ana, California. You are invited to share this video with your congregation, study group, and broader network. Consider how your ministry might further express and move toward the vision. 

The Santa Ana UMC is the result of a merger of three United Methodist congregations in Santa Ana, California (First, Grand Avenue, and Spurgeon). After several years of discernment about the future of the congregation, the leaders turned their attention from the Church to the City. They began to envision and inquire about the needs of the City of Santa Ana and the church’s grossly underutilized properties. The need for affordable and sustainable housing was a need the congregation agreed it could meet if they could garner the right development partners and support of city officials. The result of their hard work, persistence and faith in a future led them to develop Legacy Square.