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God's Leading So Far
In 1923, a group of
Japanese speaking Christians began to meet, shepherded by Dr. Adolphus Sturge,
M.D. They established the Japanese Independent Union Church of San Mateo in
1925 and met at the Congregational Church of San Mateo.
When Dr. Sturge passed
away in 1934, he left his San Mateo home on Elm Street to the Japanese Church.
The house was later sold and the proceeds were used to purchase two lots and a
house in 1938 at the present site. The house was named the Sturge Memorial
Cottage and the members met there for worship and fellowship. Clergy from San
Francisco were invited to minister and preach the Word of God.
While people of Japanese
ancestry were relocated and interned during World War II, the Sturge Memorial
Cottage was used to store personal belongings of church members. When the
Japanese returned to San Mateo from the War Relocation Centers in 1945, the
Cottage was made available as a hostel to the returning evacuees.
After the war,
Presbyterian ministers, Revs. Eiji Kawamorita and Howard Toriumi, and others
helped to reestablish the church. On July 1, 1951, the Japanese Independent
Union Church of San Mateo became a member of the Presbyterian Church, USA. It
retained the Sturge name in memory of Dr. Sturge and his missionary work among
Japanese immigrants.
Abraham Hajime Dohi was
the first pastor for the Sturge Presbyterian Church. He served for thirteen
years. He was followed by Revs. Thomas Woodbury Grubbs, Minoru Mochizuki, Kent
Ikeda, and Thomas Umholts.
Reverend Gerald Chinen was called to serve in
December 1989, and he served for eleven years. With the growth and
changes in the composition of the congregation during Rev. Chinen's
ministry, a mission study was conducted in 1995. We have evolved into a
multi-ethnic/multi-cultural church body with many young families.
Pastor Leslie Yee was called to serve as Pastoral Associate for Family
Ministry in 1996, and he served until August 2000.
Dr. Margo Houts
served as our interim pastor from late 2001 until January 2004.
Reverend Garrett Yamada served as senior pastor from February 2004 until
July 2009. During this time, the church has grown in reaching out to
others and serving in the community.
Reverend Paul Lee
joined our church as a Designated Pastor since July 5, 2010. We
are blessed to have him and looking forward to the new beginning.
Besides the English speaking ministry, the
needs of the Japanese speaking members have been served by Revs. Dohi,
Grubbs, Kiyoshi Ishihara, Kazuo Masuno, Ken Saito, and Sumio Koga. Rev.
Taku Kusakabe was called in November 1995 and ordained at Sturge Church
in January 1996. He served until September 2002. Since December 2005,
Reverend David Hosomi
has
been ministering to the Japanese speaking congregation. |
