So, here’s what happened:

God begun to write our story in the mid-1970s, when Salvador Arenas traveled from the Bay Area to Hawaii to visit some family over a weeklong vacation. He witnessed how a little band of faithful Philippine immigrants united themselves into one happy church family and wondered if that faith community could be duplicated in the Bay Area. When he returned from his vacation, Salvador contacted a group of friends to discuss the mechanics of church organization and generally explore the prospect of planting a Filipino American church in the Bay Area.

At this time, Reverend Angel Taglucop got wind of the UCC’s Board for Homeland Ministries. Tapping into this ministry’s resources, he wrote a feasibility study that launched Salvador’s envisioned project in March 1979, when Northern California Conference (NCC) Minister Reverend Mineo Katigiri invited Reverend Erasto Arenas (then an Associate Minister at Cosmopolitan Church of Hawaii) surveyed the proposed area and determined the most ideal site for the prospective church.

Later in March 1979, Rev. Erasto Arenas, along with NCC Associate Conference Minister Reverend John Deckenback, met Salvador and his friends in San Francisco. During the meeting, the enthusiasm of everyone in attendance confirmed that the formation of a tight-knit Filipino American church was not only workable, but distinctly possible.

These persons were present at this exploratory meeting: Sal Arenas; Danny and Evelyn Cadelinia; Henry Calucin; Jesse and Emy Dimaya; Puring Dionida and her children, Larry, Carol, and Noel; Ben and Eppie Encabo and their daughter, Sharon; Hazel Quisumbing; and Sonny and Cely Solis. This group immediately elected Henry Calucin to be their chairperson. In August 1979, Rev. Arenas, who had returned to Hawaii to continue his work at Cosmopolitan Church, returned to the Bay Area and officially began the Filipino American church.

Through Reverend Deckenback’s recommendation, the FFAUCC congregation held its first gathering on the second Sunday of August 1979 at Saint John’s UCC in San Anselmo Street, San Bruno, where they received a warm welcome from Reverend Champ Taylor’s congregation. After nineteen months of using Saint John’s UCC facilities, the FFAUCC congregation found their own place of gathering. The FFAUCC congregation dedicated the current church building at 461 Linden Avenue, San Bruno, during their first worship service on Palm Sunday, March 29, 1981.

Those Who Were Called to Serve