First Evangelical Church

First Evangelical Church (FEC)

First Evangelical Church (FEC) began on October 10, 1965 as an Amoy-speaking home service held at the residence of our founding Pastor, Rev. George Chua. Eleven months later, Rev. Chua returned to the Philippines and Rev. Eddie Lo came on board to continue the ministry. By August of 1967, attendance outgrew the seating and standing capacity of his recently enlarged living room, so the group moved to a newly purchased church on Fargo Street in the Silver Lake area.

The "new" home was dedicated on our second anniversary, October 8, 1967. At the time, the services alternated between Mandarin and Taiwanese with translation into English. In October 1970, with tremendous growth, the Taiwanese congregation formed the Evangelical Formosan Church (EFC) and departed from FEC to start their own ministry.

FEC continued to grow and purchased our current Glendale churchsite in November 1973. On December 9, 1973, the first worship service was held in Glendale, and this home was dedicated on March 10, 1974.

By November 1974, an English-only worship service was started and soon thereafter a Mandarin-only service was initiated. The Cantonese service was introduced in 1981 at the same time as the groundbreaking for the construction of the present sanctuary, which was completed the following year.

This sanctuary was dedicated on October 10, 1982 and the previous sanctuary was converted into what is known today as our Christian Education Building. The preschool and elementary Sunday School classes are held there along with the Youth Worship Service, which meet in the Auxiliary Chapel.

With God's blessing, FEC branched out into the San Gabriel Valley (SGV) in 1985, Cerritos in 1988, and Diamond Bar in 1999. Today, these sister churches are self-supporting and doing well. In 2001, FEC Glendale planted a new church in Arcadia with services in Cantonese, Mandarin and English adults and youth. Demolition of three adjoining houses in the back for construction of a new children's center in Glendale will begin in 2002.

In January 1997, the First Evangelical Church Association (FECA) was formed, with the purpose of furthering the work of church planting and missions work. To date, this includes churches in Taiwan, St. Petersburg, Russia, and extensive work in India.

FEC is looking to expand ministry in the coming years.Fact|date=June 2008