NBC 7’s Omari Fleming spoke to service program organizers who rely on the church.
While Sundays are the Lord's Day at Water's Edge Faith Community in Ocean Beach, every Monday for years, "Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry" has operated out of the church on Sunset Cliffs Blvd, feeding an increasing number of needy people.
“We do this for smiles instead of money,” explained pantry coordinator Patrick Swanner.
But now the pantry could soon need some help finding a place to distribute food. Water's Edge is shutting the doors to its sanctuary at the end of this year.
"They've let us stay there rent-free. There have been times when we've had five or six pallets dropped off randomly without us knowing, and we've asked them if we could store food in their offices, and they've let us. And so that really showed their open heart. "
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First United Methodist Church in Mission Valley is the parent church for Water's Edge. They plan to absorb the congregation into their Mission Valley location, then sell the Ocean Beach property and duplex they own next door to an affordable housing developer.
"We're going to see if we can't leave a legacy in that spot of what Christ calls us to do, serve others and to put roofs over the heads of people who need it," explained First United Methodist Church Lead Pastor, Trudy Robinson
During a meeting last month, a church task force noted several issues that led to the suggestion to sell.
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They included expensive repairs and deferred maintenance needed on the decades-old church, losing Warren Walker schools as a tenant next year at their Mission Valley campus, and a dwindling, in-person congregation since the pandemic.
"If we learned anything at all in the pandemic, it's that we don't need a building or a place to gather us anymore. We can do it in a variety of ways."
While the church looks to grow its digital footprint, the final worship services for the long-time Ocean Beach church will be on Christmas Eve.
"It's light in the darkness, right? To be able to celebrate that and then to be able to say, okay, there is hope, even in the darkness. That's really what we were wanting to convey and to begin the New Year together," said Reverend Robinson.
After being a blessing in the OB community for years, "Loaves and Fishes " is now hoping to receive a blessing, if a developer forces them to move.
"With all this uncertainty and all this change, just keep hope and keep faith that we will feed people and you can always count on us," said Swanner
Though the congregation will move by year's end, the organizations will be allowed to continue to operate, pending what a buyer decides.
