By Dianne Anderson

Unlike other brand new developments where the community is invited to come and look – but don’t touch, congregants of New Hope Presbyterian Church recently packed their house in celebration by painting their names on the walls and the floors of freshly laid concrete.

It’s a memory that won’t fade anytime soon.

Rev. Chineta Goodjoin said their handwritten spirited blessings of hope will remain there forever, even if it is under the carpets and walls of limestone rock.

“Their messages will be held under that rock for as long as that church is up. The church is like we created a time capsule of faith,” she said. “It was exciting to me.”

Since the church’s recent move, she said that every aspect of their new property in Anaheim has turned out to be over and above all that they could have imagined or asked for. But before long, they realized they needed to raise extra funding to cover all the additional construction costs that had soared with inflation, not counting all the other essentials.

“We still needed [items] in the building of the church and the furnishings. We wanted to raise $50,000 but we raised $126,000 instead,” she said.

The decision to build their new church home came when they connected with another church that was on the brink of closing down. Their membership had declined and dwindled to only eight members.

She said they went to talk with leaders at St. Paul Presbyterian Church, who was ready to negotiate on ways to merge because they knew that they were on the verge of dissolving. Out of those conversations, she said they agreed to negotiate the merger.

New Hope is now in the process of finishing up five new buildings on their four-acre lot located at 2580 W. Orange Ave in Anaheim.

“We’re building a whole new church,” she said. “We were so thankful to St. Paul Presbyterian Church.”

In the first phase this time last year, they completed with the administration building, followed by work on the fellowship hall and the kitchen. They are currently in the third stage of building the sanctuary itself and the music studio with two phases to follow.

In the meantime, she said they are also keeping their main programming going while continuing building the church, and building the community.

They’ve started their music program back up, and the violin studio is going strong. They have been working it out, along with several other projects now in the third stage of construction.

That Music Enrichment Program is directed by her husband Reggie Goodjoin, who is reaching many under-served students with scholarships for string lessons. The program has hosted several top names within the music industry, including acclaimed vocalists, Alva Copeland and Kathryn Bailey Cunningham. Rhythm guitarist Yohei Nakamura, the lead guitarist with Chaka Khan and Stevie Wonder, Donald Hayes who worked with Beyonce, among many popular others.

Now that they’re getting established at the new location, she said there is also a new found freedom of having their own space to provide services for the community.

“That happens when you can say something belongs to you and you can do God’s work in it,” she said. “We feel like God is allowing us to make a difference in people’s lives.”

Through the redevelopment, they are also engaged in massive food distribution, and have set up, delivered and distributed 26,000 meals.

“There’s chicken and potatoes and green beans, in this pandemic and in this time of food insecurity,” she said, adding that their partnership with Pizza Hut, Chick-fil-A, Krispy Kreme.

“They bring us food every week, and every week we pass it out. It’s going straight to the community.”

She said the church that was previously on the property was in total disrepair, but they have redeveloped the whole property, and are expecting the sanctuary should be complete by Easter.

“That’s the plan. What I thank God about is that New Hope is putting a lot of energy into restoring the church, but we’re putting more energy into restoring the community and feeding the people,” she said.

To contribute online, see www.MyNewHopePres.org