OUR BACKGROUND

OUR LOCAL CHURCH HISTORY

In the beginning was an exciting time. It was 1955 and the building boom was on. It was the ideal time and place for a new church development project in Hayward. Under the leadership of Rev. Harvey Robinson, the new congregation soon outgrew the little rented house on Patrick Avenue and expanded into the property next door. Sunday church school was bursting at the seams and new faces appeared at every service. It was an exciting time indeed.

In the fall of 1957 the San Francisco Presbytery provided the land, the money and the encouragement; a modest church building with the manse next door was dedicated on May 19, 1959. An ordinary sort of beginning for an ordinary congregation with the usual dreams and expectations. It was projected that, under the leadership of the new pastor, Rev. O’Linn McGuire, Westminster would become a congregation of 500 members with a capital fund in place to build the new sanctuary.

Around the church, things were changing. Almost unnoticed at first, a new time was beginning. Human rights . . . housing rights. . . minority rights. Who is our brother, our sister? Sermons were preached. . . Stands were taken. Some people went away. High density apartment units were quickly built to house families. The community became a developer’s dream but a resident’s nightmare. Some people went away. New people came – with different faces, different names. Suburbia began to urbanize. The congregation shrank and so did the funds to pay the mortgage. The call for a new pastor went unanswered for over a year.

When Rev. Gregg Micheaels arrived, he found a handful of folk trying to keep the doors open and the utilities paid. It was a painful place to be. A new vision was needed.

An idea began to take shape. Perhaps ministry to the community – not just the congregation – was the road this church needed to take. And there were others who shared that notion – a small Methodist church and an even smaller United Church of Christ church. Together with Westminster, they became the South Hayward Parish and took on a social ministry that provided a voice for the voiceless folk of the community – raising issues of need before those who had the power and resources to provide solution.

In May, 1976, Westminster merged with another small and like-minded Presbyterian congregation to become Westminster Hills Presbyterian Church. The community social service ministry continued. The South Hayward Parish grew to include several churches that provide these services. Gregg Micheaels eventually retired after twenty years with the congregation. Finding his successor was not an easy task. However, two years later, in 1993 Rev. John Wichman arrived.

Under John’s creative leadership the congregation has grown. In 1997, Westminster Hills became a More Light Church , re-affirming the mission of the servant congregation to those who have suffered exclusion.

- Betty DeForest