Loomis, California, sits in the rolling foothill country of Placer County, just east of Roseville and a short drive from Sacramento. On ten acres at the corner of Brace and Barton Roads, the First United Methodist Church of Loomis carries forward one of the oldest continuous congregations in the region - and one of the most community-rooted. Founded in 1903 by Japanese immigrant farmers, and formally recognized in 1911 as the Loomis Japanese Methodist Episcopal Church, the church still worships on land its founders purchased in 1913. Today FUMCL (as the church calls itself) is a Reconciling Congregation known across the Loomis Basin for the Loomis Food Pantry, the on-campus Senior LIFE Center, summer mission trips for youth, and a heritage of welcome that reaches every corner of Placer County.
A church begun by the Issei generation
The Christian faith of a small group of immigrant farmers from Japan brought them together in December 1903 to form a Bible Study and Prayer Group in Loomis. The four founders - Komataro and Naka Sugasawa, Kanematsu Igarashi, and Shinzo Sakuma - had each arrived in the area by way of sugar plantations in Hawaii and work in California orchards. Because the social, economic, and political climate of the time was not supportive of this immigrant population, they were forced to look inward and support one another. Their numbers grew as more immigrants joined them, and they saved to buy farms, brought over their wives and families, and expanded their little fellowship.
They met in the old Guild Hall in Loomis, and in 1911 the fellowship was officially recognized as the Loomis Japanese Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1913, about fifteen families belonged to the congregation. With money raised from the surrounding community, the church purchased ten acres at the corner of what is now Brace and Barton Roads. A chapel and parsonage were finished in 1916. Members planted a vineyard and strawberry farm on the property and tended it in their free time to provide operating funds - a chapter in the church's story that lives on in the names of the Issei Memorial Hall and the Issei and Nisei gardens that grace the grounds today.
The years the doors were sealed
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the federal government ordered all persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast into internment camps. In early May 1942, families from Loomis were processed at the Loomis Grammar School before being sent first to the Arboga Assembly Center near Marysville and then to the Tule Lake Relocation Center on the California-Oregon border. Several young men from the Loomis Japanese community volunteered for the U.S. military; at least three - Corporal Walter W. Sakamoto and Private George Yonehiro of Loomis and Sergeant Yoshito Miyamura of Penryn - earned the Combat Infantryman Badge in 1945 for action with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team in the Vosges Mountains of France.
From May 1942 until the end of the war, the church doors were shut. When families returned to Loomis in 1945 and 1946, the church re-opened and members began rebuilding in a sometimes hostile environment. Volunteers built an educational unit in 1953 - later named Kuwano Hall in memory of the beloved Susumu Kuwano - and brought on the first English-speaking pastor in 1957. The congregation was renamed the First United Methodist Church of Loomis in 1954. A second cornerstone was placed alongside the original 1916 cornerstone in 1975, and the Nisei Fellowship Hall was completed in 1988 to provide space for church meals, community events, and a long-running program for local seniors.
In 2003 the church commissioned a video called "100 Years in the Spirit" to mark its centennial; interviews with Nisei members and a narrated history of the congregation preserve the story for future generations.
Sunday mornings at 9:30
The church gathers for a single Sunday worship service at 9:30 a.m. The atmosphere is described as casual and spirit-centered, with inspirational preaching and uplifting music that is led either by the Celebration Music Team or, on alternating Sundays, by the Chancel Choir. The service includes congregational singing, prayer, scripture, and a sermon that draws on biblical perspective and learned insight. The Celebration Music Team rehearses on alternate Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., and the Chancel Choir rehearses on alternate Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Anyone who loves to sing is welcome to join either group.
The service is live streamed on the church's YouTube channel starting at 9:30 a.m. every Sunday, and a recorded copy is posted shortly after the service ends. A long archive of past services - including Christmas Eve, Holy Week, Easter, Thanksgiving, and summer series - remains available on the same channel.
Children, youth, and a week with the Sierra Service Project
Children of all ages are welcome in worship, and a staffed nursery, with caregivers who are CPR and First Aid certified, is offered during the 9:30 service. During that same hour, children in Pre-K through third grade gather for Godly Play, a Montessori-style storytelling approach that introduces the presence of Christ through sacred stories and wondering. Upper elementary and middle schoolers meet in their own classroom for Faith Exploration, learning what it means to follow Jesus through Bible study, service projects, and occasional visits to other houses of worship.
Middle and high school youth are woven into the life of the church as worship leaders, retreat-goers, and volunteers. Each summer, students entering 6th through 12th grade spend a week with the Sierra Service Project, doing construction and repairs on homes for Native American families on reservations in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona, and in urban neighborhoods in San Diego, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. The trip is described by the church as "a service project that builds faith, character, and friendships through hard work and reflection." Melanie Oliver, the Deacon of Christian Education, oversees children's and youth ministry and serves as the contact for the program.
Younger children have their own multi-day summer experience called Kids Camp - a three-day program from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for preschool through fifth grade, with classes ranging from dance to woodworking and sports, and group activities about sharing God's love with neighbors.
Feeding the foothills
The Loomis Food Pantry is one of FUMCL's signature ministries. Open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the church campus at 6414 Brace Road, the pantry provides shelf-stable, refrigerated, and frozen food to families in need in Placer County. About 97 percent of those served are Placer County residents; the largest shares come from Rocklin (about 30 percent), Loomis (24 percent), Roseville (21 percent), and Auburn (7 percent), with the rest distributed across Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Colfax, Granite Bay, Lincoln, Newcastle, and Penryn. A personal-shopping model gives each family control over what they take home. First-time visitors are asked to bring a photo ID and fill out a short registration form.
On the fourth Monday of every month, volunteers from FUMCL take over the kitchen at the First United Methodist Church in Roseville to prepare and serve a free lunch. The morning starts at 8:00 a.m. with breakfast at a local restaurant, moves into the kitchen at 9:00, opens the serving line at noon, and finishes cleanup by about 1:30 p.m. The menu typically includes spaghetti, soup, salad, a side dish, bread, seasonal fresh fruit, dessert, and beverages.
FUMCL also prepares and hosts a meal and overnight shelter for the homeless once a month through the Gathering Inn, a Placer County program that rotates shelter duties among about forty congregations so that no one is turned away any night of the year. Once a year, the church takes the lead on the Christmas Basket Program, an inter-church and inter-school effort that distributes baskets of food and household essentials to families in the community. And in partnership with the international nonprofit Rise Against Hunger, FUMCL sponsors meal-packaging events - in one session the team produced 20,000 single-serving meals in about two hours.
Gardens, prayer shawls, and prison ministry
The "Because We Can" Faith Garden grows on the FUMCL campus with eight raised beds and additional planting space. Run entirely by volunteers, the garden produces more than 3,000 pounds of organically grown vegetables each year, all of which is donated to Placer County families in need. No gardening experience is necessary to help.
Every summer a team from the church travels to Weed, California, to work with Habitat for Humanity on homes still being built or repaired in the wake of the 2014 Boles Fire; other teams have traveled to Louisiana to build with the Fuller Center for Housing. A separate Sierra Service Project team works through the church's youth ministry on homes for Native American families on western reservations.
Members of FUMCL bring Christ's love inside prison walls as volunteers with Kairos Prison Ministry International, a lay-led, interdenominational Christian program in which men and women walk with incarcerated men and their families through a structured retreat. The Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and crochets shawls and lap robes that are prayed over and blessed by the pastor and given free of charge to anyone who could use one. And through Faithful Friends, a small group of FUMCL volunteers makes regular visits to detained immigrants at the Yuba County Jail, which contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Each volunteer is matched with one individual for ongoing encouragement and support.
Senior LIFE Center and the wider campus
On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the Loomis Senior L.I.F.E. Center gathers in the Nisei Fellowship Hall on FUMCL's campus. The program, for adults over fifty-five, offers fellowship, sewing and quilting classes, art classes, an exercise program, table games, special speakers, and a nutritious lunch served at noon. The Hall also hosts a Heritage Lunch each year that honors both the church's own history and the food festivals the Loomis community has celebrated for decades.
During the week the church's campus hosts the Loomis Community Nursery School and an after-school recreation program, AA and Al Anon meetings, the Helping Hands volunteer team that provides meals and transportation to those in need, and a Wednesday evening youth group. Prosper House, a modest home on the grounds, is available to families in transition as they move toward permanent housing and sustainable living. Just behind the Fellowship Hall, the Serenity Path meanders through an oak grove past the Issei and Nisei gardens, with benches and quiet features set aside for prayer and reflection.
Open hearts, open minds, open doors
FUMCL formally identifies as a Reconciling Congregation within the United Methodist Church - a designation earned through a denominational process affirming welcome "without regard to race, age, ethnic origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic or family status." The congregation's vision statement names four practices: Worshiping God, Deepening Faith, Serving Others, Reaching Out. The cornerstone of the 1964 sanctuary carries a verse that summarizes the church's guiding principle - "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34) - and a corresponding commitment to radical hospitality.
Two adult Bible studies meet each week - Tuesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. and Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m., with the Monday class offered over Zoom. Wonder Women gathers on Tuesday mornings for fellowship, breakfast, and grounds care; Wonder Workers does the same on Tuesday mornings for men. Small groups of four to eight people meet at various times around the previous week's sermon, with questions printed in the Sunday bulletin.
Getting connected
The Rev. Alison Berry is the Senior Pastor. A graduate of Pacific School of Religion, she previously served at five other United Methodist churches in California and brings a particular passion for social justice to her preaching and ministry. The Rev. Melanie Oliver serves as Deacon of Christian Education, overseeing the children's, youth, and family programs and coordinating the Sierra Service Project trips. Martin Beal directs the music and choir program and leads the Celebration Music Team and the Chancel Choir. The church office at 6414 Brace Road, Loomis, is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and can be reached at (916) 652-0469. Online giving to the general fund and to the Loomis Food Pantry is available through Realm, and a long archive of sermons and livestreamed services lives on the church's YouTube channel.