A Church Born With the Lakeview Neighborhood
Lakeview Presbyterian Church sits on a quiet, tree-lined stretch of Canal Boulevard in New Orleans' Lakeview neighborhood, just two blocks from I-610 and a short drive from the New Basin Canal that once defined the area. The congregation has been part of this part of the city since the neighborhood itself took shape. Before the swamp that became Lakeview was drained between 1900 and 1910, nothing was there. Once the land dried, a Sunday School started meeting in a home on West End Boulevard, near the levee by the canal, and in February of 1912 a group of residents asked the Presbytery to form a new church. Lakeview Presbyterian was born.
The first decades were not easy. Through the 1920s the congregation cycled through a succession of evangelists and short-term ministers, and the original one-story worship building was eventually raised to two stories, with the sanctuary on the upper floor and Sunday School below. Stability came in 1936 when the church called D. Wallace MacMillan, and in 1945 Ray Riddle became pastor with 175 members. Two years later the church purchased its current Canal Boulevard site for $25,000, and in 1949 a contract was let for the education building that still stands today. What is now called Fellowship Hall was originally the sanctuary itself, with Sunday School classrooms on the second floor.
By 1954 there were 373 members, and the rolls climbed to 507 in 1958 and peaked at 650 in 1966. Eight pastors served between 1961 and 2013, with Rev. Neale Miller the longest tenured, leading the congregation from 1996 to 2012. Then came the storm that almost ended everything.
Rebuilding After Katrina
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina pushed nine feet of water from the ruptured drainage canal through the church property. The building was devastated. By October of that year the congregation had resumed worship in a borrowed Presbyterian church about five miles away that had escaped severe damage, and the following year, after extensive renovation, the sanctuary on Canal Boulevard was rededicated. Membership stood at about 150, less than half of what it had been before Katrina, and today is around 106.
Out of the rebuilding grew a renewed sense of purpose. Music, always central to the congregation, found new expression: the choir sings from a loft at the rear of the sanctuary, and the room was designed acoustically so that even a small choir sounds much larger than it is. About seventeen years ago the church made a major investment in a custom-made pipe organ that fills the room with sound, and shortly before that a member donated a fine grand piano in memory of his late wife, which now sits at the front of the sanctuary.
Worship on Sunday Morning
Worship is at the heart of life at Lakeview Presbyterian, and it happens every Sunday at 10:30 AM, in person and via Zoom. The Zoom link stays the same week to week, and members and visitors can join with meeting ID 822 3189 5048 and password 428508. On the first Sunday of each month the congregation shares communion, a reminder, the description, of the depth of Jesus' love for humanity.
The atmosphere is traditional and rooted in the Presbyterian tradition. The pipe organ and grand piano anchor the music, the choir fills the loft behind the pews, and the service follows the church's rhythm of singing, praying, and listening. The church describes itself as a place of loving, imperfect, striving, grace-filled worshippers who believe and question, and it welcomes everyone, no matter where they find themselves in life or in faith.
Children, Youth, and the Weekday School
Children have a long history at Lakeview Presbyterian. In the early 1940s a church member named Bertha Behrens founded what is now the Lakeview Presbyterian Weekday School so that the women working in New Orleans factories during World War II had a high-quality place to leave their children. The school has kept her legacy alive for nearly eighty years and still operates on the same block as the church, at 5915 Louis XIV Street, just around the corner from the sanctuary.
Today the Weekday School serves children from fourteen months through five years of age. Before-care begins at 7:45 AM, the basic program runs from 8:45 AM to noon, and after-care continues until 4:00 PM. Six classrooms, each named for the children who learn in them, are filled with hands-on learning centers built around weekly themes: blocks, a home center, art, educational toys, manipulatives, a book center, and a science center. Music, art, movement, science, literacy, math, writing, stories, fingerplays, group discussions, audio visuals, and cooking are all part of the daily mix, and outdoor play on a well-equipped play yard supports large-muscle development. A summer camp runs in June and July from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM with weekly themes and Friday water play. The school is licensed by the Louisiana Department of Education under Type I license number 488 and is led by Co-Directors Angelle Guepet and Mary Clement. Angelle Guepet, who has been at the school for fourteen years and is also a certified art teacher, serves as Interim Director.
Sunday mornings have their own rhythm for children. A nursery is available from 9:45 AM to noon for children under five in the LPWS building (look for the green awning in the parking lot), and children from pre-K through fifth grade are dismissed during the 10:30 worship service for age-appropriate Sunday School. The Presbytery of South Louisiana is also planning to host confirmation classes for seventh through eleventh graders in 2027.
Adults Growing Together
Sunday mornings for adults begin with two education classes that meet at 9:15 AM. Both classes welcome drop-ins.
Midweek, Pastor Alex Lee-Cornell leads the Preacher's Bible Study in the church library. The group studies the text for an upcoming worship service and sermon. The same pastor also invites writers and artists in the congregation to create simple, hand-made versions of the weekly announcements, a small craft that has become its own quiet ministry. Two long-running groups round out the adults' program: the LPC Book Club, which gathers every four to six weeks over a meal to talk about novels (the reading is not religious, though Biblical themes often come up), and the Church Ladies, a social group that plays cards, goes to dinner, and shares a Prayer Chain.
Mission in New Orleans and Beyond
Mission is woven into the weekly life of the congregation. On Wednesday mornings Lakeview Presbyterian volunteers drive to First Presbyterian Church on South Claiborne Avenue to help with the Program of Hope, a ministry that assists people experiencing homelessness with bag lunches, clothing, and conversation. The work begins at 8:30 and finishes around 10:30.
The church also hosts the New Orleans-based social worker for Presbyterian Children's Homes and Services, a Christ-centered agency for children and families. Together they provide Thanksgiving food and Christmas gifts for families supported by the agency. Twice a month, on the first and third Saturdays, volunteers help stock and hand out groceries at the Jefferson Presbyterian Food Bank on Jefferson Highway; food packing takes place on the Thursdays before distribution from 7:00 to 9:00 AM. New Orleans Medical Missions collects unused hospital supplies and empty plastic prescription bottles to repurpose for medical work in Honduras.
Since 2015 the congregation has also traveled regularly to its sister church, Juan G. Hall Presbyterian Church in Cárdenas, Cuba. Each year members bring medicine, clean-water equipment, and school supplies and spend time with the children and seniors of the partner church through art, crafts, and music. The trips have built friendships across language and culture that continue to deepen.
A More Light Congregation
Lakeview Presbyterian is part of More Light Presbyterians, a coalition of congregations and individuals in the Presbyterian Church (USA) committed to increasing the involvement of all people in the church, regardless of sexual orientation. "All are truly welcomed and celebrated at LPC" is how the congregation puts it, and it shows up in the way the church talks about itself and the way it opens its doors to newcomers.
Visiting Lakeview Presbyterian
First-time visitors find the church easy to reach. The parking lot is accessible from both Brooks Street and Louis XIV, and the building itself is handicap accessible. Worship is at 10:30 AM, and adult education starts at 9:15 in the Library and Fellowship Hall. Visitors are welcome to take communion on the first Sunday of each month. There is no pressure to give, and visitors who simply want to sit and listen are just as welcome as those who want to sing every hymn.
Anyone wanting to get involved in adult connection groups, mission work, or any of the church's many other activities can contact the church office, and the staff will put them in touch with the right person. For those unable to attend in person, the Zoom worship link stays the same every week.
Sharing the Building with the Neighborhood
The church building is also a community resource. The sanctuary seats more than two hundred people, the 5500-square-foot fellowship hall is set up for multi-use events, and there is a commercial-grade kitchen with an ice machine, an outdoor area with a large playset, and several classroom spaces. Lakeview Presbyterian rents the facility for baby showers, birthday parties, weddings, exercise classes, and other gatherings, with plenty of parking for guests. Giving to support the church's ministry, education programs, building, and mission partnerships can be done through the offering plate, online, or by mailing a check.