Magnolia Presbyterian Church stands on Magnolia Avenue in Riverside at 7200 Magnolia Avenue. Founded in 1879, it is known for a long Presbyterian witness shaped by generations of worshippers, including people of every age from birth onward. The church gathers for one blended Sunday service at 10:00 a.m., blends elements of contemporary and traditional worship, and places biblical teaching alongside service to Riverside and global mission partners. Its 1881 sanctuary is now the primary worship space and is recognized as Riverside Historic Landmark No. 4. After a fire damaged the main sanctuary, the congregation preserved this older building as a place of worship, learning, and welcome. Its motto, A Rich Tradition...A Bright Future, pairs its long history with an active mission.
Horse-and-Carriage Beginnings on Magnolia Avenue
The church's story begins in 1879, four years before Riverside incorporated as a town and fourteen years before Riverside County formed. Ten pioneering Presbyterians first gathered in the home of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Evans on Magnolia Avenue. Six had come from the eastern United States to settle in Riverside, while four came from nearby Colton. With the Presbytery of Los Angeles arranging the organizing steps, ministers J. A. Compton and John Marquis traveled from Los Angeles. On November 9, the committee met at Sunnyside Schoolhouse on West Central Avenue and organized the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington, a name chosen for a proposed community at the north edge of Magnolia and Arlington Avenues.
Two months later, the group bought a 300-by-150-foot lot on Magnolia Avenue for $438.25. A sanctuary contract was awarded in summer 1880, and the building was completed and dedicated on April 24, 1881. With furnishings, the total cost was $4,766.90. Orange groves surrounded the church on three sides. The sanctuary later served for years as Fellowship Hall and now serves as Magnolia's Worship Center. It is the oldest church building in Riverside and carries Historic Landmark No. 4.
Long-serving pastors helped shape that inherited church. Henry Gage served from 1886 to 1900, and Daniel Macquarrie remained from 1900 through 1937. Robert Byrd led from 1968 to 1985 and continued as co-pastor until 1992. Bradley Copeland served as pastor from 1992 to 2014, Claire Schlegel and Paul Knopf shared leadership beginning in 2017, and Knopf serves as pastor. The history is not only a succession of names: it describes a congregation repeatedly tying inherited worship to fresh ministry.
For more than 140 years, Magnolia has tied its identity to Riverside itself. It began before the city and county governments, and its roots remain on Magnolia Avenue. Its missional character grew from that local beginning: worship is joined by food service, housing work, support for foster families, care for youth, and partnerships beyond the United States. The church's phrase of a bright future points to continued outward service rather than a closed chapter.
The 1881 Sanctuary That Still Leads Worship
A fire in December 2018 badly damaged the main sanctuary. An investigation attributed the ignition to candles inadvertently left unextinguished, and extensive fire, smoke, and water damage followed. Rather than abandon its historic buildings, the congregation moved Sunday worship into the 1881 sanctuary and continued making the campus its center for worship, Christian education, youth work, meetings, and service. The Session has worked toward greater accessibility for the building used for worship.
During the transition, local churches made space and offered practical help, while the congregation met in the historic building and made improvements to lighting, flooring, screens, and seating. The Session also began architectural and construction work. The recovery has involved preserving a landmark while considering how the campus can better serve accessibility and ministry.
Day-to-day features are practical and rooted in the older campus. The Worship Center sits behind the main parking area; the Christian Education Building stands behind it, with children's rooms and the nursery there. A fireside room beside the Worship Center is where refreshments and fellowship follow worship. The sanctuary remains the visual and historical anchor of the church's Riverside identity.
One Blended Service at Ten
Magnolia gathers for one Sunday worship service at 10:00 a.m. The service is deliberately called blended because it brings contemporary and traditional elements into one gathering and includes the church choir. Scripture reading and biblically based preaching remain central. Sermons are intended to engage Christian faith in daily life, while music, shared joys and concerns, and prayer shape the service as a community rather than a spectator event. The service follows the rhythm of the Christian year.
Worship proceeds through a four-part pattern:
- Gather - The congregation welcomes people into the community of Christ, offers corporate and individual confessions, receives assurance of pardon, and passes the peace.
- Hear God's Word - Prayer, Scripture readings usually from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, and sermon messages deepen understanding and growth in the Spirit.
- Respond with Thanksgiving - The people offer their gifts, sing songs of praise, bring prayers of joy and concern, and share in baptism and communion.
- Be Sent with Blessing - A blessing and charge conclude worship with the call to live Christ's love for the world, followed by refreshments and fellowship in the fireside room.
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, and a Time for Children is offered during most services. Services last about an hour, combining music, Scripture, and a sermon. The Christian year also includes Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, and Maundy Thursday services. Those unable to attend in person can join the service online, and recordings are kept in the worship archive.
A First Sunday with Children, Parking, and an Open Door
Coming from the 91 freeway, exit at Madison Avenue and head north. Turn right onto Magnolia Avenue, enter the parkway, and use the first entrance into the parking lot. Signs point toward the worship space. Drivers with limited mobility can continue along the deceleration lane past the main lot to the smaller lot directly in front of the Worship Center.
Children are welcome throughout worship, including its wiggles, giggles, and whispers. After the first 15 minutes, preschool and elementary-age children are invited to hear a children's sermon, then move to Sunday School activities. A staffed nursery serves newborn through pre-Kindergarten children during the 10:00 a.m. service. It is in room 9 of the Christian Education Building, behind the Worship Center.
There is no dress code; the church invites visitors to come as they are. A service lasts about an hour, and people are invited to stay for coffee or a snack and meet others after worship. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Clear directions, a place for children, and unhurried fellowship make the congregation's welcome practical from the beginning.
Children, Youth, Scouts, and Camp
For Kindergarten through 6th grade, Sunday School runs during the 10:00 a.m. service. Children first take part in worship, join the Time for Children, and then go to classroom 8 in the Christian Education Building. The lessons use Bible stories, songs, crafts, memory verses, games, and prizes to help children learn God's Word and grow spiritually. Volunteer teachers are background checked and approved by the Session before serving.
Middle-school students in grades 6 through 8 also have Sunday School during worship. After Time for Children, they meet in Youth Room 1 for Bible study focused on their age group. Middle school and high school youth groups then gather on Sunday afternoons from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The weekly rhythm includes sharing a high point and low point, Bible lessons, games, food, and fellowship. Jaeson Robinson leads the youth groups with adult volunteers who rotate each week.
Camp is another part of formation. Children in fourth grade and above are invited to summer camp at Big Bear Lake Christian Conference Center. Middle school and high school students also have annual winter camp options, including a weekend at Forest Home in Forest Falls and a Big Bear Lake gathering. Four times each year, children and youth also take the lead in worship through prayers, Scripture readings, ushering, singing, and instrumental music.
Confirmation is offered every other year for students in grades 6 through 12. Each confirmand follows 8 to 12 lessons, participates in an extra-church event, meets regularly with an adult from the church, and presents a personal statement of faith to the Session. These rhythms place young people not only in classrooms but also in the church's worship, camp community, and life of faith.
Wednesday nights add another youth-centered gathering. Magnolia sponsors Riverside Boy Scout Troop 16, which meets at 7:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Scouting for students in fifth grade through high school combines service, community engagement, and leadership development as youth work toward the Eagle Scout rank.
Two Years Through the Biblical Story
Crossways is a 60-unit, two-year course that follows the biblical narrative from beginning to end. Its 160 full-page, full-color illustrations help students both see and hear the story. The course is designed to deepen understanding of Scripture, clarify the church's mission, strengthen worship, explain biblical stewardship, and help participants pursue personal ministry in daily life. The class is offered through Zoom on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:45 p.m.
Meals for Riverside and Welcome for Families
Food assistance is one of Magnolia's most concrete forms of mission. Once each month, volunteers partner with Path of Life Ministries at its Hulen Place shelter through the Guest Chef program, buying, preparing, and serving a meal. On the second Saturday of every month, volunteers prepare sack lunches and distribute them in the Calvary Presbyterian Church parking lot. The church also distributes Stater Bros. supermarket gift cards and care packages for people who come to the Magnolia office.
The local network also extends through ChildSHARE, which supports people caring for abused and abandoned children in Southern California's foster care system and needs volunteers who can provide foster homes. Magnolia joins the CROP Walk for Hunger, a three-mile interdenominational walk against hunger. Habitat for Humanity offers building and renovation projects, a Brush With Kindness project, and volunteer connections to the Habitat ReStore and its secondhand building supplies. Volunteers can also support Operation Safe House, which provides emergency shelter and programs for teens, and Teen Challenge, a Christian-based center at Riverside's Benedict Castle focused on helping people overcome drug and alcohol abuse.
Family Promise of Riverside occupies a central place in the church's response to homelessness. Magnolia took a leading role in founding the local affiliate, hosts community meetings, donates materials and funds, and is committed as one of 13 locations for hosting families experiencing homelessness. The church also provides sleeping bags during colder winter months, makes office space available to Young Life, and financially supports its outreach to middle school and high school students.
Giving can be made as a one-time or recurring gift through online giving, by check mailed to Magnolia Presbyterian Church at 7200 Magnolia Ave., or through recurring bank bill payments. Magnolia connects this generosity to its mission on its campus, throughout its community, and globally.
Mission Beyond the City
Global mission is woven into local service. Magnolia supports Compassion International's child sponsorship work, participates in Operation Christmas Child by collecting shoeboxes of gifts for children around the world, and contributes to PCUSA General Mission, which supports work in compassion, peace and justice, evangelism, and church growth. Special offerings connect the congregation to POWER Ministry, One Great Hour of Sharing, Pentecost, Peace and Global Witness, and Christmas Joy.
The offering purposes add detail to this global witness. POWER Ministry supports work along the Texas-Mexico border; One Great Hour of Sharing helps Presbyterians share God's love with neighbors in need around the world; Pentecost supports young people and their witness; Peace and Global Witness encourages reconciliation; and Christmas Joy assists church workers in need and Presbyterian-related schools and colleges.
Short-term mission teams have served along the Texas-Mexico border, in El Salvador, Peru, Mexico, New Mexico, Zimbabwe, and within the United States. The church also supports the Coult family in Mexico with FLOW International Ministries and Kristi Van Nostran's work in El Salvador through the Joining Hands Network, an initiative of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. These partnerships keep Magnolia's local habits of hospitality and practical service connected to a wider Christian mission.
A Called-Out People, Growing Inward and Reaching Outward
Magnolia states that it believes in the God of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It acknowledges the Bible as God's inspired, authoritative Word and as the standard for faith and life, pointing to Jesus Christ as the Living Word. Its understanding of the church begins with people rather than an institution or building. Following Jesus means joining a people called out by God, the Body of Christ in the world, in which every person brings a distinct contribution to ministry.
That theology is expressed through what the church calls gracious deference. People set aside their own preferences so that those with different approaches to life and ministry feel welcomed, loved, and included. Magnolia also describes itself as a missional church: inwardly growing and outwardly reaching, following Jesus by sharing good news through hands-on mission. Its age range, from birth through later years, is reflected not only in worship but in nurseries, classrooms, youth gatherings, confirmation, camping, service, and shared meals.
The Session, or Board of Elders, governs with ruling and teaching elders chosen in three-year terms. It describes ruling elders as people who discern the congregation's fidelity to the Word of God and strengthen its faith and life. The Board of Deacons carries a ministry of compassion, witness, and service toward people who are poor, hungry, sick, lost, friendless, oppressed, burdened by unjust structures, or in distress. Pastor Paul Knopf serves as moderator, while John Wright leads music, Michelle Knopf leads children's ministry, Jaeson Robinson leads youth, Saw Shein leads contemporary music, Allison Robinson staffs the nursery, and Cynthia Wright serves as pianist.
A Tradition With a Bright Future
Magnolia's motto, A Rich Tradition...A Bright Future, captures a church that keeps its 1881 sanctuary, Reformed worship, Trinitarian faith, Presbyterian governance, and commitment to mission in view of continuing change. Its story includes horse-drawn beginnings, a long line of pastors, worship across generations, and hands-on service addressing hunger, shelter, education, youth, and family stability. Magnolia Presbyterian Church remains centered in Riverside at 7200 Magnolia Avenue, where a 10:00 a.m. blended service joins the Bible story, music, formation for children and youth, and service directed to the needs of people near and far.