St. Paul's Episcopal Church has stood on the corner of Gibbs and Alvarado Streets in Pomona since 1931, a Spanish Colonial sanctuary of red tile roofs, exposed beams, and warm stucco that has welcomed generations of worshipers into a community that calls itself a house of prayer for all peoples. As the parish marks a century and a half of Episcopal worship in the Pomona Valley, the church continues a tradition begun in 1876 by a traveling missionary and shaped by a bilingual ministry that today gathers English-speaking and Spanish-speaking families around the same altar.
A Century and a Half of Episcopal Worship in Pomona
Episcopal services came to the Pomona Valley in 1876, when the Rev. Charles F. Loop first held worship in his own home and later in a rented store on Second and Thomas Streets. The Rev. Peter S. Ruth, considered the parish's first rector, gave the congregation a lot on the corner of Fourth and Thomas in 1878, and a building was begun there. The unfinished structure was eventually moved to Lordsburg, now La Verne, and work on a permanent church passed to the Rev. J. D. H. Brown in 1884. Largely through the efforts of Mr. Joseph R. Garthside, that solid wood-frame building was completed the same year and served the parish for forty-five years.
The parish was formally organized in 1891, and worship continued in the Fourth and Thomas building until it was sold to the Federal Government in 1930 for $25,000. The Rev. Bertram A. Warren, rector from 1927 to 1941, oversaw construction of the present church complex during his tenure. Architect Carlton Monroe Winslow designed the building, and Steed Bros., Inc. served as contractors. Bishop W. Bertrand Stevens laid the cornerstone on December 14, 1930, and dedicated the church on April 5, 1931, an extraordinary feat during the depths of the Depression. Consecration did not take place until May 19, 1946, coinciding with the parish's seventieth anniversary. A 1961 addition added classrooms along the west side near the parish hall and brought heating and ventilation to the sanctuary proper, giving the building the contrast between its original rural gothic lines and more modern wings that visitors see today.
Hidden inside the cornerstone of the old church, moved in 1923 to the southeast corner of the Garth in the present building, was a tin time capsule no one remembered placing. Inside were contemporary editions of three weekly newspapers, a Bible, a Book of Common Prayer, and a copy of the Episcopal Annual listing church organizations from the late nineteenth century. The parish also treasures its Judson Studios stained glass windows. Judson is the oldest family-run stained glass studio in America, founded in Los Angeles in 1897 and now in its fifth generation under David Judson. Those windows can be seen on tours of the sanctuary.
Bilingual Worship, Open Doors
Worship at St. Paul's centers on the Holy Eucharist, the Mass, celebrated in two languages each Sunday. At 10 a.m., the English-language Mass gathers the congregation around Scripture, prayer, and Communion, a service that draws on centuries of Anglican tradition and the 1979 Book of Common Prayer while embracing music, art, silence, and story that speak to contemporary life. The service is also livestreamed on YouTube.
At noon, the Misa en Español welcomes Spanish-speaking families and friends into the same worship space. The two services are bridged by coffee hour, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Sophia Room, where English and Spanish speakers linger over conversation and shared laughter between services. On Mondays at 11 a.m., a contemplative rosary opens a space for quiet, meditative prayer.
Visitors are told simply to come as they are. Dress ranges from everyday casual to more formal, whatever feels right. The parish maintains wheelchair accessible restrooms, a 27-space security-gated parking lot on the corner of Alvarado and Gibbs (enter on Alvarado, exit onto Gibbs), and overflow parking along Gibbs Street north and south of Alvarado. Childcare is provided during Mass from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. for children ages 1 through 8, with certified caregivers in a secure environment. Older children are encouraged to stay in the service. Communion is central to worship at St. Paul's, and curiosity is welcomed: no one needs to know what to do or how to follow the liturgy.
The Healing Mass on Third Sundays
On every third Sunday, St. Paul's sets aside its usual pattern to celebrate a Healing Mass, a service marked by anointing and the laying on of hands. The Healing Mass is shaped by a deep level of care for one another. Music takes on a quieter, more meditative character with Taizé chant, spirituals, and devotional hymns. The homily often opens into dialogue, with members of the community offering their reflections on the Sunday readings, and sometimes into bibliodrama, where the texts come alive through shared enactment.
The worship space itself is part of the experience. The community gathers in circles around the altar, the baptismal font, and the preaching lectern, surrounded by the warm gold, brown, blue, and red of icons, stained glass, and the San Damiano Cross. Worshipers describe the atmosphere as one of reverent joy.
The Cross of San Damiano
At the heart of the sanctuary hangs a replica of the San Damiano Cross, the eleventh-century icon before which St. Francis of Assisi heard Christ call him to rebuild the church. The cross at St. Paul's reflects the parish's mission: it depicts not a defeated Christ but a risen and triumphant one, crowned with glory, eyes open, body upright, standing upon the cross in victory. His outstretched arms are not only nailed there but opened wide in eternal embrace, drawing all people into God's transforming love.
The image carries deep eucharistic meaning, pointing to Christ's real presence among his people and bridging heaven and earth. Surrounding Jesus in the icon are Mary, John, Mary Magdalene, and other witnesses, the gathered faith community united in grief, hope, and shared mission. Black represents sin and repentance, red speaks of sacrificial love, and gold proclaims resurrection and divine glory. For Episcopalians as for Franciscans, the cross is a living moment of encounter and a reminder that resurrection follows sacrifice, and that even in brokenness, God is actively restoring the world.
Forming Children with Godly Play
Children are not an afterthought at St. Paul's. The parish offers Godly Play, an imaginative, Montessori-based Christian formation curriculum created by Jerome Berryman, during the 10 a.m. Mass. Instead of conventional teaching, Godly Play uses storytelling with simple physical objects, open-ended wondering questions, and a structured classroom rhythm to help children discover their own spiritual relationship with God. Parents and guardians drop off children ages 3 through 12 in the nursery before the service; children rejoin their families at the offertory, after thirty-five to forty minutes of lesson time.
For younger children, the nursery provides certified caregivers during Mass from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 1 through 8, while older children are warmly welcomed to remain in the sanctuary and take their place in the worshiping community.
Altar Guild, Daughters of the King, and Society of Mary
St. Paul's is sustained by a deep bench of lay ministries, several of them with histories longer than the present church building. The St. Agnes Altar Guild, founded in 1884, is the oldest organization in the parish. Guild members lovingly care for the altar by polishing the silver, preparing linens and vestments for every worship service, filling candles with oil for each Mass, and tending to altar cloths and priestly vestments. The quiet, faithful work of the Altar Guild helps create the reverent and beautiful space for which St. Paul's is known.
The Daughters of the King is an order for women communicants of the Episcopal Church whose members at St. Paul's are involved in all aspects of parish life. They serve as Eucharistic Visitors, bringing a sacramental ministry to parishioners unable to attend church in person, and they respond to prayer card requests from those seeking daily prayer. The Daughters also form the parish's bereavement team, communicating with families of parishioners who have recently died and helping with receptions after the service. The chapter meets the first Sunday of each month after Mass at 11:15 a.m.
The Society of Mary, established in 1893 with active membership worldwide, loves and honors Mary as a model for living the Christian way of life. At St. Paul's, the Society is active in both prayer and community service, supporting the educational needs of underprivileged children. Members celebrate major feasts of the Blessed Virgin with Mass, Vespers, or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and pray a month-long rosary for those who request it.
The Pastoral Care ministry helps transform parishioners into people who care compassionately for one another through every stage of the life journey. Opportunities include spiritual counseling, the Healing Mass, lay eucharistic visits to the sick and homebound, pastoral visits to those in the hospital, and trainings in intercessory prayer.
A Buildings and Grounds ministry meets on the third Saturday of each month for breakfast and fellowship, then continues to St. Paul's for a planned workday, stewarding the physical space inside and out.
Ana's Closet and Dress A Girl Around the World
One of the most visible recent ministries at St. Paul's is Ana's Closet, a volunteer sewing circle that gathers on the first Saturday of each month to create handmade clothing for children in need. The group serves boys and girls at a local family transitional shelter and sews dresses for Dress A Girl Around the World, a campaign of Hope for Women International that distributes sleeveless, zipper-less, buttonless A-line dresses to young girls in vulnerable communities. The dresses are designed to slip on easily over the head and are made to specification, in sizes ranging from toddlers up to 12 or 14, with the hope that their presence may help protect young girls from becoming victims of human trafficking.
All skill levels are welcome. The sewing ministry has drawn together women, men, and even a curious church administrator learning to make bias tape, and it has reached beyond the parish walls into the local community. After a joint Christmas project with the men's ministry produced stockings for children attending a preschool on the church campus and another shelter, the parish began planning an Easter outreach as well. The ministry has brought new life to a congregation without permanent clergy, and members hope to see Dress A Girl adopted in every church of the diocese.
St. Paul's Pride Ministries
St. Paul's Pride Ministries acknowledges LGBTQ+ parishioners who have long called St. Paul's their adopted home and family. LGBTQ+ members are active in the parish as mentors and activists, as queer scholars, theologians, and artists, and in leadership roles with groups such as the Pomona Pride Center and the Foothill AIDS Project. The ministry meets on the second Friday of each month at rotating locations to be in community, share stories, heal past emotional injuries caused by discrimination in other churches, and simply be open, free, truthful, and exactly the way God made them.
The broader parish shares the same welcome. People of all genders and sexual orientations serve in leadership at every level of The Episcopal Church, and the parish makes a point of saying so: you don't have to look, think, vote, love, or believe a certain way to belong here. God loves you, no exceptions.
A Resource Hub for Immigrant Justice
St. Paul's has built an unusually thorough set of online resources for immigrant justice, gathering in one place the documents and guides that dioceses, churches, and individuals may need in difficult times. The parish links to a step-by-step family preparedness plan from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, family preparedness webinars from Episcopal Migration Ministries, sample power of attorney letters and warrants, and Know Your Rights materials in both English and Spanish from Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the National Immigration Forum, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, and others. Resources cover asylum and Temporary Protected Status, DACA and Dreamers, immigration enforcement and detention, mass deportation, refugee resettlement, R-1 religious worker status, and the rights of immigrant students and their families.
The parish frames this work with a verse from Leviticus: treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. For St. Paul's, justice is not an add-on but an expression of worship rooted in the gospel.
Weddings, Memorials, and the Columbarium
St. Paul's campus in the Lincoln Park neighborhood is also a venue for life's milestones. The historic sanctuary, with seating for up to approximately 175 guests beneath soaring wooden beams, hosts wedding ceremonies, religious celebrations, concerts, and community gatherings. The Parish Hall accommodates dining for about 125 guests or assembly seating for up to 150, with a stage for performances and presentations. The Sophia Room, an intimate space of roughly 40 guests, suits small meetings, bridal preparation, or a cocktail lounge. The charming courtyard, with its historic architecture, hosts outdoor ceremonies and receptions, and the Bridal Suite offers a comfortable preparation space for wedding parties. A Multi-Venue Package combines several spaces for larger celebrations.
The parish welcomes couples from many traditions and backgrounds. An Episcopal priest may be available to officiate ceremonies, or couples may bring their own officiant. Memorial services are also offered in the sanctuary, with clergy and staff committed to guiding families through the process with compassion and respect. Within the church itself, the columbarium provides a dignified final resting place for loved ones, surrounded by prayer, beauty, and the stained glass windows of the sanctuary.
Leading the Parish Together
St. Paul's is currently served by a team of supply priests and deacons and a deeply committed lay leadership. Three lay worship leaders preach, lead Morning Prayer, and reserve the sacrament for Communion when clergy are not present, drawing on the Episcopal tradition that laity share responsibility for the worship and governance of the church.
The Vestry, the parish's elected governing body, manages finances and temporal affairs and meets monthly with open meetings. Pat Holt serves as Senior Warden, a role that carries personal significance: her grandparents were members in the early 1900s, her parents continued the connection, and she was baptized in the Lady Chapel in 1946. Tony Ellis serves as Junior Warden. Bryan Bennett, a member since 2019, serves as Treasurer and helps direct the Godly Play children's ministry alongside Patricia Hernandez and Yvette Martinez. Sandra Martinez-Moore chairs the Daughters of the King chapter and is one of the driving forces behind Ana's Closet.
The church is part of Deanery 6 of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, led by the Very Reverend Keith Yamamoto, one of nine geographical deaneries in the diocese. Across the campus and into the surrounding city, St. Paul's continues to offer what it has offered for a hundred and fifty years: a place to be welcomed, a place to pray, and a place to follow Jesus together.