When architect David Gilmore drew up plans for a new West Covina church, he left out a few key items: crosses, stained glass windows, flying buttresses, altars and wooden pews.
Instead, he replaced them with food kiosks, water fountains, cappuccino carts, convenient parking lots and a shopping mall feel.
Chalk up another one to the mall majority.
"Malls are a neutral place and people feel comfortable in malls," said Pastor George Rauscher of Faith Community Church in West Covina. "So when people come into our church, they will say, 'Here's a familiar place. I feel safe and secure here like in a mall.' "
This new wave of modern-day temples seeks to attract what clerics call "the unchurched," people who have abandoned organized worship. Religious leaders are actively competing for the souls of Sunday sports fans, couch potatoes, golfers, moviegoers and weekend gardeners. Churches that are full of modern conveniences but lack traditional religious symbols tend to comfort those who infrequently attend church or who never felt at home there, Rauscher said.
Irvine architect Gilmore is revamping an abandoned Hughes Aircraft Co. facility in West Covina for Faith Community. The nearly 5,000 charismatic evangelical Christians who make up the congregation were worshiping in an abandoned Ralphs grocery store until the first phase of their new building was completed. The final work is underway.
"All the churches are going through a restructuring in their moves to reach the unchurched and that is being reflected in their building needs," Gilmore said. "Frankly, they are looking for places that have enough parking. That's the driving force."
With parking for nearly 1,100 cars, the 165,000-square-foot Hughes facility eventually will be very mall-like: wide corridors, calming pools of cascading water inside, carts where parishioners can buy cappuccino, hot dogs and popcorn. There also will be brightly colored banners hanging from ceilings.
"Cappuccino is a slam dunker for sure," Rauscher said.
To provide convenience, Rauscher and others at Faith Community originally wanted a "full-blown food court" at their new church, where Hughes engineers once helped build parts for the B-2 bomber, but finding sufficient space became a problem, Gilmore said.
So they settled on movable kiosks offering drinks and food, none of which will be allowed into the sanctuary. Faith Community leaders hope that with such amenities and a nearby bookstore, they can entice church-goers to sticking around campus a little longer.
