For decades, Union Church of Los Angeles attracted overflow Sunday crowds with its blend of Japanese culture and Christian faith.
In recent years, however, many who once filled the pews at the cinder block church in Little Tokyo have moved to the suburbs, leaving a core of aging congregants searching for a solution.
Now, the faithful may have found their answer in a partnership with one of Los Angeles' most prosperous congregations, Bel Air Presbyterian, which once counted former President Reagan among its members.
Bel Air's rescue plan is simple: Use high-energy worship services, complete with ear-thumping Christian rock music, to help Union Church attract the young professionals who populate downtown's lofts and condos.
If successful, the strategy, which also includes financial support from the Bel Air congregation, could be a model for other churches struggling to survive in the midst of demographic change. And it may finally resolve a concern that has weighed for years on 79-year-old Yemiko Endo: "What will happen when we're gone?" she asked.
"We have to join hands and reach out," said Endo, a member of the Little Tokyo church for more than half a century. "Otherwise, we're going to die a slow death."
Yet the fledgling alliance with Bel Air is bittersweet for some of Union Church's graying members. As the church adapts and changes, they worry that it may lose its identity as a longtime fixture for Los Angeles' Japanese American community.
"It's a struggle between the old and the new," said Jim Furuya, 80, who has been going to Union Church for 50 years. "There is tension there."
In five months of worshiping together, however, both sets of church members say they have been surprised and encouraged by their growing cultural fusion -- of old and young, urban and suburban, East and West. Many who might never have crossed paths in the anonymity of Los Angeles say they have found themselves bonding over faith, family and the future.
"While we don't worship God in the same languages all the time, it's still the same God," said Laura Rasmussen, 34, a Bel Air staffer who is taking part in the partnership with Union Church. "It makes it even richer coming from different perspectives."
Still, there are challenges.
"The music is a little loud," said Betty Akagi, 72, cupping one of her ears during a recent Sunday service as Bel Air's band cranked another tune and biblical verses from the books of Isaiah and Romans were projected onto a large screen at the front of the sanctuary. "I can overlook that. It's very Christ-centered."
