A Love Story: First Presbyterian and the Vietnamese Presbyterian Church of Garden Grove’s Decades of Worship and Partnership
by Courtney Ellis
Both congregations
Until early 2025, the Vietnamese Presbyterian Church of Garden Grove (VPC) rented the facilities of First Presbyterian Church (FPC) in order to hold worship services. But in February, the facilities changed hands. Today, it is FPC that nests in buildings owned by VPC. How did this transition come about? Therein lies the tale.
VPC, the first Vietnamese Presbyterian Church in America, began in 1980 when a pastor named Rev. Hai Nam Nguyen and a handful of Vietnamese families desired to worship together in the Vietnamese language. First Presbyterian of Garden Grove welcomed them in, and the two congregations shared FPC’s space for the last 45 years.
FPC offered care and support from VPC’s earliest days. As the Vietnamese worshiping community tried to find its footing, both the Presbytery of Los Ranchos and FPC chipped in money for Pastor Hai’s salary. Families from FPC, known colloquially as the “white knights,” collected furniture and donated supplies to immigrant families. Their welcome paid off: over the decades, VPC grew from a few gathered souls with no budget to speak of to a vibrant community of over 200 active members that hold services in both Vietnamese and English.
Eating together
According to VPC’s former senior pastor, Rev. NgocHuong Dang, commonly known as Cedar, the two congregations have supported one another in both word and deed across the years.
“FPC has supported our church since it was first established in 1980,” noted Dang. “I deeply value the time I’ve had working alongside FPC through their former pastors such as Cheryl Raine, Cynthia Carney, and Jack Loo. These pastors were always open, friendly, and willing to share both personally and in our collaboration…in areas of mutual ministry.”
The two congregations have shared meals, conversations, and an annual joint worship service. But the partnership went deeper still.
“In June 2021 some vandals broke into the sanctuary,” said Dang. “When we heard the news, we rushed to the church and were shocked by the destruction. But in that same moment, we found encouragement when we saw Wayne Wolfe and some other FPC members already there. We spent many hours cleaning together so we would still have a place to worship God on that Sunday. At that moment, I realized we didn’t just see the church as a rented space–we saw it as our shared spiritual home.” Cedar served VPC in various capacities for many years, only stepping down from her position at the end of September to continue cancer treatment.
Wayne Wolfe and VPC worship team
Wayne Wolfe has been part of FPC since its founding in 1964. Today, he serves as Clerk of Session as well as leading singing on Sundays. When the church returned to in-person worship after Covid, it was Wolfe who suggested moving FPC’s congregation into the lounge and ceding the sanctuary to VPC.
“We were spread too thin,” he said. “I said, Jeremy, you can have the sanctuary. You can do anything good that you want in there.”
According to Jeremy Nguyen, Clerk of Session for VPC, “One of the great gifts God has given the church is taking us from a small group of believers to now being one of the three large Vietnamese churches in Orange County.” He refers to Wolfe and Wolfe’s late wife Sharon with great tenderness.
“First, we were just friends,” he said. “Then we became family.”
In many ways, it was the longstanding friendship between Wolfe and Nguyen, beginning back in the 1980s, that paved the way for the two congregations to find a depth of connection that would carry them through new challenges.
In an era where tensions between immigrant and non-immigrant communities can run high, FPC and VPC have shown steadfast commitment to and love for one another. “We have cultural and language differences, among other things,” noted Dang. “What helped us overcome these challenges is that the pastors and Sessions of both churches have always sought the common good, following God’s Word, rather than focusing only on their own church’s interests.”
A joint Thanksgiving worship service
Nguyen attributes the two congregations’ longtime partnership to mutual forbearance. “You need to respect another congregation’s members and their mission,” he said.
When FPC’s membership waned into the double digits after the pandemic shutdowns, its elderly members feared what might happen to their beloved facilities. Wolfe began to worry about the building’s maintenance in particular. “That’s something that we’ve built up,” he said. “We don’t want to lose all of that.” In conversation with Nguyen, a way forward began to become clear. It was time for FPC to give the building over to VPC.
“After a long season of prayer, both churches had built a foundation of mutual trust,” said Dang. “FPC agreed to transfer full ownership of the church property to VPC. In February 2025, the transfer was officially approved at the Los Ranchos Presbytery gathering.”
The transition was a big one, filled with much emotion for the longtime members of FPC.
“When I went to the county to do the paperwork to transfer the trusteeship, I felt both joy and loss,” said Wolfe. “But the loss didn’t last long. The joy lasts. Joy for the Vietnamese congregation that waited for this for 45 years. They deserved it! And it doesn’t belong to us–it belongs to the Presbytery. It wasn’t ours to sell. We’re just so lucky to have them as our partners.”
VPC’s 45th anniversary
This July, VPC had the privilege of hosting the National Vietnamese Presbyterian Conference, followed by a celebration of the church’s 45th anniversary. According to Los Ranchos’s Stated Clerk, Sandra Kim, “It was a truly spirit-filled event.”
In her opening greeting, delivered on behalf of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos for the event, Kim noted, “Like Abram and Sarai, who were called to leave their homeland to become a source of blessing to all nations, you, too, were called. In this foreign land, you have not only built homes for yourselves, but also built the house of God–a place to call upon the name of the Lord.”
When asked what lessons the longtime partnership between FPC and VPC might offer for other churches, Wolfe responded, “Go for it, but do it the right way. Reach out and help from the very beginning, not just providing a place, but by being part of them. Having meals together.”
As I concluded my interview with Wolfe, I asked him if there was anything else he’d like our readers to know. With a voice choked with tears, he responded, simply, “Thank you for letting me tell my love story.”
Courtney Ellis, Associate Pastor at Presbyterian Church of the Master in Mission Viejo, is an author and storyteller. Courtney reports on the presbytery’s mission partnerships.
Courtney’s latest book is Looking Up: A Birders Guide to Hope Through Grief, published by InterVarsity Press.