Incarnation Lutheran Church in Poway celebrates 60 years – San Diego Union-Tribune

Incarnation Lutheran Church will be celebrating its 60th anniversary on Sunday, Oct. 13 with a celebration service and an old-fashioned church picnic.

The congregation of about 200 households has a lot to celebrate about the church that was founded in 1964.

Over the years, the church has been involved in community outreach projects such as assisting homeless people in conjunction with Interfaith Community Services in Escondido and building homes with Project Mercy twice a year in Baja California.

Joyce Miller, an Incarnation Lutheran Church member of 25 years, said the church at 16889 Espola Road has been “very blessed” to have been part of the Poway and Rancho Bernardo communities. She describes its 60-year milestone as “awesome.”

“For the church to be part of the community for that period of time and to have been vibrant for that long of a time is very important,” Miller said. “We’ve been accepted as part of the community and we can stay active. It’s just a wonderful place to be.”

The church is in the midst of a transition — former pastor, the Rev. Luther Symons, was called to a church in the Los Angeles area after serving Incarnation Lutheran Church for 15 years.

The interim pastor, the Rev. Sandy Bentz, arrived in June 2023 and is expected to continue serving in her role until a permanent pastor arrives sometime next year, Miller said.

Bentz was unavailable to comment for this article.

Incarnation Lutheran offers a contemporary worship service at 9 am Sundays followed by a traditional service at 11 am In between services, a music program is offered for children and a Bible class is held for adults.

The special celebration service by Bentz will include a Stewardship Sunday when congregation members affirm their pledge to donate their time, talent and treasure to serving the community, Miller said.

After the service, a picnic will be held on the church campus. Along with serving bratwurst, hamburgers, hot dogs and potato salad, parishioners will be invited to bring potluck dishes such as “Hello Jello salads” like their mothers and grandmothers used to make, she said.

Music of the 60s will play in the background and a video of a moon landing from the 60s will be shown on TV.

Parishioners will have time to reminisce about bygone days when the church had its first worship service on Oct. 4, 1964.

Poway resident Betty Riley was there when she was 5 years old.

“The first meeting was at Pomerado Elementary School,” said Riley, 65, noting that her Sunday School class was actually in her kindergarten classroom. “We were there for three years after that until the first church campus was built.”

Getting used to a new church was quite a change for Riley, who had previously attended church in San Diego with her parents, Arthur and Laurel Palmer, in addition to her 7-year-old brother and 3-year-old and 8-year -old sisters.

“We would go to church early and help set up the chairs and get things ready for the service,” Riley said. “Then after the service everyone would help put the chairs away. Everyone was very involved because it was a small group to start with.”

Riley said she recently learned from her mom that it only took about one year for what was then called Lutheran Church of the Incarnation to form a charter, transforming it from a mission startup to a full-fledged congregation. Her family moved to Twentynine Palms in 1972 while her father was in the US Marines, but they returned to Poway in 1977.

Meanwhile, Riley went away to study at the College of the Desert and then at University of California Riverside before joining the US Navy. While she was stationed locally, Riley said she often visited the church.

“It always felt like I had come home when I would come back and get into the church,” she said.

Riley also recalls leadership changes. The first pastor, the Rev. Franklin Swanson, who was the mission startup pastor, left after a few years to start churches in Hawaii. Then Rev. Earl Lusk arrived in the late 1960s and served for about 20 years until he retired. Next came the Rev. Jack Lindquist, who retired as Incarnation’s senior pastor after 18 years of service in August 2005.

“Having been 60 years as a congregation, we’ve had long-term pastors and that’s helped make a stable community,” said Riley, whose family members have attended churches in the Midwest that are 100 years and 175 years old. “Maybe someday we’ll be there andble to celebrate our 100th and 175th birthdays and still be a vibrant church.”

Specific ongoing projects at Incarnation Lutheran Church include hosting the drop-off food donations from 9 to 11 am every Friday in the church parking lot. The donations are sent to Interfaith Community Services to help feed homeless people and low-income residents.

In addition to helping Project Mercy build homes in Mexico, parishioners donate money toward the construction costs and supplies for the homes such as bedding and other linens, dishes, pots and pans, cleaning supplies and a generator, Miller said.

Community service has even extended to Cameroon in Africa where Incarnation Lutheran Church parishioners have worked with the Foyer de l’Esperance girls school. Parishioners have donated handmade quilts and dresses for the students and members of their community.

“Parishioners usually do work like painting the hospital, putting roofs on buildings, whatever needs to be done at the time,” Miller said. “A lot of nurses have gone to help in the hospital.”

The church is also welcoming of other communities. They rent their church space to the Disciples of Korean Church, the Muslim Mobine Community and the Finnish Church that serves Lutheran parishioners.

The Incarnation website, GodAmong.us, states that the church strives to create a judgment-free zone at every opportunity.

“Our members include people of every color, shape, age, ability and sexual orientation,” the website states. “We offer a safe space where anyone can come and join and worship with us.”

For more information, visit the GodAmong.us website or call the church at 858-487-2225.