On November 8, 1896, a small group of people came together for a worship service held in Cutler Hall, located in what is now downtown Los Angeles. The Rev. William Stewart Young, a pioneer of Presbyterianism in southern California, officiated at this first service. Knox Presbyterian Church was formally organized on Sunday, January 10, 1897 under the direction of the Rev. William J. Chichester, with 38 organizing members.

On January 10, 1997 Knox Presbyterian Church celebrated its 100th anniversary. The Moderator of the General Assembly, Reverend John Buchanan, presided over the celebration. The celebration began with a processional of the Knox Handbell Choir followed by a formal invocation and call to worship, and the singing of the hymn, “Come Sing, O Church, in Joy.” After the hymn, when the congregation was seated, the Knox Youth Voice Chorus, dressed in black, processed down each of the three aisles in silence. Together this group of 12 African American and Caucasian high schoolers began reciting “the rap”: “It is the Lord who has rooted and grounded us in love.” And then in rapid succession each youth spoke a different line: “Therefore, there is no Greek; there is no Jew. There is no circumcised; there is no uncircumcised. There is no Barbarian; there is no Scythian. There is no slave; there is no free.”

Then together the chorus shouted, “What does this mean, no Greek or Jew, no circumcised or uncircumcised, Barbarian, Scythian, slave or free?” Then again in rapid succession each youth spoke out saying, “It means you are no better than me! It means I am no better than you! There is no right race of people. There is no wrong race of people. There is no old and confused, and no young and naive. There is nothing from the past that can keep us apart. There is nothing in the present that can keep us apart. There is nothing in the future that can keep us apart.”

The rap (the litany) concluded with the affirmation of the voice chorus speaking as one: “We are members of the same body, called to put on love which will bind us together in perfect unity. In Christ we are all one!” The 100th Anniversary Celebration of Knox Church was a great event, with the highlight of the whole celebration being the performance of the Youth Voice Chorus.

The celebration that day was held in the sanctuary and the anniversary dinner was held in Arthur P. Rech Hall. The hall was named after the Rev. Art Rech who served the church from 1954 until 1979. During his tenure the congregation moved to its present location, underwent a period of rapid growth, and built the current sanctuary and fellowship hall. In the late ‘70s, African Americans began to join Knox Church. Today there are active African American members who have been members of Knox for more than 30 years.

In 1994 when the congregation called Reverend Mark Buchanan to be its pastor, Rev. Buchanan saw the opportunity for the congregation to become a multicultural church united by the great love of Jesus Christ. Today Knox Church is an ethnically diverse church which functions as an integrated community of faith. In 1994 the church was approximately 55% Caucasian and 45% African American with just over 167 members. Today the church has more than 340 members and is approximately 66% African American, 25% Caucasian, 5% African, 2% Asian and 2% Hispanic. The congregation is a growing church both numerically and in its ministry. In the last 10 years, it has more than doubled its worship attendance and now hosts both a liturgical and contemporary worship service. The contemporary worship service, “The Connection,” (begun in 1992) now has an average worship attendance (children and adults) of 150.

For the past 10 years the Knox Session and Board of Deacons have functioned as integrated boards, working together across racial, gender and age differences. Yet there were and continue to be things to learn. In 2001 the Board of Deacons’ training on visitation included a discussion on cross-cultural care-giving. Both the pastor and experienced Deacons gave examples of what new Deacons needed to be aware of when visiting members of varying races. Differences in spatial comfort, unspoken rules regarding touching and hugging, length of visit and the use of prayer were all discussed and guidelines given. So with just this training, the only new African American male Deacon began to make initial visits on his shut-ins. He went to the door of the first person on the list, a Caucasian woman, who greeted him in a very formal matter through a screen door which prohibited the visitor from seeing through it. He said he felt himself become very nervous and he began to stammer a bit about who he was and why he was there. After getting the whole explanation out, the voice from behind the door said, “Jeff, thanks for coming to visit me. Come on in.” Both Deacon Jeff and the member reported that they had a good start to their relationship. At the next Deacons’ meeting Jeff reported that while he enjoyed his visit, in the end, he felt she had made a visit on him as well as he on her. The relationship between the two of them has grown over the years. Just in the last year when this woman was hospitalized, Jeff beat the pastor, as well as several relatives, to the hospital.

In 1999, Knox Church became the first Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi River to complete the beginning, intermediate and advanced Anti-racism Training hosted by the PC(USA). In conjunction with this training, the Knox congregation wrote and approved the following Statement of Purpose: “The Lordship of Christ unites those of faith into one body. The many in Christ form one body which utilizes a great diversity of faith expression and spiritual gifts to upbuild the church into a worthy witness of the Lordship of Christ over all ... and we then, as brothers and sisters in Christ, must go deeper than simply striving to co-exist with each other ... The unity of the church functions within a divine exchange of power from one part of the body to another. This free exchange allows those of different cultural expressions of faith, as well as those of a variety of spiritual gifts, to embody the attributes of Christ in the whole body. Just as Christ revealed himself in a variety of cultural experiences, so those of varying cultures can bring to life the Christ of their heritage in the whole church. Just as the attributes of Christ are brought to life in the whole body through the exercise of spiritual gifts, so the exercise of cultural gifts can bring revelations of Christ to life in the whole body.”

In 2005 the Knox congregation called and celebrated the ordination of Reverend Chineta Goodjoin as Associate Pastor. Not since the early ‘60s has the church had the strength of ministry to sustain a second ordained pastor. Rev. Goodjoin is the first African American pastor and the first female pastor at Knox Church. While the strengthening of the pastoral staff has provided the congregation with new opportunities, it has also brought new challenges. Some have been very thought-provoking, while others have been a bit humorous. After the pastors delivered a dialogue sermon on race this past February, important discussions began on how multicultural congregations can be united in purpose without assimilation taking place. Other challenges focused on menu selection for an event, and most recently on the gait of pastors when leading a funeral procession. The two pastors’ conclusion: “We need to practice.”