Pacific Union College Church

The Pacific Union College Church (PUC Church) is the campus church of Pacific Union College in Angwin, Napa Valley, California. It is a part of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Pacific Union College Church
38.57024°N 122.44164°W / 38.57024; -122.44164
LocationPacific Union College
Angwin, California
CountryUnited States
DenominationSeventh-day Adventist Church
Membership1,800[1]
Websitewww.pucchurch.org
History
FoundedDecember 31, 1909 (1909-12-31)
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)Mark Witas
Pastor(s)John Hughson, Wendy Witas, David Carreon, Adam Washington

Congregation

The congregation traces its roots to 1909, when the church had their first meeting in a former dance hall shortly after Pacific Union College's move to Angwin from Healdsburg.[2] It records having 42 charter members at that time.[2] In 1919, the congregation met in the chapel of the new college building and by 1921 had 290 members. Until 1947, the pastor was the head of the college's religion department. The congregation moved into its own new building in 1968. Like most churches of the time, its practices were traditional in form with weekly performances by its church choir.[3] By 1984, the church plant was worth an estimated $7.7 million due to inflation, it had cost less than a third of that amount to construct in 1968.[4] When Healdsburg College, now PUC, was first established, the College operated all levels of the educational experience.[5] However, starting in 1901, the College Church took over the financial responsibility for the elementary school.[5] They raised a church-school fund. All the children of the church were free to attend the school.[5] In 2000, PUC Church was noted for being the only church in the Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to have a female pastor.[6] Pastors from the church have been featured at various events hosted by Adventist Churches.[7] The church is active in philanthropy. In 2010 the church raised over $25,000 to aid in relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[8] The church has 1,800 members, not including the 1,500 students attending Pacific Union College.[9][10] Theologian Desmond Ford continued to hold membership at the church after being defrocked. Many years later, in 2001, he voluntarily requested to have his name dropped from membership for reasons which seem to be unrelated to his defrocking.[11][12]

Rieger Pipe Organ

The stage of the PUC Church is dominated by Pacific Union College's pipe organ made by organ builder Rieger Orgelbau in the town of Schwarzach in Austria. The organ rises 50 feet (15 m) above the front stage of the sanctuary, and its 4,000 pipes range in size from two inches to 20 feet. During planning, designers were concerned about the tendency of the organ to make the balcony shake, leading them to place it at the front of the church.[3] The organ is distinguished by its significant French influences, departing from Rieger's previous work based on Germanic sympathies; it was influenced by organs built by Frenchmen Dom Bédos de Celles, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, François-Henri Clicquot and Robert Clicquot.[13] When installation was completed in 1981, it was the largest organ that Rieger's company had constructed.[13] In 1996, a group of German organists listed the organ as one of the top 35 most important organs in the United States.[14]

Notable members
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See also
  • Adventist beliefs
  • Adventist theology

References
  1. "Pacific Union College SDA Church". eAdventist. North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  2. "About Us". pucchurch.org. Pacific Union College Church. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  3. Kempster, James A. (2005). "Echoes of the PUC Church" (PDF). ViewPoint (Winter 2005): 6–9.
  4. Bothwell, Roger; McIntosh, John S. (2 August 1985). "Letters: PUC Church" (PDF). Adventist Review: 2. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  5. Cady, M. E. (21 November 1901). "Healdsburg College" (PDF). Pacific Union Recorder. p. 11. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  6. Case, Steve (2002). On the case: the doctor is in. Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-0-8280-1603-2.
  7. "'Festival' TV Airing Scheduled". Press-Courier. 21 April 1984. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  8. Villatoro, Carlos (20 January 2010). "Wineries, students, PUC donate to Haiti relief efforts". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  9. "Pacific Union College Seventh-day Adventist Church". Adventist Organizational Directory. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  10. "Pacific Union College". Best Colleges. U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  11. Stanley, Daisy. "Good News Bursting Forth" (PDF). Spectrum Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  12. Paulson, Kevin. "In Defense of the Biblical Judgment". GreatControversy.org. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  13. "The Rieger Organ". pucchurch.org. Pacific Union College Church. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  14. Smith, Melinda (1996). "15th Anniversary of Pacific Union College's Rieger Organ". PUC News and Events. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
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