Solace and Support: Altadena’s Black Churches Shepherd Its Flocks of Fire Survivors
When ferocious flames demolished their Altadena home last year and took all they held dear – his professional work tools, her beloved horse and a lifetime’s worth of riding equipment – Thomas and Mary Coleman turned to the place that has always sustained them: their church.
The Altadena Fountain of Life Church of the Nazarene – one of the oldest Black churches in the area – had also been destroyed by the Eaton Fire in January 2025. But while only rubble remained at the site, the heart of the church – faithful people guided by Jesus – wrapped the Colemans in love and support.
They offered food and clothes. Embraced them with warm hugs. Called to check in. Motivated them to join online Bible studies. Most uplifting, the Colemans said, were their prayers. And Pastor Jonathan A. Lewis comforted them with powerful sermons: We’re never alone.
“We couldn’t have gotten through this without the church,” Mary Coleman said. “It’s our lifeline.”
Lewis, in turn, expressed gratitude to the California Community Foundation for a grant his church used to provide food, clothing, cash assistance and other essentials to members in need. The grant was part of CCF’s Wildfire Recovery Fund, which distributed $30 million within 30 days to nonprofit partners to help fire survivors and the rebuilding of some damaged or destroyed houses of worship.
Fountain of Life’s experience reflects the vital role that churches have played in the Black community for centuries. It has served as a source of comfort and strength through slavery and Jim Crow, racial terrorism and civil rights struggles, mass incarceration and political assassinations, natural disasters and neighborhood displacement. The church has gathered people to grieve, rallied them to organize, supported them with aid, led them to rebuild – and lifted them up with spiritual teachings, soulful song, hope and joy.
But the Eaton Fire, which displaced thousands of people and destroyed more than 9,000 buildings, has placed tremendous strain on Altadena’s Black churches. Among at least 15 houses of worship severely damaged or destroyed by the fire, six were Black churches, according to Lena Louise Kennedy and Pastor G. LaKeith Kenebrew, executive board members of the Black Clergy & Civic Alliance.
One of the damaged churches was Kenebrew’s Hillside Tabernacle City of Faith – which he sought to save even as his own home burned down less than a mile away. Other historically Black churches hit by the fire were the Altadena Church of Christ, Altadena Fountain of Life Church of the Nazarene, Lifeline Fellowship, Abounding Grace Ministries and Metropolitan Baptist Church, Kennedy and Kenebrew said.
They said the catastrophic damage to so many churches – some of them, like Metropolitan Baptist and Fountain of Life, are more than a century old – has jeopardized the very future of Altadena’s historic Black community.
The community particularly blossomed during the 1960s and 1970s, growing from 4% of Altadena’s population in 1960 to 28% in 1970, according to a 2020 L.A. County research project. The surge came after courts outlawed racist housing laws and ordered school desegregation – prompting white flight that opened more properties for sale. A county redevelopment effort and the construction of the 134 and 210 freeways also pushed many Black families from Pasadena to Altadena, the county reported.
The new residents predominantly settled in west Altadena; despite some racist intimidation, including a cross burning, other neighbors joined organized efforts to welcome and protect them, the county report said. Altadena developed a large population of Black middle-class homeowners, who built intergenerational wealth as they passed their properties on to their children.
Connie Aaron remembers she and her cousins would end up at their grandmother’s house on Laurel Drive in Altadena, picking apricots and lemons from trees that lined the streets along the way. That house is now gone.
So is Alice Walker’s house of 46 years, which used to serve as the gathering spot for family and friends to enjoy summer BBQs and July Fourth parties. It was also a welcoming haven for her mother, nephews and others who needed a place to live for months or even years.
Walker still mourns the loss of her mother’s many handmade quilts and her collection of hummingbird keepsakes. But she said she has been blessed by the kindness of church members and friends, one of whom surprised her with a Honda Element to replace the one destroyed in the fire.
“I was just at a loss but everyone is praying for me,” she said. “If I didn’t have prayer, if I didn’t have God in my life, I wouldn’t have made it.”
Like Walker and the Colemans, many congregants have had to grieve the loss of both their home and their church. The crisis filled Fountain of Life Church Pastor Lewis and his wife, Sandra, with a sense of urgency to help their shell-shocked members – some of whom began to doubt God, they said, questioning why their church burned and others did not.
“We wanted to bring as much stability as fast we could because we knew they were walking around like zombies, basically without a church or home,” Lewis said.
Kennedy said a key community concern is to reverse the displacement of Black residents from Altadena. Her organization, which also received a CCF grant, is supporting a $5 million fundraising effort this month to purchase 50 RVs to help bring people home.
Kennedy said the grant, which CCF President and CEO Miguel A. Santana pledged after touring the devastation of historic Black Altadena with her, has helped develop a resource guide for survivors and other services. She organizes summits for seniors to help them meet contractors, architects, insurance experts and others to help them navigate the rebuilding process.
Kennedy said survivors are still struggling to access housing, financial support, transportation, health care, youth services.
“We are progressing as a community, but there are still so many needs,” said Kenebrew, whose congregation has returned to its church home after a roof rebuild and other repairs.
The Fountain of Life congregation is still temporarily worshipping at Montrose Church’s Pasadena Bresee campus. The church initially hoped insurance coverage would be enough for the full cost of the rebuild, but faced a gap due to federal tariffs and other factors increasing building costs. However, a settlement from Southern California Edison Company covered the shortfall.
The congregation is expecting to move back into its rebuilt church next Easter – a perfect time to celebrate renewal and new life, Lewis said.
“It’s been a long ride,” he said, “but here we are. We believe God has something better for us… a more modern church that will last another 100 years.”
– Teresa Watanabe