Congregation

Abiding Savior Lutheran Church, a small church in Hickory Ridge, turned 30 this month, and like any other veteran, it's changing with the times.For years, the congregation was predominantly white. But during the last decade, blacks and immigrants from India, the Middle East and Liberia have joined the church."The face of our church is changing," said the Rev. Albert Ely, pastor of the 180-member church since January 1976. "I think we need to be open to a more multicultural community."To cope with that change, the church at Owen Brown Road and Cedar Lane will conduct a multicultural discussion this month, focusing on how the races can overcome fears and concerns about their differences.

An unusual alliance between a local synagogue and defunct theater company is yielding new benefits for the unconventional congregation, the county's young theatrical community, and the Baltimore school system.Onstage Productions and the Columbia Jewish Congregation are co-sponsoring the community production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in May at the Oakland Mills Meeting House.The 18-year-old production company, which operated at the Little Theater on the Corner in Ellicott City for the last eight years, boasted an enrollment of 450 for Kids Onstage, Teens Onstage and the Frustrated Actors' Association.

The congregation of a Hampden church that suffered an estimated $5.5 million in fire damage Saturday morning will await the assessments of building inspectors before deciding what to do with the building. A group of 15 met for a little more than an hour yesterday at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church to discuss logistics. "It was time for us to talk about where we wanted to go and what steps we wanted to take," said Betty Callahan, Mount Vernon United Methodist Church's lay leader and treasurer.

When the Rev. Mark Massey founded Friendship Baptist Church 16 years ago, it consisted of five members, one pastor and no permanent location. Since then, the Howard County church has blossomed into a 350-member congregation near Sykesville that will soon have three pastors and a 26,000-square-foot building. Today, the church will open a newly constructed second wing of its building that sits on the Carroll-Howard County line. Although the congregation began by meeting in school classrooms, at Springfield Hospital Center in Carroll County and even in an old hardware store, the church now has a prime location - along Route 32, about one mile north of Interstate 70 - and continues to grow.

Faced with a fresh eviction notice and the possible scattering of his flock, Charm City Church pastor Mike Kemper stood in front of his congregation yesterday morning with a message of hope and healing. "If we are put out tomorrow, blessed be to God," said Kemper, a 46-year-old Linthicum resident. "We've been honest. We'll take it to the street." Members of the church have until Wednesday before being booted out, Kemper said, referring to an eviction notice found Saturday on the front door of the 17,000-square-foot Southwest Baltimore building - a former police station - nestled near a mixture of businesses, homes and boarded-up buildings, at Pratt and Calhoun streets.

Many church communities socialize over coffee and doughnuts Sunday mornings. But the Chinese Bible Church of Howard County may be the only local congregation sharing rice and stir-fried vegetables after each week's services. "Food is very important in Chinese churches," church elder Desmond Chan said. "When [Chinese people] sit down to eat, they share in the food, they talk, they share about their lives." The weekly meal celebrates the cultural and spiritual community of this Columbia-based independent Bible church, an offshoot of Rockville's Chinese Bible Church of Maryland.

Banneker Christian Community Church and the Gyung Hyang Garden Presbyterian Church sit about 100 yards apart on Route 108 near Howard High School. The churches are caught in a bind that, seemingly, only money can solve. Banneker, which has been at its location since about 1902, is a one-room church that can seat no more than 35 to 40 people. Gyung Hyang is a rapidly growing church that serves 150 people and wants to expand. The Presbyterian church owns the land that Banneker sits on, having bought it from Mount Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal about 10 years ago with an eye toward expansion, and has asked the small congregation to move its building.

An overlooked burning candle, a prayer vigil's symbol of seeking God's help for the future, will force a tiny Eldersburg congregation to make a quick decision about whether to build a new church.A fire that started when the large candle fell off a sanctuary stand next to the organ damaged the Church of the Nazarene, in the 300 block of Liberty Road, Saturday. The Rev. Joe Ward's congregation is deciding whether to repair the damage or accelerate plans for a new building."We will meet with insurance adjusters as soon as we can and look at our options," said Ward, who became pastor in September and is working to expand the congregation of about 50."

For 13 years, members of the Long Reach Church of God worshiped in community centers and schools all over Columbia -- any place they could find.In 1986, the growing congregation struggled to raise money to build its own church on Foreland Garth.With a place to call its own, the Columbia parish was able to become more involved in the community. For the past year, the church has run an emergency food program.Now, as the 600-family congregation continues to grow, so does its commitment to the community.

The growing congregation of a Bolton Hill synagogue is planning a move to a site in North Baltimore where a little-noticed, unused Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. substation has stood for nearly 50 years. Members of the Bolton Street Synagogue unveiled plans this week to move to the 4-acre site in the 200 block of W. Cold Spring Lane. They hope to move as early as next year. The congregation, which has met in the 1300 block of Bolton St. since 1986, was greeted Monday night with a warm reception from about 80 residents of the surrounding Roland Park and Evergreen neighborhoods.