About

The year was 1948. Time for a dream to come true for a dozen people who longed for a liberal church in the heart of the Central Valley.  They bought a three-acre vineyard on College Avenue in Modesto, called a minister named Elmo Wolf, and founded College Avenue Congregational Church.  As the church grew in those first years, the vineyard gave way to a sanctuary, a church school building, and a Fellowship Hall.  And with our growth in youth ministry in recent years, we’ve added a youth building that includes a café staffed by our young people.

What did our founders mean by liberal?  They meant committed to the Gospel-inspired mission of peacemaking, improving the lives of the poor, ending segregation, and working for the rights of people with too few rights.   Commitments like these have always defined the Congregationalist tradition, which included people like abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.