Dana Point’s Gloria Dei Lutheran celebrates new glass-walled sanctuary after $8.5 million renovation

DANA POINT When pastor David Mattson delivers his sermon from the pulpit in the brand new sanctuary at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, he feels an overwhelming power coming from his congregation.

“It’s given everyone an optimistic spirit in terms of ‘we can do this,’” said Mattson, referring to the recent completion of an $8.5 million, 20-month-long renovation. “This was a big project for our size of congregation.”

In addition to the new 350-seat sanctuary that opens to an outdoor courtyard that can accommodate another 1,000 worshipers, there’s a new play area for the church’s 66-student preschool, a bell tower that chimes on the hour and an outdoor chapel that includes a wall where Mattson and other church leaders hope that one day congregants can have their ashes interred.

The completion and the sanctuary’s official occupancy certificate from the city coincided with a historic milestone in the Lutheran Church. Sunday, Oct. 26 was the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, commemorating the day the German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

Lutherans celebrated the event, recognizing Luther for his courage and emphasis on God’s unconditional love for each person, Mattson said.

“Regardless of the construction project being complete, the Reformation anniversary itself is a big deal,” said Craig Collins, a longtime church member and part of the committee that oversaw the financial aspects of the construction project. “We were able to make it more of a community event because of the new sanctuary and that made it even more special.”

The sanctuary’s pipe organ and $150,000 grand Bosendorfer grand piano — one of only a few shipped from Austria to the U.S. — helped make last weekend even more festive.

“Music is a big part of our ministry,” Mattson said. “The Lutheran Church features a lot of classical music. We want to keep that alive.”

The new sanctuary with its outdoor plaza was a long time coming for the church, built in Dana Point in the 1950s when the city wasn’t yet incorporated and the land around it was bare.

The project was completed after three years of planning.

The 1,200-member church opted to fund the expansion to make room for the growing congregation. In just the last several months, Mattson said membership has grown by 10 percent.

While the project ran about $1 million over budget and took about nine months longer than planned, it made the surrounding community curious about what was going on the growing campus just off Stonehill Drive — a main arterial from the 5 freeway into Dana Point.

“The community watched as we built it,” Mattson said. “We’ve received a lot of new members just from people driving by.”

One of the new sanctuary’s features is a nearly 60-foot glass door entrance that opens to the outdoor plaza, providing not only an opportunity for overflow but also an area for gathering  outdoors during and after the three church services.

The church’s original sanctuary, now named Bankson Hall after Gloria Dei’s founding pastor, seated 250 in church pews and had a more traditional feel. The building has been gutted and is now space for groups such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness and other community groups that need a place to meet, Mattson said.

It will also be used for weddings and youth art and language camps.

For some, the transition from a sanctuary with a ceiling that looked like the inside of an upside down boat to one with modern, glass-enclosed open space with lots of natural light wasn’t that easy.

Mattson confessed that even though the plans had been on display at the church months ahead of the completed project, even he wondered what the more cavernous space would be like.

Many members had their favorite pews in certain spots in the old sanctuary, he said. For them, finding that same comfort in the new sanctuary is an adjustment.

“People were worried we were going from a small church to a large church,” Mattson said. “But it is very well designed with curved walls that go inward making it feel more intimate.”

Collins, a member at Gloria Dei for 17 years, said the new, larger sanctuary has actually made the church family closer.

The big, open glass doors help foster more of a gathering place after church and give members and new-comers a place for fellowship, he said.

“I feel like there is more vibrancy,” said Collins, principal at Trabuco Hills High School. “It’s the same people but they sing louder and have more enthusiasm.”

And for Mattson, his first time at the pulpit was surprising.

“I actually could look at everyone, even in the eye, and felt how blessed I am to know most of these people so well,” he said. “But it was also tricky because there was so much more room to move around.”

“Just like all the people were trying to figure out where to sit, I was figuring out where to stand.”

If you go

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

Services: 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. (traditional) and 5 p.m. (contemporary)

Where: 33501 Stonehill Drive, Dana Point

Information: (949) 493-3414