How the Disciples of Christ Built a Legacy in South Los Angeles with All Peoples Community Center

Behind every family supported, student encouraged, meal distributed, and neighbor welcomed at All Peoples Community Center is a faith community whose commitment began more than a century ago.

This episode celebrates the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and its extraordinary role in building, sustaining, and strengthening one of South Los Angeles’ most trusted institutions. From establishing the Japanese Christian Institute in 1906 to opening the House of Prayer for All Peoples during the injustice of Japanese American incarceration in 1942, the Disciples repeatedly chose inclusion, courage, and service when doing so required genuine institutional risk.

Their commitment did not end with the founding of the Center. The Disciples helped All Peoples become an independent, nonsectarian nonprofit capable of accessing major public funding while continuing to provide the patient capital, endowment stewardship, board leadership, regional fundraising, national volunteer networks, and hands-on service that support its mission today.

From a billion-dollar foundation managing long-term investments to young volunteers traveling across the country to stock food shelves and improve program spaces, this is the story of faith transformed into lasting community infrastructure.

It is a celebration of the Disciples of Christ—and a powerful reminder that an institution’s greatest legacy is not measured only by the doors it keeps open, but by the people and communities it empowers for generations.