A Richmond pastor said he’s praying Richmond city council will give his church a temporary use permit to operate in an industrial area.
But the irony is it’s prayer and bible study that has gotten his congregation into hot water with the City of Richmond’s bylaws department, and he’s questioning why a music or language school — or a tea party for that matter — can gather in industrial zones as long as religion isn’t a topic of conversation.
Kevin Preston’s church has been told it’s in non-compliance with zoning bylaws, which doesn’t allow “religious assembly” in industrial zones.
The pastor will be at city council’s planning committee meeting on Tuesday asking for a three-year temporary permit, but he’s frustrated that other organizations are allowed to operate in the industrial park on No. 5 Road, south of Steveston Highway, but bible study is banned.
“As soon as you bring the bible into it, as soon as you bring religion into it… I’m not allowed to meet there,” Preston said.
Before COVID-19, Preston’s wife would hold a Saturday morning Christmas tea where the women would make a craft in anticipation of the holidays. This, Preston said, is okay as long as no religion is discussed.
“If I were to bring in … a pastor’s wife to share her testimony about what God did for her, then it would be illegal,” he said. “I could have a ladies’ teas, I could have a craft, I could have treats, but as soon as you bring in religion, it’s an illegal religious assembly and I’m not allowed to do that.”
And it isn’t just the Christian religion, he added, it touches on any religion, for example, a Muslim assembly.
Preston has been the pastor Richmond Christian Fellowship for five years and when he first took the position, he went to city hall to speak with the bylaw department, and he said he was assured bible study was allowed in the zoning.
Unfortunately, he said he didn’t get this in writing.
However, going even farther back in the history of the church, when the property was purchased in 2004, the church’s parent organization, Foursquare, sent a lawyer’s letter to the city saying they intended to use it as a “place of worship,” asking for a tax exemption. (The church, however, currently pays about $7,000 in property taxes.)
Nevertheless, industrial zoning doesn’t allow “religious assembly” so when the city found out in 2019 that the church was meeting there on Fridays and Sundays, they told them they were in non-compliance.
While they are a small congregation, Preston said it would be regretful to have to close as some members have been attending Richmond Christian Fellowship for 30 years.
Preston has been actively looking for a new home for the church, but COVID-19 has shuttered many venues.
