SOUTH OF THE 10 - St. James AME Church will open in its new Compton location Sunday, Mar. 13.
Compton native Pastor Nicolette Birdsong will head the church which is located at 601 W. Rosecrans Blvd.
First service will be held at 10:00 a.m. and dignitaries from the faith-based community are scheduled to attend, including Bishop Clement W. Fugh, from the 5th Episcopal District AME.
This is historic for the city of Compton as an AME denomination church hasn’t opened there in over 30 years.
“Although I haven’t been a resident of Compton for quite some time, I can honestly say I never left,” said Birdsong. “Since I was born and raised here, I have a large portion of my family who still reside in the city. Now that I’m a resident again it feels good to be home.”
Her deep roots with the city made it an ideal location for her to open the church.
“Like many of my classmates at Roosevelt junior high school I came from a broken home, but we weren’t just raised in our homes, we were raised in our neighbor’s homes too, and I never forgot that and have always been blessed and grateful for it,” said Birdsong.
The business community supports the Compton native returning and opening her church in the community.
“The Compton Chamber is elated to have Pastor Nicolette Birdsong come back to her roots here in Compton to fulfill a two-fold purpose”, stated Dr. Lestean Johnson, President Compton Chamber. “She’s not only returning to continue building up the community through faith-based services and outreach to others; but also, to build affordable housing for the community she was born and raised in”. “This is an exciting time for the City of Compton and the churches who will be fortunate to be a part of this project”.
Birdsong explained that the strong sense of community, in Compton, is what St. James wants to continue to build on and provide for families in need of affordable housing.
“Our next goal is to focus on providing assistance to the families through affordable housing initiatives,” said Birdsong.
“LOGOS Development is excited about supporting Pastor Birdsong and the St James AME Team as they seek to do God’s Work in Compton. A ministry of community empowerment,” said Pastor Martin Porter.
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