California's Oldest Armenian Church to Welcome Christmas Eve

“What Does Jesus Want for Christmas?” is the 2021
Christmas Eve question for members and friends of California’s oldest Armenian
Congregation.

The
First Armenian Presbyterian Church of Fresno will welcome the Birth of the
Christ Child with an Advent Service of Worship at 8 p.m. on Friday, December
24, at the Church Campus, 430 South First Street at Historic Huntington
Boulevard. All events are open to the
public and more information is available at www.fapc.net or by calling (559) 237-6638.

The
Candlelight Service will include the singing of classical and contemporary
carols, Scripture Readings from the Old and New Testaments, and a message to
answer the question of the evening. The
celebration will conclude with seasonal cookies and hot cocoa in the Fireside
Room of the Campus Christian Education Building .

The word “Advent”
means “coming” or “arrival.” During Advent Season,
Christian Churches celebrate the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem of
Judea and watch with hope for His coming again.

Forty immigrants from Marsovan chartered
the Fresno congregation in a rented hall on July 25, 1897. The boyhood church
of authors William Saroyan and A.I. Bezzerides and filmmaker J. Michael
Hagopian, FAPC today is a multigenerational evangelical congregation drawn from
the Old and New
Worlds.

The FAPC Leadership Team includes
Reverend Gregory Vahack Haroutunian, Senior Pastor; Stephen Goodale, Director
of Ministries; and Razmig Minassian, Music
Ministry Director.

FAPC is a member congregation of the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and the Armenian Evangelical Union of
North America.