(RNS) — Last Friday (Jan. 3), Najeeba Syeed attended Jummah prayers at the Masjid Al-Taqwa, a congregation she’d prayed for years at while living in Southern California.
Less than a week later, Syeed, a theology professor and interfaith leader, learned that Al-Taqwa, a historically African American mosque in Altadena, California, had burned to the ground — one of at least a dozen houses of worship damaged or destroyed in the wildfires that have raged in and around Los Angeles this week.
Even as local faith leaders mourned the loss of their sacred spaces, they’ve been banding together, offering words of comfort and practical help to those affected by the wildfires.
Syeed, who holds the El-Hibri Endowed Chair of Interfaith Studies at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, said Altadena has a long history of interfaith cooperation, and local faith leaders have been calling one another, offering support and looking for ways to work together.
“They’re helping their own communities, but they’re also stepping up and stepping beyond and helping each other,” said Syeed, who splits her time between Los Angeles and Minnesota. “That’s part of the story — faith communities, even when they are damaged, still show up for the broader community.”
She said a number of Muslim-owned and Black-owned businesses that had long surrounded the mosque were also damaged in the fire. Worshippers who attended Jummah prayers would often go to those businesses to get coffee or halal meals afterward. And the mosque also offered educational classes and other community activities.
“It was a hub for community, and God willing, it will be a hub going forward,” she said.
Less than a quarter mile from the Masjid Al-Taqwa, a bell tower is all that remains of Altadena Baptist Church, founded by a Swedish congregation in the 1920s and now a racially diverse faith community. About 15 families from the congregation also lost homes to the wildfires, said the Rev. George Van Alstine, 88, who has been on staff at the church for more than 50 years. Van Alstine said a vault containing the church’s history was likely lost in the fire, including records from the church’s earliest days.
He said congregations in the community — both Christian and non-Christian — have often worked together to serve their neighbors, including running the Altadena Congregations Serving Together food pantry, which had been housed across the street at Altadena Community Church and was also destroyed by wildfires.
Van Alstine said church members were gathering online Friday night to check in and to talk about how to help their neighbors and plan for the future. For right now, he said, they are taking things one day at a time.
“We’re surviving,” he said.
At least four wildfires are currently raging in Southern California, according to the Los Angeles Times. Eleven people have been reported dead and more than 12,000 structures burned, including at least a dozen houses of worship. Among them are Pasadena Jewish Temple, Corpus Christi Catholic Church and at least 10 Protestant churches.
Other congregations suffered fire damage but were not completely lost, including Calvary Chapel in Pacific Palisades, where the sanctuary was damaged but not the entire campus.
“We probably lost the sanctuary and will have to rebuild it,” Justin Anderson, who started as the church’s pastor this week, posted on X. “But miraculously the rest of the property is nearly untouched.”
A hermitage and other buildings at the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center were also lost to the fire, according to an update on the retreat center’s website.
“It makes complete sense to understand that our faith is tested on fire!” the center’s director wrote in an update. “But we are pilgrims of hope as Pope Francis exhorted us this year. Hope will not disappoint us. We will recover and be back serving you again.”
The Wild Hunt, a website that covers pagan news, reported that the Theosophical Society Library Center in Altadena was also lost to the wildfires. The center housed a major archive of the Theosophical Society, a movement founded in the 1800s and “dedicated to the uplifting of humanity through a better understanding of the oneness of life.”
Van Alstine said Altadena faith communities affected by the fire will continue to help their neighbors and will begin planning for the future in the days to come. For now, he said, the church office for Altadena Baptist will likely be based in his house. And he hopes church members will soon be able to get a look at the building firsthand.
He also said the bell in the church’s tower was from a former church in Pasadena and was used for summoning volunteer firefighters in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The bell tower still standing symbolizes that the church is not gone, Van Alstine said, even if the building has burned down.
“Maybe we should have somebody go up there Sunday and ring it,” he said.