Easter Hill UMC, South Richmond’s Heartbeat

Pastor Betty Austin. Photo by Joe L. Fisher, BAPAC.

By Kia
Croom

Easter Hill United Methodist Church (EHUMC) will soon celebrate its 60th birthday.  Sixty years ago, what began as a place of worship for a small group of visionaries has evolved into an epicenter for worship and social justice.  
“Easter Hill has come a long way from the “little brown house” located on Hoffman Blvd,” said Betty Austin, Pastor. “The founders wanted to form a community and provide care for one another, and that’s what they created,” she said.  “Its following gradually grew and grew and eventually moved here in the 1950s on Christmas day.”
Today, with a following of more than 315 congregants, EHUMC has become a staple within the Richmond community, noted for its community service and rich lineage, EHUMC has been the spiritual home for a number of prominent community activists and political leaders including Booker Anderson, former Mayor of Richmond and many others.
EHUMC operates a number of spiritually-based social justice ministries, which respond to critical community needs. These ministries include: the Health Ministry, which keeps congregants and community members informed about important health issues; the Commission on Mission, which helps feed the community’s homeless and hungry and the Church & Society Ministry, which keeps a pulse on social justice causes within the community and worldwide.
Pastor Austin migrated to California from Beaumont Texas to attend the University of California Berkeley in 1959.  As a youth, she was inspired by her mother’s social activism and would soon embark on public service work. Prior to entering ordained ministry, Pastor Austin was a social worker in Alameda County, a counselor for Juvenile Hall and even worked for Pacific Gas & Electric, where she retired in 1994.  
Pastor Austin joined EHUMC in 1998 and was appointed to the position of associate pastor, a first in EHUMC’s history. As the associate pastor, she enjoyed the support and tutelage of Reverend Phillip Lawson, who was the senior pastor at that time. She was appointed to the position of Pastor in 2003.
Pastor Austin will retire in July 2012.
Easter Hill United Methodist Church is located at 3911 Cutting Blvd, Richmond 94804. To learn more about EHUMC visit www.easterhill.og or call 510-235-4226.