• What We Believe
  • Mission
• Our History
• Clergy and Staff
  • Pastoral Staff
  • Music Staff
  • Administrative Staff
  • Youth & Children Staff
  • Parish Nurse
• Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals
• Sunday Services

Our History

St. Matthew’s Church was founded in 1981. The first rector of the church was the Rev’d James Hohlfeld, who served the church from its founding until 1986. The church met in an upstairs room that was rented from the Community Church in Corona del Mar. This location was hard to find, subject to noise from the street below and not particularly conducive to mission. But it is fondly remembered as our first outpost. We are grateful to the Community Church for their generosity.

The Rev’d Stephen Scarlett was called as rector in 1986. In 1988, the church moved to the Zonta Club in Newport Beach. This building was located across the street from Newport Harbor High School before it was sold and torn down to make room for condominiums. This building had nice room for worship and several additional rooms for classes. St. Matthew’s experienced significant growth in this location. We made an offer to purchase this property ourselves but were outbid by the developer. This turned out be providential, as that location would not have served our ministry as well as our current location on Ford Road.

In 1990, St. Matthew’s secured its first full time facility by leasing space on Westcliff Drive in Newport Beach, behind The Pizza Bakery. The interior of this retail location was renovated so that it became a plausible and attractive worship space. An artist developed a butcher paper treatment for the walls that gave the interior the feel of a stone church. St. Matthew’s met and grew in this location for approximately ten years.

In the mid 1990's St. Matthew’s began to think and pray about purchasing property to build a church. An offer was made to purchase a piece of property on Dover Drive, but was unsuccessful. However, the money raised during this initial attempt prompted further efforts. In 1995, an offer was made on our current property, which was part of the then largely undeveloped area behind UCI. Through a series of providentially ordered events, the offer was accepted and the church was able to raise the money needed for the purchase. The property purchase was completed in 1997.

St. Matthew’s spent the next few years developing architectural plans and raising money. In order to save money on rent, the church moved to a new location on Bay Street in Costa Mesa, in the former Daily Pilot building. At Bay Street the ministry was expanded by leasing additional space for a dedicated youth room.

We held our first services at 2300 Ford Road in Newport Beach on Pentecost, 2002. Our ministry and staff have expanded several fold over our years on Ford Road. We are currently in process of refining our plans for Phase II of our building project. Our current church will become our future parish hall. God willing, we plan to build a new church that is approximately twice the size of our current worship space. The plans also include a large basement with needed additional space for expanded ministry.

We thank God for his faithfulness in our journey over the years, the facilities he has given us and the opportunities he has set before us for fruitful ministry. We pray that we will be faithful stewards.