When New Generation Family Church opened in March of last year
at 1360 First Street, suite A (inside the Hecker Pass Plaza
shopping center), it became one of Gilroy’s newest churches. But
the congregation is not new to South County.
When New Generation Family Church opened in March of last year at 1360 First Street, suite A (inside the Hecker Pass Plaza shopping center), it became one of Gilroy’s newest churches. But the congregation is not new to South County.
It was back in 1996 that Rev. Milton Mathis, co-pastor of New Generation, heard of an empty church building on Depot Street in San Martin. When he prayed about it, God told him to “take this church,” which Mathis refers to at that time as “a boarded-up mess.”
With the help of a handful of dedicated families, the building was repaired, painted, carpeted and turned into a worship facility with weekly average attendance of 150 to 200 people. At that time the church was part of the Pentecostal Holiness denomination, but when it moved to the Gilroy location it became an independent church with no denominational ties.
Milton Mathis was raised in San Jose. His father, Bishop Sam Mathis, was pastor of the Prayer Garden, one of the city’s first African American churches.
Milton has wanted to be a minister for as long as he can remember; he recalls as a child assembling his stuffed animals so he could preach to them. In 1975, while driving along Highway 280, Mathis felt a call from God to begin attending the church led by the famous evangelist Kenny Foreman – a church which has grown and become San Jose’s Cathedral of Faith. For eight years he worked on the staff there, helping with television productions, youth groups and the annual Christmas and Easter live productions. He considers Foreman his mentor who taught him much about serving God and submitting to authority.
Then he moved with his wife of 24 years, Alma, to work with churches in Dinuba and Sanger, both in the Fresno area, eventually moving back to San Jose to help his father pastor another San Jose church, Christian Outreach Temple, before beginning his ministry in San Martin.
Pastor Mathis calls New Generation “the Church that cares and shares.” He says it is a “loud church” where worshipers feel free to clap, raise their hands, laugh, cry and “dance in the spirit.”
Music includes drums, guitars, base, electric keyboard; the worship team uses styles of music ranging from contemporary Country Western to Gospel with songs in both English and Spanish.
The congregation is ethnically diverse: “African Americans, Whites, Asians and Hispanics enjoy worshiping together and loving each other.” Since they’ve been located in Gilroy they’ve had events like picnics, a Christmas banquet, a youth trip to Disneyland and a women’s retreat to Pismo Beach.
Pastor Mathis calls it “a small church that does big things” when he discusses outreach efforts to help the poor like Thanksgiving baskets for the needy. The congregation also shares its worship space with a local Spanish-speaking congregation.
New Generation Family Church holds worship services, Sunday School classes (ages two through junior high), and child care at 10 a.m. There also is a Wednesday Bible study at 7:30 p.m. For more information call 848-6900.
