The church needed to choose between asking its parent organization for help or shutting down.

"We were afraid that if we didn't do something—and soon—the church would have to close," said longtime member and church organist Norris Hill.

Hill served on the committee that made the hard decision to ask for help, and ask they did—not just from individual members but from other organizations, including other churches.

The Willow Glen Neighborhood Church is not the only house of faith to face this situation. Many churches are choosing to share a roof, either to supplement finances, help a congregation grow, or even help a school stay in business.

To save itself, the Willow Glen Neighborhood Church asked its parent organization, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a global organization made up of evangelical churches dedicated to establishing and maintaining churches worldwide, to take over. The alliance found an ambitious minister from Canada who is pursuing a doctorate in expository speaking. The alliance also arranged for Cantonese, Korean and Vietnamese congregations to rent space for services while they strive to increase their membership.

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer Sing a Song: Karen Lewis (left) and her son Philip are members of the Bayside Church, which shares its facility with other churches. Bayside, formerly known as Willow Glen Neighborhood Church, began renting out its church when its congregation shrank.

"When finances get low or membership declines," says the Rev. Gabor Lassu of Calvin Presbyterian, "then we look at options that not only help out the community but also help other churches" to stay strong.

Lassu asserts that for a church to accept another organization and even another congregation is not only a financially sound way to maintain its longevity but that Scripture calls for it.

"A problem among mainline churches is that they are reluctant to change," the Hungarian-born Lassu said. "If a church doesn't respond to fulfilling what Christ said about spreading the Word of God, and stays only within its comfort zone, then it exists only for itself. We outdate ourselves by not focusing on the needs of society around us."

He added that the church offers its sanctuary to the Young Nak Presbyterian congregation because doing so fulfills the sanctuary's purpose: to be a place of worship to many people a lot of the time, not just for one congregation's purposes.

"These were built to worship God," Lassu says. "I'd like to see the sanctuary used as much as possible. Our passion is to revitalize the church, not to stay the same."

The Rev. Michael Thorburn felt that same passion when he came to Willow Glen to establish Bayside, the new name of the former Willow Glen Neighborhood Church. The church was renamed to reflect an embracing of a broader membership.

Thorburn, from London, Ontario, was the pastor at a Baptist church in Nova Scotia for seven years before coming to San Jose in July 2002.

The chemist turned minister intends to make Bayside a "highly relational" church.

"We try to be an imperfect church for imperfect people," he says. "And we're all imperfect in many ways, so we all need someplace to come and feel needed."

Soon after Thorburn arrived, the church's parent organization arranged for the growing Cantonese congregation from the San Jose Christian Alliance to come to the Cottle Avenue church's location and establish the West Valley Christian Alliance Church.

With the help of some other members, the Rev. David Fung established the WVCAC in July 2002.

The name was chosen to "establish a lighthouse of the Gospel on the West Side of San Jose, where there is not an existing Cantonese-speaking church," according to the church's website.

"The strategy is to always plant new churches," says Fung, who adds that he's enjoying the challenge of not only leading the church's growth but organizing a church that has two services: one in Cantonese and another in English for second-generation parishioners.

The Cantonese congregation has about 180 members, but the English-speaking congregation has 60 members. It's the latter congregation Fung hopes to foster.

"This is our dream," he says. "We need to meet the challenge for our second generation who speak English but have difficulty assimilating to American culture."

Fung also said that another challenge is getting members to become more involved in church activities, such as serving on committees and teaching Sunday school, rather than just coming to Sunday morning worship services.

"We have very busy people here; most of them are engineers who work long hours," he says.

Also, because it's the only church of its kind in the area, he says, many members drive a great distance just to attend worship services.

The opportunity to preach in a multicultural church was too good to pass up for Thorburn, who drove a few thousand miles to bring his family to San Jose. While preaching for Bayside, he's researching for his doctorate from the Trinity Theological Seminary of Newburgh, Ind.

"I didn't want to be a static learner," he says. "I wanted to be a better communicator because I think that's what people need when they come here. I know I wouldn't want to come to church and be bored."

That's also why John and Debbie Magnasco attend Bayside's worship services. The couple moved to Willow Glen five months ago and were looking for a church to attend.

"We liked it here immediately because it is fresh and new," John says.

"And we were looking for new people with fresh ideas," Debbie says.

One newcomer, Campbell resident Shane Lewis, has been attending Bayside since it opened in February. He wasn't satisfied with his prior church and was looking for another place.

"What I like about coming here is that Mike preaches like he's talking to one person," Lewis says, "not to a whole congregation."

That appreciation made Lewis decide to return every Sunday; he eventually joined Thorburn on the "Worship Team"—the church's music group, for which Lewis sings and plays keyboard.

Hill and a handful of former Willow Glen Neighborhood Church members still attend and are glad they made the decision to hand control of the church over to the alliance.

"We noticed that some young families were coming to Willow Glen but couldn't afford to stay here for very long," Hill says. "There are some empty-nesters who are still here, but most of the new parishioners are commuting from miles away."

The parish is diverse not only in age but in nationality, too. Hill said there are parishioners from Hungary, Germany and Japan.

"That's one of the main reasons I came to San Jose," Thorburn said. "The diversity here is very much like that of London, Ontario."

Just as the Willow Glen Neighborhood Church made a decision to open its doors in the name of survival, a private school made a desperate choice to look for a new location.

When the South Valley Carden Day School closed suddenly in June 2002, the school's librarian, Elizabeth Asadi, searched for someplace to reopen.

Asadi, now the school's director, sought approval from the Carden Foundation to relocate, lease and furnish a newer but smaller school at Calvin Presbyterian. The school's foundation, based in Hilton Head, S.C., promotes individualized teaching methods created by Mae Carden in 1934.

"We looked at other churches, even synagogues, and we were fortunate that Calvin allowed us to move in," Asadi said.

The school, one of 100 in the United States and China, enrolls about 50 students between kindergarten and eighth grade, with classes of about six students for every teacher. Some of the church's meeting rooms were converted into classrooms; a parking lot doubles as a volleyball and basketball court. Students wear uniforms, and tuition is $10,500 per student per year.

The curriculum places a strong emphasis on verbal and written language skills and math, and students are also taught French and Latin.

The school's goals involve a "demanding academic curriculum balanced with a rich fine arts program," according to its literature. Meeting these goals while making sure not to infringe on the church's sensitivities was an issue Asadi needed to address.

"The language needed to be frank," Asadi said. "There were some parents who weren't sure how to feel about sending their children to a church to learn, and also we didn't want to make anyone at the church feel uncomfortable."

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer Safe Haven: Students such as Hana Mangrobang (left) and Varna Vasudeban learn according to the Mae Carden method of teaching; the Carden Day School of San Jose has rented space at Calvin Presbyterian Church since they left their prior location in June 2002.

"They can stay as long as they can," Lassu says. "The Korean church can grow and become very strong and still stay here."

As for Fung, he hopes to stay at Bayside's Cottle Avenue location for about two years, at which time the church hopes to have established its own location.

"Our passion is to evangelize," Fung said. The evangelical movement is characterized by an emphasis on persuading others to adhere to Christianity.

"Our goal is to help growing churches and also create churches," Thorburn says.

Hill says that seeing his church become revitalized brings a sense of hope and satisfaction he may never have felt if the church stayed within its comfort zone and refused to change.