Mt.Olive welcomes you as you are.

80 Years Serving the Diverse Community of Santa Monica, California!    

Mt. Olive Lutheran Church was home to fifty-seven members and held services in a rented storefront on 16th Street in Santa Monica when it was founded by Pastor A.O. Aasen in June of 1942. Within five years of its founding, Mt. Olive had not only purchased the storefront where its members were congregating, but also two lots of land on the corner of Fourteenth Street and Ocean Park Blvd.

In these first years Mt. Olive’s congregation grew rapidly and by 1950, our then-new church (and current site of our Parish Hall) was built and dedicated. Our church prospered due to dedicated Pastors, such as Pastor A.B. Swan and Pastor Cameron Hoff, who made it their mission to spread Christ’s word throughout the Santa Monica community. In fact, by September of 1954, our growing membership called for the need of a second service.

Mt. Olive has always held the belief that church and Biblical practices should begin on the Sabbath and continue through the rest of the week. For this reason, our members began many new activities both inside and outside of the church. These included the Women’s Missionary Federation, Lutheran Daughters of the Reformation, Mother’s Club, Men’s Brotherhood and Carol Choir. Although our activities have changed and evolved over the years, Mt. Olive continues to host church-sponsored activities such as Samaritan Sewing, Men’s Breakfast Bible Study, Film Night, Sisters in Christ and Senior Luncheons.

It was the culmination of these beliefs and practices that grew Mt. Olive’s membership to 1,214 baptized and a Sunday School of 408 by 1958. It was also around that time that Mt. Olive purchased the land adjacent to the church to develop as our new sanctuary.

Ground-breaking ceremonies for the new sanctuary took place in 1962 and within ten years, we had purchased additional property for the eventual site of Mt. Olive Lutheran Preschool. Our preschool opened in 1973 with a class of twenty-two students. Since then it has grown to hold eight classrooms, a playground and 3-times as many students.

In more recent years, Mt. Olive has developed even more community ministries, music and choir programs. We introduced Mt. Olive Movie Night, a popular monthly event that provides support to Santa Monica’s transient community by providing a free dinner followed by film and cinematic discussion. In 2005, we held our first (and now annual) German Christmas Eve service, which has grown to be Mt. Olive’s single most-attended service throughout the year.

Despite the many changes throughout our 70+ year-long ministry, one thing has remained constant at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church: The commitment to serving- without judgment, the diverse community of Santa Monica. It is a commitment that we steadfastly honor by proudly proclaiming ourselves as, “Mt. Olive Lutheran- A Church for the WHOLE community.”