La Mesa Central Congregational Church on Lemon Avenue has served La Mesa California since 1909, making it one of the city's oldest active congregations. The church's youth-outreach partnership with Peter Pan Junior Theatre Shop has run continuously since 1998, connecting the congregation to performing-arts programming across East County. Affiliated with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and the Southern California Cal-West Association, the church operates under congregational polity where membership votes govern all local decisions. The 1926 sanctuary holds a 350-seat nave with stained-glass windows and a historic pipe organ, a worship-and-events format echoing the heritage preservation seen at nearby venues like Nan Couts Cottage in La Mesa Village. During the Great Depression the original 1911 chapel's downstairs dining hall functioned as one of La Mesa's primary soup kitchens, and the facility continues to host multiple AA and NA recovery groups on a weekly rotation.