Adventures in churching

Matters of faith are not necessarily the first things that come to mind when people think of LA.

The city is much more well known for its movie industry, its music scene and "California cuisine."

But as my academic advisor reminded me recently, Azusa Street was the birthplace of Pentacostalism, LA contains the world's second largest Jewish population (New York is No. 1), and the area has a whole host of Buddhist temples.

That's not to mention Southern California megachurches like Saddleback Church pastored by Rick Warren and Harvest Christian Fellowship pastored by Greg Laurie.
As a committed follower of Jesus Christ, I knew that finding a church would need to be a top priority once I arrived here, but it's hard to know where to begin when there are so many options.

Thankfully, I've already been blessed to find a place that I'm considering as a home church. I stumbled upon Westminster Presbyterian Church about a month and a half ago when I was looking for housing. I had driven up to LA from Patterson early Sunday morning to meet up with the man who eventually became my landlord, and I figured I'd check out some churches while I was in town. While driving around seemingly aimlessly after having a burrito for breakfast at Taco Bell and praying for a church to check out, I stumbled upon Westminster and decided to see what time it started. A couple of kind men greeted me at the door and informed me that the service would start at 11 a.m. -- about half an hour before my meeting -- so I said I couldn't attend but that I would come back once I was in town.

I made good on that promise a couple of weeks ago, and discovered a friendly congregation consisting of mostly elderly African American attendees. In fact, the first Sunday I attended, I was the only white person present. Everyone was extremely welcoming and accommodating, and a married couple sang some gorgeous hymns.

The Presbyterian Church has its roots in the Church of Scotland, and many congregations tend to be mostly white, predominately elderly and somewhat formal in their form of worship -- giving them the oft-deserved moniker as the "frozen chosen."
But Westminster doesn't fit those stereotypes at all. Attendees sing spirited renditions of hymns and African American spirituals and say occasional "Amens" during Pastor Virginia Brown's sermons. I can almost tangibly feel the Spirit of God at work in that place as members gathered in groups and prayed for one another. The first Sunday I was there, Brown talked about reaching out to others in the community in rest homes and other places, before giving an altar call. A giant stained glass window portraying Jesus praying in the Garden of Gesthemne stands at the front of the sanctuary, which is about 100 years old.

Last week, a regular attendee told me that the church is in a neighborhood where a lot of young people are getting shot, and members are looking at ways to reach out to the surrounding population. (Note: During the day, I have never felt threatened walking in this area.)

During the prayer time, one member thanked God that I came when there were many other churches to attend that had younger members. It was somewhat ironic because I ended up checking out a church later that night that mostly consisted of twenty- and thirty-somethings.

Tribe of Los Angeles is technically part of the National Association of Congregational Churches, but it fits much nicer into the "emerging church" phenomenon. The church meets in "Smashlabs", where the LA-based band The Mutaytor practices. The night I was there, church attendees had dinner together, followed by communion at the dinner table. Then came a time of worship with electronic music and an African-style drum circle and Bible teaching. The dinner had a "Big Lebowski" theme, where White Russians and sarsaparilla were served along with the meal. (No, I'm not making this up.)

Apparently, the church branched off of a Bible study started by Christians who went to the annual Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert each year, and many attendees are involved in artistic endeavors. Folks trade off giving the Bible teaching each week, and attendees are given opportunities to ask questions and respond. It was certainly an interesting experience, and I enjoyed certain aspects of the service, though I haven't gone back since.

Yet another local church that could fit within the "emergent" category is Mosaic, which meets in several locations, including The MAYAN nightclub in donwtown LA. When I visited Sunday evening, the church seemed light years away from its brethren at the Southern Baptist Convention who previously boycotted Disney products. A slick video production featured a young woman who shared how she came to know Christ, and a pop/rock worship band kicked off the service with songs the band had written. The worship time almost felt like a rock concert, as the group performed songs to electronic and hip-hop beats as lights flashed about them. A young woman gave the message, talking about how God helps us through the struggles of life.

As a first time attendee, I got a latte from Mosaic's coffee stand for free, and talked to a couple of people at this event for newcomers. Apparently, there are a lot of artist types at Mosaic as well, and many of them get plugged in immediately, helping out with the church's video productions, dance teams and improvisational drama among other ministries. In fact, there is an artist's retreat coming up this weekend, in which members can get together and share their gifts.

Of course, there are tons of other houses of worship in this city of 4 million people. I saw dozens of storefront-type churches in South Central alone when I was looking for housing there. I'm not sure where I'll ultimately end up -- I'm kind of leaning toward Westminster -- but wherever that is, it definitely will be a different experience from anything I've had in the Central Valley.

Then again, it's all worship of the same God, just with different styles and types of communities. It's amazing to see how diverse and beautiful the body of Christ truly is.