'There Is No Neutral Ground Here,' Erwin McManus Says to The Church [Interview]

On Saturday (Aug. 12, 2017), in the middle of the chaos in Charlottesville, Virginia, that began the night before, Erwin Raphael McManus, author and pastor at Mosaic in Los Angeles tweeted, “We cannot unite with hate. We must stand against it. You cannot reason with racism. You must condemn it. The church must lead the way. NOW!”His post came after a relatively long thread of tweets that condemned the evil and called out the church in America to unite in “peace, justice, and hope.”Below is McManus’ answers to seven questions asked by TogetherLA while the nation was and still is processing what happened in Charlottesville and the ongoing reactions across the US.TogetherLA: Describe your initial reaction to the events that transpired in Charlottesville.Erwin Raphael McManus: It was probably a combination of disgust, disappointment, and hopefulness.Disgust because there should be no room for movements of hate such as white supremacy and Nazism. It's astonishing that people can be so ignorant, fearful, and filled with hate.Disappointed because I love this country and expect better from us. The undercurrent and subculture of racism and white supremacy have always been here but now they have been emboldened to go public as they feel their views have been validated and normalized.Hopeful in that this is not a new problem in our society and it has been allowed to thrive in the darkness of denial and silence by the white majority and unjust legal system. Their boldness to go public has brought them to the light and the darkness cannot prevail over the light. I am convinced most Americans- yes even white Americans- are committed to justice and equality for all people. I am convinced that most Americans are disgusted and even ashamed that Nazism is alive and well in this country that fought to defeat its evil ideology.TLA: Your call for the church to respond “NOW!” as you posted on Twitter obviously reflects urgency. Why?McManus: It is inescapable that the Evangelical church is seen as married to the present administration in Washington. Silence in this moment would be perceived as agreement and adherence to white supremacist ideologies.There is no neutral ground here. You either speak against racism or you add credence to their views. I am convinced the Church is the greatest hope for humanity and for creating a new world where everyone is valued and embraced regardless of differences.This is a critical moment in history and I want the church on record and on the right side of history.TLA: How should the church respond?McManus: As they have all weekend after Charlottesville. They must openly, emphatically, and clearly denounce White Supremacy and any ideology associated with Nazism.Then we need to advocate for social justice and reform so that all minorities are protected not only under the law but more importantly by our cultural values and ethic. The law cannot change the human heart. Government is limited in its ability to effect culture. This is the role and responsibility of the Church. Only Jesus can move us from hate to love.TLA: What do you see happening in Los Angeles in regards to church unity? Are they getting together? How?McManus: The Church is not segregated by region or cities. That's an antiquated view of the world. We are united with churches all over the world working towards common goals based on shared values. Mosaic is one of the most racially diverse churches on the planet. Our community and extended church family is global and completely integrated.TLA: What are the ramifications of Charlottesville for the church as you see it?McManus: Perhaps the most significant ramification for many churches is that if your church is racially homogenous it will be essentially irrelevant. The future belongs to those who have the courage to create it. We need a new humanity. We need a new expression of community. We need the Church to bring the world together. This makes me excited. There is so much opportunity here. I'm grateful that Mosaic began creating the new expression of the Church over twenty years ago. We are not reacting to a crisis. We are acting on a conviction and a calling.TLA: Is there something in your new book, The Last Arrow, that ties into how you feel today about current events?McManus: The Last Arrow transcends a moment or an issue. It is a call to move beyond self-indulgence to a life of sacrificial service. In The Last Arrow I address a broad spectrum of issues from the Syrian refugee crisis to the cultural epidemic of depression to the personal struggle of insignificance. The Last Arrow is a clarion call to make a difference in the world rather than a self-help book for personal self-improvement.TLA: Is there anything else you would like to add?McManus: Racists are not born they are raised. Isolation is the breeding ground for racism. The more you come to know the world around you and people different than you the less likely you will become an extremist. The church needs to bring the world together.As a speaker, I can inspire people to change but as a writer I can guide people to change. That's why books are so important. As a pastor, though, I can be a part of creating the change the world so desperately needs.For me that change the world so desperately needs is called Mosaic.

Yesterday the most powerful force in the world for the advancement of peace, justice and hope, came together.Fueled By Love:#TheChurch

— Erwin McManus (@erwinmcmanus) August 14, 2017

Backyard BBQ Evangelism: True Story Of Outside-The-Church-Walls Ministry

We have to start letting go of some of our long-held ideas about church and ministry. Especially when it comes to evangelism and outreach.But it’s not always easy.[ictt-tweet-blockquote]Don't force people to do ministry your way. Help them with the ministry they're already passionate about.[/ictt-tweet-blockquote]Here’s a true story that illustrates that reality. (I’ve kept some details vague, and adjusted others slightly to protect the identity of the pastor and church in question.)

The Backyard BBQ

Recently, I was talking with a small church pastor who was upset at his deacons."I have five deacons," he told me. "And they help out everywhere but at the church. One of them builds houses for Habitat for Humanity, the others volunteer at the senior center, the homeless shelter, the food bank, and as an assistant coach for the high school football team. That last one makes me especially angry.""Why is that?” I asked.“Well, we have no youth group. On youth nights my wife and I set everything up, then we hope someone shows up. Usually it’s only two or three kids. Sometimes none. But this deacon spends a lot of time with teenagers outside the church. In fact, he has a huge backyard, so two or three times a year he has all the football players over for a BBQ. Since all the players go, all the cheerleaders go, and soon half the high school is at his house, but our church doesn’t have a youth group.”“It sounds to me like your church does have a youth group,” I told him. “It’s in his backyard.""You don't get what I'm saying," the pastor responded. "Those kids don't come to our church, just to his backyard BBQs."“No, I heard you," I responded, as gently as I could. "But you're not getting what I'm saying. You need to call him and volunteer to help out at the next BBQ. Then, when you show up, don’t bring a big ol’ Bible or wear your clerical collar. It’s a small town. They all know who you are. Help flip burgers and toss a ball around with the kids.“After a couple parties, you can earn their trust. If you do, some day one of the kids will pull you aside to tell you his parents are about to get a divorce, or that she's been cutting her arms with a razor blade, and you’re the only pastor they know that they can tell these things to.“Your deacon’s BBQs are giving you a chance to meet and minister to kids who would never come to a church. Don’t get upset about it, be there for it!“And while you’re at it, call the other deacons and ask them how your church can help them build houses, feed the poor and minister to seniors. Don't force people to do ministry your way. Help them with the ministry they're already passionate about.”

Go Where They Are

Unfortunately, this pastor never got what I was trying to say. For him, the only ministry that counted was what happened inside the walls of the church.I wish this was an isolated incident. But we all know it’s not. There are far too many pastors and churches that don’t consider ministry valid unless it happens within the walls of their church building.But Jesus never called us to bring people into a church building. He told us to go to them. On the streets, in the marketplaces and at backyard BBQs.If we’re going to reach the next generation, we’ll need to get much better at doing ministry from the church, not just in the church.Keep your eyes and ears open to what’s already happening in your community through the members of your church. Then step up to help.

Regaining Trust

For generations, local churches were the center of many communities. They were places of hope and welcome. They aren’t seen that way anymore.We’ve lost people’s trust. Through scandal after scandal and one political fight after another, we’ve so diluted the pure, simple gospel message that more and more people no longer have the church on their list of possible places to find help, healing, or answers to their questions.In addition to keeping our doors open, we need to look for places where their doors are open so we can meet them on their turf. Start new relationships and nurture friendships where they are, instead of insisting they do it our way.We need to earn their trust again. But it’s not about getting them to trust an institution. Quite frankly, I don’t care if people who have been burned by the institutional church ever trust it again. They need to know they can trust Jesus. And his followers.For a lot of people, that will only happen outside the church’s physical and institutional walls, not inside them.That’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay. It may force us to rediscover our true mission and purpose again.After all, outside the walls is where Jesus did his best work. Why should his followers be any different?This article first appeared on ChristianityToday.com. Used in its entirety by permission of author to republish.

8 Questions For Churches at a Crossroads

8 Questions for Churches at a Crossroads

One of our core values at Grace Hills is, “We stay fast, fluid, and flexible. There are no sacred cows. We embrace the pain of change for the win of seeing more people meeting Jesus.”I wrote that one knowing that of all of our other core values, it would probably be the hardest to honor over the long haul. It addresses the crossroads where theology meets psychology, where truth, mission, and fear intermingle. Change is hard.The American evangelical church is in a rather desperate condition. You’ve heard that America is a “Christian” nation and that Christianity is dominant. Perhaps it’s the popular religion, but far fewer people are attending church than we realize. And we’re only planting one-fourth of the number of new churches needed to keep pace with America’s current population growth and rate of decline in existing churches.So churches absolutely must change and adapt if they will remain relevant to the culture.I realize many Christian leaders don’t like that terminology, so let me clarify that God’s Word, the Gospel, Jesus, and the church as Jesus intended it to be have always been, are now, and always will be relevant without our help. But we often hold on extra-biblical traditions and ideas that severely limit our ability to communicate with a young generation, an influx of immigrants, and a culture being shaped by its technology and entertainment more than its religious and historical roots.In other words, if Satan’s goal is to blind the minds of those who don’t know Christ to the Gospel, we often help by handing out blinders such as inauthenticity, racism, ethno-centrism, traditionalism, and political power struggles driven by fear and selfishness.But if God’s desire to enlarge his family matter . . . if people who are lost forever without the Gospel matter . . . and if the church of the future matters . . . we will embrace the pain of change for the win of seeing more people meeting Jesus.I don’t have all the answers, but I think I have a few, and they are rooted in my understanding of the Gospel’s effect on a community and my experience interacting with thousands of pastors and churches in the last few years. As I look at the landscape of stable or slightly declining existing churches that are fighting hard to stay afloat in the current of a rapidly changing culture, I see some common factors that must be addressed by church leaders. Here are some tough questions I believe every church ought to honestly ask:

• Are we really all about Jesus? Is he the head? Does he have preeminence? Are we clear with people that it is to Jesus, and not to a consumer-oriented experience, that we are inviting them? Attraction is good. Jesus was attractive. But are we honest about to whom we are inviting people?
• Will we hold tightly to our historical, biblical theology? Will biblical inerrancy, which has survived a tough struggle in some circles, continue to thrive among evangelical leaders? Will we be faithful to the Word of him who is the one and only way, truth, and life?
• Will we place our need to control, which is based on fear, on the altar as a sacrifice and begin to rely on the Holy Spirit? Will we trust his under-shepherds without the red tape of boards, committees, and votes? Will we listen to Hebrews 13:17?
• Will we embrace people from other cultures and backgrounds? Will we finally put to death the idea of the white church, black church, Hispanic church, etc.? Can we value our cultural heritage without the competitive idea that my culture is better than your culture?
• Will we create a safe place for people to deal with their hurts, habits, and hang-ups in the light of the Gospel? Can we ever assure people that we won’t use their past against them and handcuff them to their shame?
• Can we grow up and get over our demand for our own preferences to be met? Will we be able to adapt our communication to the language of humanity instead of church-ese? Will we welcome newcomers with love and wisdom, and listen and learn from them rather than leaving the responsibility of adaptation to them?
• Will we make prayer and submission to God the priority over polished productions and performances?
• Will we take risks, spend money, change names, reconstitute, relaunch, help the new church plant down the street, and venture into new mission fields by faith rather than remaining safe and comfortable? Not all of these apply to everyone, of course, but will we take the necessary risks?

More than ever, we need to keep our passion hot for Jesus, his truth, his church, new churches, new mission fields, unreached people, uninvolved believers, unforgiven sinners, the least, the last, and the lost. Pretty much everything else can be left behind.Any tough questions you would add? Or how are you wrestling with these and similar issues?

Stadia and World Impact Offer Urban Church Planting Vision Trips To LA, NYC

The national and global church-planting group, Stadia, wants to give Christian leaders and potential leaders "a front row view of urban church planting in action" at vision trips planned for Los Angeles (Aug. 15-17) and New York City (Sept. 19-21)."Come spend time with us and World Impact as we experience what God is doing through new urban churches," Stadia's Urban Church Planting Vision Trips organizers said. "Get an up-close perspective of how the partnership works and how you can join us."Stadia and World Impact said they are making the trips as accessible as possible by offering two options, one on each coast."We’ll cover your food and accommodations; you’ll just need to get yourself there," they said."During these Urban Church Planting Vision Trips you will get to know World Impact church planters as well as Bob Engel, National Director of Church Planting for World Impact" and "spend time learning how God is using Stadia and World Impact to reach under-resourced cities."Organizers plan for those attending to walk the communities where Stadia and World Impact will be planting future urban churches."From One World Trade Center (NYC) and Griffith Observatory (LA), you’ll hear World Impact and Stadia’s vision to transform urban poor communities for Christ,'" they said.

Every Child Has a Church

Stadia states that it has had "the honor of helping hundreds of great leaders start new churches.""With these leaders, we share a passionate desire to see a world where every child will experience the love of Jesus Christ through local church," the organization states on its website.In the trips announcements, Stadia asks, "Are you a leader who is ready to invest in the next generation through church planting? Do you know someone who is?"Stadia is ready to help! Because we won’t stop … until Every Child Has a Church."To learn more about the vision trips and to register click here.

World Impact’s Urban Church Assoc Develops Trust and Unity

LA Pastors' Bottom Line: We Want to Help the City That We Live In

In conclusion of TogetherLA’s 4-part series on LA pastors who participated in a panel, we ask again: Is there hope for the City of Angels even though it often appears so broken, so filled with spiritual poverty among its people that a diagnosis may very well be — beyond repair?The answer as expressed by the four pastors that met at the beginning of this summer for a TogetherLA pop-up held at Metropolis Santa Monica during its Philosopher’s Cafe Night was a resounding: “Yes, there is hope!”The LA pastors on the panel were Steve Snook of Santa Monica, Michael Mata of Koreatown, Cedric Nelms of Long Beach, and Brannin Pitre of Pasadena, all sharing their heart for the city they not only minister to but reside in.

LA PASTORS FINAL - BRANNIN PITRE ON PASADENA

 “We have a context in which we are divided racially. We’re divided economically. We are divided by educational bounds. We’re divided by political bounds,” said Brannin Pitre, who is the senior pastor at Grace Pasadena. “There’s just a great sense that at any given block in the city of Pasadena you’ll find somebody that’s completely different and aligned differently from you, which can cause a great sense of brokenness.“My joy in that is that it also provides an endless sense of opportunity.”Pastor Steve Snook of Metro Church in Santa Monica, who moderated the panel — Broken City – Is there hope for Los Angeles? — said that there is a lot wrong with the Los Angeles area, but rather than having a negative focus he wanted to share “the hope that is within us.”Pitre agreed with Snook’s statement and said in an interview videotaped before the panel that what he appreciates most as someone who transplanted himself and his family to Pasadena is that “we have multiple voices from different avenues coming together to express a similar theme — we want to help the city that we live in.”When it comes to people trying to address the city’s problems, asking questions such as how can they help, how can they come together, or is there common ground to do so, Christians have an answer, Pitre said.“For Christians, we say that the common baseline is the cross,” he explained. “When we see injustice we look back to the cross and say that Jesus is the solution. When we see economic poverty issues [in] our city we look back at the cross and say that Jesus has an answer to that.”Whether someone is of a certain denomination or no denomination is not the issue when it comes to providing a solution, he said.“The common bond that we share as brothers and sisters in Christ is that we can look at the cross together and say Jesus did it all for me,” Pitre said. “When that humbles us, when that makes us soft, then we can look at our brother or sister who’s walking next to us, they might not look like us, act like us, dress like us, think like us and say I’ll walk with you.”He added, “That is the joy that I find in our city. That is the joy that I find in the folks who come into the city, the folks who have lived here for so long, the folks who have said, ‘This is my town, walk with me.’ It’s a very open, very encouraging place to be if you just embrace it and say, ‘This is mine, too.”Editor’s note: This article is the final in a four-part series about the LA pastors' panel discussion hosted by Philosopher’s Cafe and TogetherLA.net on June 15, 2017. The full panel discussion can be viewed on Facebook by clicking on Part 1 and Part 2.Video and photos by One Ten Pictures.Read Pitre's discussion about how the Together LA conference, held more than two years ago, happened in a two part series at the Christian Post here: Interview Church Planter Brannin Pitre: Los Angeles Is on the 'Cusp' of a New Mov't; How Tim Keller's Church Supported Vision LA (Pt. 1) and here: 'Together LA' Organizers: There's More to Loving a City Than Planting Churches (Pt. 2)Finally, we'd love to hear from you! Please join the conversation in the Comments section below. Thank you!>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<< 4 Pastors Get Real About the City – Together LA Pop-Up Part 1 (Michael Mata)Urban Church Planter: First, What Does the City Need? Part 2 (Cedric Nelms)‘Beautiful’ Westside Striken with Spiritual Poverty a Unified Church Can Cure – Part 3 (Steve Snook)LA Pastors’ Bottom Line: We Want to Help the City That We Live In - FINAL (Brannin Pitre)

'Beautiful' Westside Striken with Spiritual Poverty a Unified Church Can Cure

From outward appearances it looks as though people on the Westside have everything they need to capture happiness. However, there is a spiritual poverty, especially among the young, that a unified Church can cure, says a longtime Santa Monica pastor.

PART THREE – STEVE SNOOK ON THE WESTSIDE

“Being on the Westside, you see some things differently,” Steve Snook, lead pastor of Metro Church, told Together LA (SEE VIDEO BELOW). “We live in a big city, but when I look at the Westside and see our brokenness I think about our spiritual poverty because it seems like we have everything — you have the beach, you have the hills, you have the beautiful houses, you have the cars, you have the beautiful people, you have all the industry ... even Silicon Beach right here in Santa Monica.“And yet, when you think of spiritual poverty, you think of people, you think that they have everything, that they’ve figured it all out — that they’ve figured out how to live and to enjoy what they have… but it’s that brokenness that breaks my heart… because I see the children of this community.“The over-privileged that seem to have everything yet they are crying out for their fathers who are so busy making a life for themselves that they have forgotten their children.”Snook gave his observations prior to a panel he moderated and co-hosted with Together LA last month. The panel — Broken City – Is there hope for Los Angeles? — began with him giving a heads up to the direction the discussion will go.“I’m going to tell you right now, there’s hope all the way across this panel,” he said. “You’re going to hear us being really honest about the brokenness that we see, but not spending much time on the brokenness without getting to a place where we talk about some of what we see happening even now and what is coming based upon the hope that is within us.”Joining Snook were Michael Mata of Koreatown, Cedric Nelms of Long Beach, and Brannin Pitre of Pasadena, all sharing their heart for LA.The importance of strong Christian-based leadership from fathers within families developed into one of the major themes of the panel.“When I see the brokenness of the Westside I see the young child who has everything and yet no one has ever told them the hope of Christ,” Snook told TLA. “There’s no parent, there’s no grandparent. They’re finding that they are going to have to figure it out on their own.“But on this corner, we have a coffeehouse [Metropolis Cafe Santa Monica] where we open our arms to the community and ask, ‘What can we do?’ The hope that I find in this brokenness is that there is one who has gone before us, one who understands brokenness.”The Church“When I look at who Christ is and I look to the hope of the Gospel I realize that one of the places of brokenness that I want to see change is in the Church — to see a united Church, to see that the Church is not about any one individual congregation, that it’s about the Church that Christ laid down his life for… that he says he loves this world that is turning away from him,” Snook said.He would like Christians to “be in a place” where God’s Church is united so that together they can realize that “we’ve been given the answers.”“We’ve been given the cure,” Snook explained. Therefore, we should be “willing to serve one another, to lay our lives down for a greater cause, to lay our empires down for the sake of the Kingdom.“My eyes have been open to the brokenness of the Westside so I can understand how we can be a part of the cure.”This article is the third in a four-part series about the panel discussion hosted by Philosopher’s Cafe and TogetherLA.net on June 15, 2017. The full panel discussion can be viewed on Facebook by clicking on Part 1 and Part 2.Video and photos by One Ten Pictures.4 Pastors Get Real About the City – Together LA Pop-Up Part 1 (Michael Mata)Urban Church Planter: First, What Does the City Need? Part 2 (Cedric Nelms)‘Beautiful’ Westside Striken with Spiritual Poverty a Unified Church Can Cure - Part 3 (Steve Snook)LA Pastors’ Bottom Line: We Want to Help the City That We Live In – FINAL (Brannin Pitre)

Church Planting: The 4 C's of Connection

Collaboration is a buzz word. Cooperation is all the rage, especially among millennials. Collaboraton can be fun. Cooperation is necessary to get certain things done, especially in the church planting world.Here are what I believe to be the four "C’s" of “Connection in Church Planting.” They also apply in every collaborative effort. I’ve certainly adapted and adopted these ideas from many other sources. The fact that I cannot correctly attribute them is one of the issues with collaboration.Each "C" is a step on a scale towards complexity, with corresponding potential greater risk and reward. Communication and coordination must increase for progression.1. CompetitionAre we working toward the same end? Does blowing out your candle cause mine to burn brighter? Is it a zero-sum game where for me to win you must lose? Some things are rightfully competitive. Kingdom Expansion and Church Multiplication are not about competition. Our friends at New Thing Network talk about the four "A’s" of Movement: Awareness, Agreement, Alignment, and Accountability. New churches are not competition for one another or existing churches. We need to agree on this before we can align any further.2. ComplementEvery person and organization has a mission, a purpose or objective that drives them. Our missions are like fires we’ve been entrusted to tend. We can add fuel to another’s fire based on our expertise, abundance, and Kingdom-mindedness. Complementing another mission may not cost much and it does not mean integration. In fact, complementary efforts involve strategic alignment versus redundancy where we recognize the value of another person’s work and where we help them do what they do best. To complement is to add value without any reciprocation; it is a gift.3. CooperateThoughtfully and intentionally aligning two or more fires can mean situating them closer together so they collectively are more visible, or spacing them out so they can light a longer path. Strategic proximity requires increased communication and coordination, but it still does not necessitate integration. For example, when Stadia helps churches host Church Planting Residencies, we encourage them to cooperate by bringing residents together for strategically shared learning but not to collaborate by sharing or swapping residents. Cooperation is alignment in the same direction without intersection, like rails. It does not even require alignment on distance (where) or speed (when), cooperation is about the way (how).4. CollaborateThe high point of connection involves at least some integration of effort and it often requires resources. This is painfully difficult and often why collaboration breaks down early on. Progressing from the relatively low bar of recognizing we are not in competition to the high bar of integration is facilitated by complementary and cooperative intermediary steps. Collaboration involves continual and mutual re-prioritization of the mission. Integration reduces redundancy. It is about stewardship, yet it is often initially inefficient. Time and continual realignment prove collaboration is most effective for long-term initiatives. Ego is the enemy of collaboration.Trust is the foundation collaboration is built upon. It is developed as we endeavor and experiment openhandedly, as we make adjustments and are graciously moving through stages together. This process can only be expedited through shared liminal experiences. More often it takes time, and in either case, it can be painful. I am convinced collaboration is worth the cost. Nothing is more God-honoring or Kingdom-minded than believers working together. Jesus prayed for collaboration in John 17, asking his Father that his followers would be unified so that the world would know God’s love. What else is worth collaborating for?Are you ready to start your church planting journey? Stadia is ready to help. START HERE.Nathan “Chivo” HawkinsStadia’s West Regional ExecutiveAs West Regional Executive, Nathan implements Stadia’s overall strategy in the western U.S., focusing on partner development, U.S. church planting, global church planting and Stadia advancement. Before coming to Stadia, Nathan played a key role in our Global Church Planting strategy as a Compassion International Church Relations Director. He also has first-hand U.S. church planting experience, having led in a church plant re-launch in post-Katrina New Orleans . As an adoptee and adoptive father, Nathan is passionate about children who come from difficult backgrounds. Originally from inner-city Minneapolis, Nathan grew up in a Christian home in a culturally diverse environment. After completing his bachelor’s degree in Minnesota, working in sports broadcasting and spending all his free time rock climbing, he hungered for greater purpose. He served a church in Juarez, Mexico for a year and a half, which led him to seminary, where he caught the church planting bug. Nathan and his wife Joy have three young children: Benicio, Taegen and Grace. The Hawkins are a family that welcomes foster children and love connecting with the local church.

Urban Church Planter: First, What Does the City Need?

To truly be an urban pastor planting an urban church one must first get to know the broken parts of the city, said Pastor Cedric Nelms of Chosen Generation Church in Long Beach, during a panel discussion about Los Angeles.

PART TWO – CEDRIC NELMS

“We are very diverse here in our city and I think the best way for us to come together is to be able to plant transformational communities … so that means we are walking into the community asking the questions about what are the needs of the community,” said Nelms, who was recently named City Director for World Impact Los Angeles.He told TogetherLA that Jesus assessed the needs of every situation he came upon “before he actually brought the solution.”“That’s how you begin to transform a community because now you are getting into the dirty part, the grimy part of what it actually means to be an urban pastor planting an urban church,” he said.

4 Pastors Get Real About Los Angeles – Part 1

It may seem like a daunting task to figure out what’s broken in Los Angeles then offer a way to fix everything, but that’s not what four Christian leaders from various parts of L.A. set out to do during a panel discussion at Philosopher’s Cafe (Thursdays at Metropolis) in Santa Monica last month.Co-hosted by Together LA, the panel — Broken City – Is there hope for Los Angeles? — began with moderator Steve Snook of Metro Church giving a heads up to the direction the discussion will go.“I’m going to tell you right now, there’s hope all the way across this panel,” said Snook, a longtime pastor in Santa Monica. “You’re going to hear us being really honest about the brokenness that we see, but not spending much time on the brokenness without getting to a place where we talk about some of what we see happening even now and what is coming based upon the hope that is within us.”Nelms is certainly on the same page.“We have to get unified in understanding that yes, we can be a different color, we can be a different culture, we can be a different race, we can even have a different creed, but we also have to understand that there is only one gospel and one Lord,” he said.The demographics of the community Nelms ministers in includes a population that is 60 percent Hispanic, 40 percent African American, he said. “In that context, three of their top four things on their list community-wise (needs and desires) were job training, youth engagement, and most of all, unification.”Nelms recently described the work of World Impact.“World Impact is a Christian missions organization committed to facilitating church-planting movements by evangelizing, equipping and empowering the unchurched urban poor,” he said. “World Impact’s purpose is to honor and glorify God and to delight in Him among the unchurched urban poor by knowing God and making Him known.“One of the initiatives that World Impact has for the urban pastor is the Urban Church Association (UCA). It is a coalition of urban church pastors that meet once a month for networking, resourcing, reproduction, and soul care. ...Not only do they collaborate and encourage each other, they seek to bring unity to the Body of Christ while transforming their communities together.”This article is the second in a four-part series about the panel discussion hosted by Philosopher’s Cafe and TogetherLA.net on June 15, 2017. The full panel discussion can be viewed on Facebook by clicking on Part 1 and Part 2.Video and photos by One Ten Pictures.4 Pastors Get Real About the City – Together LA Pop-Up Part 1 (Michael Mata)Urban Church Planter: First, What Does the City Need? Part 2 (Cedric Nelms)‘Beautiful’ Westside Striken with Spiritual Poverty a Unified Church Can Cure – Part 3 (Steve Snook)LA Pastors’ Bottom Line: We Want to Help the City That We Live In – FINAL (Brannin Pitre)

4 Pastors Get Real About the City - Together LA Pop-Up Part 1

It may have seemed like a daunting task to figure out what’s broken in Los Angeles then offer a simple solution.

PART ONE - MICHAEL MATA

But that’s not what four Christian leaders from various parts of L.A. set out to do during a panel discussion at Philosopher’s Cafe (Thursdays at Metropolis) in Santa Monica on a recent June evening. Co-hosted by Together LA, the panel — Broken City - Is there hope for Los Angeles? — began with moderator Steve Snook of Metro Church giving a heads up to the direction the discussion will go.“I’m going to tell you right now, there’s hope all the way across this panel,” said Snook, a longtime pastor in Santa Monica. “You’re going to hear us being really honest about the brokenness that we see, but not spending much time on the brokenness without getting to a place where we talk about some of what we see happening even now and what is coming based upon the hope that is within us.”

Together LA: Passion for a unified Koreatown

Prior to the panel discussion, an upstairs meeting and video taping by TLA (One Ten Pictures) led to some fascinating revelations about Los Angeles, a city that's often associated with big dreams, both fulfilled and broken.Michael Mata, director of the transformational urban leadership program at Azusa Pacific Seminary and a Together LA speaker, is an experienced urban planner and pastor. He has spent over 30 years in leading and equipping others in urban transformation through the creation of community and church-based programs. His work has focused on community transformation, youth leadership development, public health, intercultural outreach, and multiethnic ministry. Mata serves as community transformation specialist for Compassion Creates Change, Inc., and was the director of Tools for Transformation for World Vision’s U.S. programs.Mata lives in and loves his neighborhood — Koreatown.“Even though it’s called Koreatown, 70 percent of the people are not Asian,” Mata told TLA. “Even with this great vitality of humanity it’s broken in that we don’t have the interaction as we should.“We live in close proximity to each other, almost 200,000 people within two-and-a-half square miles, and we bump into each other and we eat in the same places and we hear each other’s music but we’re not necessarily connected. Rarely do we actually know the name of our neighbors — actually I do, but many people don’t.“[Residents] live in high rises, in homes they’ve invested in, they live with multiple families or extended families, and they are struggling to survive because even though there’s a sense of great economic energy there, the per capita is one of the lowest in L.A. County.”

Immigrants and young professionals consumed with ‘making it’

“So, you have a population that’s come to the United States who are contributing and being very productive but it seems their lives are consumed with ‘making it,’ maybe not so much becoming affluent, but certainly surviving,” Mata explained. “In that regard, we need spaces, we need a way to come together. Certainly in 1992, when our community was the second flashpoint in the riots, our community did come together.”Churches in the area and various religious institutions gathered together, he said, and asked “How are we going to rebuild together?”Within less than a year, Koreatown did rebuild, he said.The infusion of energy and “new life and looking for the future” gave way to a retreat of sorts.“We all went back to our regular spaces of work, relationships, and of cultural identity,” Mata said. “So those spaces or that bridge are sorely lacking and that’s where I think the faith community can come in.“We have great historic sanctuaries in K-town. Beautiful French-Gothic structures, some of them thousands of square feet, but on Sunday mornings they are pretty empty because the populations that once populated the pews are no longer living in the area. We have a new influx of not just immigrant people but young professionals and some churches are being more successful at that.“But that’s the space where God calls us to be reconcilers,” he adds. “We need to step up as a faith community to be that person, or that facility, or that body that brings people together and helps us to know one another even though we may not have the same beliefs or traditions. Nonetheless, we are living in the same space so why not move beyond just residing to becoming members or members of a community becoming neighbors to one another.”[gallery type="slideshow" size="full" ids="2949,2952,2953" orderby="rand"]

What does Jesus ask of us?

“I think that’s what Christ asks of us — to find our identity in knowing that we are created in the image of God — that the other person across the street may speak a different language, may be more permanently tan than me, eats exotic foods that I might enjoy, but beyond that, knowing that God really has something more in store for them then just survival. That God sent his only beloved Son that we may have life more abundantly that we can flourish and thrive. I think we have that opportunity and K-town can demonstrate to the world that we can come together. That the faith community, the Christian community can be the vehicle by which we, [and] the relationships [we are in] create a vital tapestry of God’s kingdom here in Koreatown.”This article is the first in a four-part series about the panel discussion hosted by Philosopher’s Cafe and TogetherLA.net on June 15, 2017. The full panel discussion can be viewed on Facebook by clicking on Part 1 and Part 2.Video and photos by One Ten Pictures.4 Pastors Get Real About the City – Together LA Pop-Up Part 1 (Michael Mata)Urban Church Planter: First, What Does the City Need? Part 2 (Cedric Nelms)‘Beautiful’ Westside Striken with Spiritual Poverty a Unified Church Can Cure – Part 3 (Steve Snook)LA Pastors’ Bottom Line: We Want to Help the City That We Live In – FINAL (Brannin Pitre)

Behind the Scenes Harvest America and NAMB Unify Christians, Churches

Behind the scenes of Harvest America 2017 in Phoenix on Sunday (June 11), a huge urban outreach partnership between the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Crossover Arizona and Greg Laurie’s Harvest America was a success story on many levels.The two organizations joined forces to host a three-day evangelistic outreach in Phoenix that involved training, street evangelism and service projects before culminating in Harvest America’s Sunday night crusade, NAMB reported.“God is faithful to glorify His name! 38,000 people came to #CrossoverArizona with Harvest America, and 42,305 people watched the live stream from 83 different countries,” stated NAMB. “But it gets better—2,904 stepped forward in the stadium and decided to follow Jesus and hundreds more committed online! All glory and thanksgiving to God as we anticipate what He will do next year in Dallas.”NAMB also reported that another 494 indicated that they had made salvation decisions online.Fifty Crossover volunteers gathered on Saturday (June 10) to fix up Arizona homes, Josie Bingham wrote in an article for NAMB. "They repaired plumbing, cleaned houses, painted walls and landscaped yards during the 'Love in Action' service project at several transitional houses owned by Dream City Church and its affiliate, Dream Center.TogetherLA.net spoke with Joel Southerland, who is the Director of Evangelism with North American Mission Board, backstage at Harvest America on Sunday and was asked more about the partnership with Harvest.“What we’re doing here is called Crossover and it happens every year around the Southern Baptist Convention,” Southerland told TLA. “We do an evangelistic effort around our annual meeting and have been doing so since the late 80s.’He added, “We felt like this partnership would give us the biggest reach we’ve ever had for a Crossover event. Greg and his team met with us and it was great from the very beginning.”More than 400 churches in the Phoenix area and Arizona area partnered to host and participate in Crossover Arizona and Harvest America. More than 5,000 volunteers signed up to be a part of the event from Arizona and from around the nation. “It’s a really Kingdom-minded effort between Southern Baptist Churches and even non-Southern Baptist Churches of similar theologies that are coming together and preaching the gospel,” Southerland said.[gallery type="slideshow" ids="2904,2901,2905,2906" orderby="rand"]“For us it’s been a great experience of churches coming together,” he continued. “When we got together 16 months ago with the Phoenix leadership team and cast the vision, the leadership team from the very beginning was really excited about the ability to partner and have that unity around the city and have that unified vision of reaching as many people as we can with the gospel in the Phoenix area.”Southerland said that NAMB has a “great network of churches,” including in the Phoenix area where the Southern Baptist churches are greatly respected. “Harvest and Greg Laurie have a great reputation in this area. So, I think that when we take our great network and the network and reputation of Harvest and Greg Laurie that already existed it was just easy to match. I don’t think unity was ever a problem from day one.”When asked about the way urban outreach fits into the event, he said, “We have 32 focus cities all around the United States, all major cities, and Phoenix is one of those cities. We have a big church planting effort that goes on in all of those 32 cities. Doing it in an urban context fits right into our philosophy of ministry.”What about non-Southern Baptist churches with perhaps a different theology?“If your main goal is to reach people with the gospel we are willing to partner and see that happen,” Southerland said.

WATCH Harvest America 2017 from Phoenix [VIDEO]

Greg Laurie: Harvest Christian Fellowship Joins Southern Baptist Convention

[ictt-tweet-inline hashtags="" via=""]I’m happy to announce a new partnership with the SBC, focused on bringing the Good News to our country and the world![/ictt-tweet-inline]RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Greg Laurie, founding pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, has announced that Harvest Christian Fellowship will join the Southern Baptist Convention:“Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus told his disciples to take the Good News of the gospel to the entire world. I believe we are the first generation that can actually accomplish that task. Because of today’s technology, we have more opportunities for global evangelism that any generation before us and to accomplish this we must renew our emphasis on evangelism as never before. Most importantly, we must unify our efforts. We must learn to walk in common purpose and common vision. I believe the need is urgent and the time is now.“On June 12, I announced that Harvest Christian Fellowship would be joining the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Harvest is an independent congregation that will continue fellowship with the Calvary Chapel family of churches as well, and this decision does not change our theology, philosophy of ministry or our history. It merely extends the reach of our fellowship within the Christian world at a time when the vision and mission of Harvest remains — as it has been for 42 years — focused on the teaching of God’s word and the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

WATCH Harvest America 2017 from Phoenix [VIDEO]

“Long ago, I came to realize I am called by God to simply do two primary things: to teach God’s word and to preach the gospel. This is the calling of the Lord on my life. Other than my personal walk with the Lord, and loving my wife and family, this is my only focus. My passion is to reach as many people as possible with the Good News of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ until my final breath. One of the reasons why we proclaimed 2017 ‘The Year of Good News’ is because I intend on even further amplifying my focus on gospel proclamation. It’s also why Harvest Crusades, with the assistance of the Southern Baptist Convention, organized the Harvest America 2017 crusade on June 11 at the University of Phoenix Stadium. It’s why we’ll do it all again next year in Dallas on June 10, 2018.“We need a national revival as much as at any time in our nation’s history. We must pray for it, work toward it and do everything possible to prepare the ground for it. We must preach and pray until it comes. This is why we’ve chosen to extend a hand of fellowship to the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest protestant denomination of churches. We’ve chosen to partner in total, unrelenting pursuit of our nation’s next great awakening.“I know the effect of the revival we seek firsthand because I came to Christ during the last great American revival, often referred to as the ‘Jesus Movement.’ That revival emanated primarily from Calvary Chapel in Southern California, and I learned to preach the gospel and to teach God’s Word myself within the Calvary Chapel movement under the example of Pastor Chuck Smith. Since that time, I’ve invested my life in the Calvary fellowship of churches while working with countless Christians from nearly every other denomination. I’ll continue to do just that, and I also look forward to continuing to build bridges between our communities. It has also been my privilege to be friends with evangelist Billy Graham (himself a Southern Baptist) for many years, and from him I learned how to preach the gospel.“I believe that the time is right to reach across the church and to lock hands in total support of the rapid advance of the gospel in our nation and in our world. I believe this decision is a powerful step in that direction. I appreciate the SBC’s focus on evangelism as well as their outreach in missions and relief ministries that touch our world every day in a significant way.“I look forward to partnering with them and all believers who have a passion for evangelism. The need in our country and the world is so great.”

Thanks for making #CrossoverArizona possible, @HarvestAmerica & @AZBaptists. Imagine what God will do June 8-10, 2018, at #CrossoverTexas! pic.twitter.com/PZkj7kt7z6

— NAMB (@NAMB_SBC) June 13, 2017

Photos courtesy of Harvest America Phoenix 2017This post originally published at Greg's Blog.

Reaching a Changing World with God’s Unchanging Word

In ministry, some things must never change but others must change constantly.Clearly, God’s five purposes for his church are non-negotiable. If a church fails to balance the five purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism, then it’s no longer a healthy church, and it’s in danger of becoming simply a social club.On the other hand, the way or style in which we fulfill these eternal purposes must continually be adjusted and modified because human culture is always changing. Our message must never change, but the way we deliver that message must be constantly updated to reach each new generation.[ictt-tweet-blockquote hashtags="" via=""]Our message must never change, but the way we deliver that message must be constantly updated to reach each new generation. [/ictt-tweet-blockquote]In other words, our message of transformation must never change while the transformation of our presentation should be continual, adapting to the new languages of our culture.Consider this: the word contemporary literally means with temporariness. By nature, nothing contemporary is meant to last forever! It is only effective for a while and only relevant in that particular moment – which’s what makes it contemporary.What is considered contemporary and relevant in the next ten years will inevitably appear dated and tired in 20 years. As a pastor, I’ve watched churches adopt many contemporary styles in worship, programming, architecture, music, and evangelism. That’s okay, as long as the biblical message is unchanged.But whatever is in style now will inevitably be out of style soon, and the cycles of change are getting shorter and shorter, aided by technology and the media. New styles and preferences, like fashions, are always emerging.Let me give you a word of advice. Never attach your church to a single style – you’ll soon be passé, and outdated. One of the secret strengths of Saddleback Church is that we’re constantly adapting; we’ve changed styles of worship, programming, and outreach many, many times in the last 24 years, and we’ll continue to do so because the world keeps changing.The only way to stay relevant is to anchor your ministry to unchanging truths and eternal purposes but be willing to continually adapt how you communicate those truths and purposes.Our members are constantly on mission to bring their friends and neighbors to our weekend services, where we reach out to non-believers – particularly those who have no real church background – by singing songs they can embrace, by voicing prayers that help them relate, and by preaching messages they understand. We make Christianity available on an introductory level to any visitor to Saddleback.You might wonder if we attract these visitors by watering down the Gospel, but we don’t; we simply communicate it in ways that non-believers understand! Jesus drew enormous crowds without compromising the message. He was clear, practical, loving, and he presented his timeless message in a contemporary fashion.Lost people have a need for meaning, a need for purpose, a need for forgiveness, a need for love. They want to know how to make right decisions, how to protect their family, how to handle suffering, and how to have hope in our world. These are all issues we have answers for, yet millions are ignoring the message of Christ because we insist on communicating in ways that make little sense any more.In a sense, we’ve made the Gospel too difficult for a changing culture to understand. Let me give you this analogy: Imagine a missionary going overseas and saying, “I’m here to share the Good News, but first you have to learn to speak my language, learn my customs, and sing my style of music.” You can immediately see why this strategy would fail.Yet, we do that all the time in a culture that is in radical flux. If we want to reach people in the current century, we must start thinking differently. Paul said, “I become all things to all men that I may, in some way, save some.” And I think that means if you’re in California, you should have a California culture church. If you’re in Ohio, you should have an Ohio culture church. If you’re in Mississippi, you should have a Mississippi culture church.But I also think that means if you’re in the 21st Century, you should have a 21st Century church. I believe the most overlooked requirement in the church is to have spiritually mature members – members who unselfishly limit their own preferences of what they think a church should look like in order to reach lost people for Christ. As Jesus said in Luke 5:38, “New wine must be poured into new wineskins!”Here’s a simple tradition to break in the 21st Century: stop thinking of the church as an institution. Regardless of the language we’ve used, we boomers have tended to see the church as an organization, but the emerging generations – and a lot of us Beatle-era boomers – are desperately looking for community.We need to present the church as a place where you belong, a family where, as they sang on Cheers, everybody knows your name. Now you and I may know that the church is a community, but emerging generations have never seen it that way. They’ve seen a list of rules, not a loving community. This is a prime example of an opportunity to re-state the eternal truths of the Bible in a fresh, contemporary way.Emerging generations are also focused on the experiential, and that means we have to adjust the way we teach and preach because most traditional churches focus almost exclusively on the intellect. In the 21st Century church, we not only want people to know about God, we also want them to actually encounter God.Of course, this means rather than preaching simply for information, we should also preach for action. Our message is not meant to just inform, but to transform the lives of those in our congregation. In almost every single sermon I preach every point has a verb in it – something to do. What are you going to do now that you know this godly truth?Why do I do it this way? Because God says, “Be doers of the word, not hearers only,” and our entire Purpose Driven process at Saddleback is designed to move people, not only into intimacy with God, but also into service for him, where they’ll experience a deep and broader faith in the midst of community and ministry.Since planting Saddleback, spiritual seekers have changed a lot. In the first place, there are a whole lot more of them. There are seekers everywhere! Because seekers are constantly changing, we must be sensitive to them like Jesus was, be willing to meet them on their own turf, and speak to them in ways they understand.Remember: the world changes but the Word doesn’t. To be effective in ministry we must learn to live with the tension between those two.My prayer is that God will use you the way he used David, as described in Acts 13:36, to serve God’s purpose in your generation. We need churches that are timeless and timely at the same time. May God use you greatly and may you fulfill his purpose for your life.The above article by Rick Warren was originally published at Pastors.com.

READ: Broken City: Is There Hope For Los Angeles?

Seattle Reboot: Life After Mars Hill; A Teaching Moment?

Editor's Note: The era of Mars Hill Church and its founding pastor Mark Driscoll is a phenomena not easily forgotten within the Christian community—especially for members who were a part of the Seattle-based movement. TogetherLA felt it worthy to refresh our memories as to what happened in a general way and perhaps learn from what had to be a teaching moment for many, many people. Below is an outstanding piece written by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra for The Gospel Coalition. Readers can begin reading and follow the link provided below for the full article.

Seattle Reboot: Life After Mars Hill

By Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

Four years ago, Mars Hill Church in Seattle seemed too big to fail.Just 17 years old, the church was drawing an average weekly attendance of 12,329 to 15 locations. In fiscal year 2013 alone, Mars Hill baptized more than 1,000 people, planted 53 churches in India, and supported 20 church planters and evangelists in Ethiopia. It released 50 new worship songs, gave away more than 3,000 Bibles in the United States and Ethiopia, and took in nearly $25 million in tithes and offerings.Then, in a few breathtaking months, the whole thing collapsed. Founder and lead pastor Mark Driscoll’s bent toward the provocative, which was part of his draw, increasingly came under fire, fanned by a series of controversies.Driscoll announced he was taking a break in August 2014, then resigned less than two months later. By the end of October, lead preaching pastor Dave Bruskas announced the whole thing was shutting down.“We don’t have anything in church history this apocalyptic, as far as a behemoth like Mars Hill—not only a city but national and international voice—collapsing in a two-month period,” said Taproot Church pastor Dan Braga, who watched the whole thing from the adjacent suburb of Burien.Mars Hill’s final announcement was optimistic: “With her final breath, Mars Hill gave birth to 11 newly independent churches where, by God’s grace, the gospel will continue to be preached, his name will be glorified, and thousands will be saved by Jesus.”Technically, that was true. But the legacy of Mars Hill is a lot more complicated...

READ FULL STORY AT THE GOSPEL COALITION

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Broken City: Is There Hope For Los Angeles?

BROKEN CITY: Is there hope for Los Angeles? We continue the conversation at Metropolis in Santa Monica on Philosopher’s Cafe night on June 15 at 7:30 pm. Pastor Steve Snook of Metro Church will moderate the panel that will include urban leaders talking about the tough issues and the possible solutions. The event is free and everyone is invited. #santamonica #losangeles #dtla #dtlaartsdistrict #hollywood #venicebeach #carson #boyleheights #inglewood #silverlake #echopark #westwood #culvercity #westside #southbay #valley #longbeach #torrance

A post shared by TogetherLA (@together_la) on Jun 1, 2017 at 6:35am PDT

Ecclesia Hollywood Asks, 'What Is Good News For LA?'

Since its beginning, and especially this month, Ecclesia Hollywood is on mission to discover and share the answer to the question: “What is good news for the people to whom we are sent?”The church announced a few weeks ago that every Sunday in May will be dedicated to hearing from a speaker hailing from a different part of Los Angeles. “Each will share about how God is bringing good news to the neighborhoods and social or professional networks where they live,” the church states on its website.TogetherLA recently interviewed Ecclesia Hollywood’s lead pastor, Jon Ritner, who shared that, halfway through the series, a common theme is emerging which is that “privatized personal faith” within local churches should instead be a faith that intersects with the culture around us.TogetherLA: Describe your current series at Ecclesia Hollywood.Jon Ritner: In May, we have been using our Sunday morning gatherings to ask “What is Good News for Los Angeles?” Since I am still new to the city, I have invited LA natives in each week to lead us in answering that question for the specific area in which they live. By the end of the series we will hear from leaders in East LA, Compton, Highland Park, and Hollywood itself who are each bringing a message from God’s Word and applying it through the lens of their local neighborhood. One of the common themes that is emerging, is how the local church must move away from our practice of a privatized personal faith and instead let our faith intersect with every area of culture around us.TLA: How did you personally get a passion for serving in Los Angeles?Ritner: My family and I moved from Brussels, Belgium to Los Angeles in the summer of 2015 to allow me to serve as Lead Pastor of Ecclesia Hollywood. During my time as a church planter in Post-Christian Europe, I saw how Europe’s rejection of institutional Christianity and its forms of church are forcing the body of Christ to reclaim its original first century roots as an organic movement of God's people living out God’s mission to redeem and renew all of creation through Jesus Christ. After 10 years on staff at an East Coast mega church building church programs, my time in Europe convinced me that the future of the American church will depend, not on services or programs, but on each follower of Christ taking responsibility to join God in his mission and flesh out Jesus in his or her own life. Rather than trying to get the world to come to a Sunday "church", we must be God's Church every day in the world around us.

TLA: What does your church do to stay on mission in LA?Ritner: At Ecclesia, we believe that each one of us is called to live as a missionary to the places where we have already been sent in our life; the places where we live, work, play and create. As missionaries, we are asking God to help us understand the context of our local neighborhoods and subcultures and then spiritually discern “What would the Good News of Jesus look like and feel like for these people in this place?” Then, we prayerfully join God in manifesting those elements of the gospel; such as beauty, justice, forgiveness, reconciliation, and radical love. We want to be midwives assisting God as He births His new Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.TLA: What have you learned about Los Angeles?Ritner: In my very limited exposure to Los Angeles, I have been heartbroken to learn of the city's tragic history of racism and ethnocentrism that has created deep cultural divides amongst its rich diversity of inhabitants. Whites only beaches and discriminatory housing policies are just some of the stains on our recent historical record, not to mention the resulting public outrage expressed in our two well documented riots. Sadly, too often followers of Jesus have divided along ethnic lines rather than standing together against injustice and the oppression of the marginalized in the city. Thankfully, there is great momentum through organizations like LA Voice, Covenant House, The Gospel Coalition LA, LA Church Planting Movement, and many others to work together for the common good to see our great city flourish as God intends.TLA: What do you see in the city in terms of "unity" among churches? Christians?Ritner: To our own deficit, Ecclesia is by no means a truly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic church. However, we live in a multi-cultural city and we want to be in partnership with churches and organizations who are engaging all over the city. We also want to be a prophetic witness in the industry of Hollywood and be sure that we are promoting cultural diversity in a sphere of culture that has traditionally been dominated by a narrow set of voices. It continues to be my prayer that God’s Kingdom would come in Hollywood as it is in Heaven!

Fellowship Monrovia: Hungry (I'm Falling On My Knees) [Worship Video]

Fellowship Monrovia posted on its Facebook page recently this masterful video below with the suggestion (caption) to: Take a few minutes out of the busyness of your day to come to the Lord and worship.

Hungry (I'm Falling On My Knees)

Hungry, I come to youFor I know You satisfyI am empty but I knowYour love does not run drySo I wait for YouSo I wait for YouI'm falling on my kneesOffering all of meJesus, You're all this heartIs living forBroken, I run to YouFor Your arms are open wideI am weary but I knowYour touch restores my lifeSo I wait for YouSo I wait for YouI'm falling on my kneesOffering all of meJesus, You're all this heartIs living forHungry, I come to YouFor I know You satisfyI am empty but I knowYour love does not run dry

About Fellowship Monrovia

Founded in Monrovia, California in 2012, Fellowship is a Gospel-centered, multiethnic, intergenerational church that exists to make disciples.Join us on Sundays!One church. Two Locations. Five Service Times.Monrovia High School Campus (MHS)845 W. Colorado Blvd.Monrovia, CA 91016Service Times: 8:15, 10, 11:45 AMHuntington Drive Campus (HDC)401 E. Huntington Dr.Monrovia, CA 91016Service Times: 9 & 11 AMWebsite: https://madeforfellowship.com/

Editor's Note

TogetherLA.net is your platform, Los Angeles, to share what's on your heart with others. Please let us know if you have something that reflects the love of Jesus and the message that more people need to hear. Send story ideas, including video, blogs, articles, event announcements, and photos to alex@togetherla.net.Thank you!#TogetherLA

LA Riots: Koreatown Pastor Michael Mata Led Relief Effort to Neighborhood

KOREATOWN, Calif. — When a good dose of hell was engulfing much of the city during the L.A. Riots, Michael Mata, an evangelical Latino transplanted from Texas, said he could have vacated along with his wife and children out of the area then known as Mid-Wilshire.They had that option. They could have gone out of town for a while or simply moved. But they didn’t.Mata decided that they couldn’t leave their neighbors, who didn’t have that option, behind. Their neighbors and entire neighborhoods had nowhere to go during the six days of violence that erupted on April 29, 1992 after a trial jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department of the use of excessive force in the videotaped arrest and beating of Rodney King.Fifty-five people were killed during the riots, more than 2,000 people were injured, and more than 11,000 arrested. Looting and arson were rampant and estimates of property damage were over $1 billion. Much of L.A. was in chaos, as Mata describes it. The California Army National Guard, the 7th Infantry Division, and the 1st Marine Division were called in to stop the rioting when it became evident that local police was not enough.“For me and my wife, we had to really grapple, do we stay or leave with our kids? We stayed, but we knew most of these people had nowhere to go,” Mata told Together LA as many leaders and residents of local communities remember the riots that took place 25 years ago. “They couldn’t go like what happened in Hancock Park — they went on vacation. They just left, they had a vacation house. They had the means to get on a plane and go somewhere. Here, they didn’t.”Mata said he was at L.A. First Church of the Nazarene, where he was on the pastoral staff, when the verdict happened. “It was a Wednesday in which the news came out about the verdict and then you had that Florence and Normandie (intersection where Reginald Denny was brutally attacked) explosion of incredible anger, frustration, which had been building up for awhile. It was almost inevitable.”

READ: 4 Pastors Get Real About the City – Together LA Pop-Up Part 1

Later in the day, Mata said he was called by World Vision to attend a meeting in Monrovia the next morning in which his help was needed on deciding how the relief group could best help in L.A.“The focus was on South LA,” he explained. “I’m there at the meeting. The television is blaring and they said, ‘Look, isn’t that your church? Hey, your neighborhood is burning.' You could make out in the smoke on TV, [from the helicopters camera view], that it was my neighborhood.”Unable to call anyone because of the failed phone system, Mata left the meeting to head home into scenes of looting and rioting, a maze of blocked off streets, and rubble strewn avenues.“It was probably the first time I felt uncomfortable being in the city because it was chaotic, it was totally out of control,” he said.Upon his return to his church he discovered that on day two of the riot, hundreds of people were in the church parking lot looking for help. L.A. First Church of the Nazarene became a distribution and volunteer center.Just a couple blocks away from the church a fire erupted in an apartment complex in which residents, many from Central America, lost their homes.“So, it was the end of the month and rent was due on March 1,” Mata said. “Half their apartment is gone. They are in shock and the landlord said pay us the rent. Then, to just add trauma upon trauma, you had the National Guard coming in with arms and people were reliving the trauma of Central America’s civil war.“They were feeling abandoned, that no one really cares, they were frightened, not knowing what’s going to happen, the National Guard comes in and now the landlord comes in threatening to evict them. We ended up doing a lot of pastoral care and we probably needed to do more counseling for the families, and the children in particular who were really traumatized. It was just really a bad scene here.”Contributing to the tension was a lot of misinformation and lack of understanding between cultures, he said. An aspect not noticed by many was that the majority of the population in South L.A. had become Latino. “The neighborhood had changed… it wasn’t a monolithic black community,” Mata said. “And also that it was essentially Central Americans. In fact, 50 percent of the people arrested were Latino, a third of the people killed were Latino. 40 percent of the businesses destroyed were Latino owned. They suffered a lot socioeconomically, but you don’t always pick up on that.

Where was the Church?

The mainstay of the community in the area were the churches but “the pastors weren’t necessarily skilled or even knew how to do” relief or urban restoration work, he said. “It took a lot of other non-profit activists to kind of come in and fill in.”Mata said that churches were taken off guard when the riots hit, “like a deer in the headlights because, at least the established churches here never had experienced something like this. Maybe (within churches) some of the older generation Koreans remember the Korean War and its impact on their country. The younger African Americans, they probably remember the Watts riots, but with the Hispanic or Latino community in South LA, in this area in particular, who were from Central America, they had come from war torn countries, so they were very much aware of what the ramifications might be in terms of their well being.”Despite a shortage of leadership from churches, people really wanted to do something, anything to help, Mata said. “People were showing up from everywhere. We set up a volunteer station here. That went on for months even though things had settled down.”In talking about his experience during the L.A. riots, he said, “I felt like I was in a 45-day long meeting because we needed to partner with other sectors so it was the public sector, which was government local and city offices, it was the non-profit sector, those that had been doing work in the community, and a lot of faith based nonprofits started showing up as well. There weren’t as many as I thought there could have been, and then there were the churches. There were churches that were kind of floundering [and asking] how do we do this? How do we work together?”Mata, who has lived in the Koreatown area since 1980, said his church had a network of relationships between people and churches the church worked with in this neighborhood and beyond. He said they began to “leverage those relationships” in order to move supplies past the 10 Freeway to the south because “the 10 Freeway was like a border. No one wanted to cross that border because that was no person’s land.”Mata explained that because one of the church's interns at the time was doing youth work he was able to pull volunteers from young people wanting to help coming from South L.A.“We connected with those families of the youth,” he said. “Mother’s became block captains making sure the food and supplies were distributed to the blocks they were assigned. We had about 20 families here. They would help distribute supplies as needed.”Mata said his church wasn’t the only one in the mix of helping ravaged communities. “The well known church was First AME off of Western and Adams. They were kind of the church where everybody (political leaders for example) went. They did a lot in the aftermath but it doesn’t mean that other churches weren’t involved. I remember being in Kenneth Ulmer’s church (not bigger than this sanctuary) as he was also trying to respond.“There were a lot of churches trying to respond but they just didn’t have the capacity. They were trying to do something but they didn’t have the link. A lot of them were either independent or isolated churches. The ones that were doing better were the ones that were denominationally affiliated.”He added, “There were a lot of collaborative efforts. It was the independent churches that didn’t know where to get the support.”

Where is the Church now?

“On the smaller scale, the non-denominational and independent churches, their staff and pastors were not necessarily community development orientated,” Mata said. “So, out of that, in partnership with World Vision we created a program called Vision to Reality. We help [churches and ministry leaders] in terms of creating affiliate non-profits, how to do grant writing, the need for a written collaboration and networking, and those kind of efforts. That help we gave was pretty ecumenical and interdenominational.“We worked with Roman Catholic parishes, mainline Pentecostals, and churches in general. That was really important at the time in understanding that we are only going to be able to do this as the Body of Christ working together.”The riots were finally over after six days, and in the months that followed, Koreatown rebuilt quickly, Mata said. “At that point, it was helping cleanup and rebuild, in a way, our community. It was project driven. We had some goals in mind and I think that was a really important piece that has come back to me, even at Together LA (conference held two years ago), when I was on the panel discussion where we asked this question. It seems like when you work together on something that is meaningful and purposeful that it really generates the energy and the willingness to really do something. And we get to know each other. We sweat and work together and we see that we are sisters and brothers, not just, ‘Oh, that’s a pastor over there or that’s our competition over there.' To this day, when we bump into each other we kinda hug and look at each other and [say] wasn’t it amazing what we were able to do… outside of what the business community wanted to do.”

Is the Church ready?

“I’m fearful, but I’m hopeful,” Mata said. “I don’t know if another event were to happen tomorrow, even an earthquake, could we call somebody? [For example,] ‘Hey, Pastor John, what are you guys doing?’ I [personally] don’t have those relationships at that level.“The reason we were so effective at this church at what we did is because we had those relationships. Not only with other pastors and religious leaders but with the community. We had youth, we had families that knew us, trusted us and we trusted them, and we were able to really respond overnight.“Yes, we do need to get to know each other.”When asked if something like the L.A. riots could happen again, Mata looked straight at this reporter and said, “Yes, absolutely.”Michael A. Mata, M.Div., who is an Adjunct Professor at Azusa Pacific Seminary, has led and equipped others in urban transformation for more than 30 years through the creation of community and church-based programs. His work has focused on community transformation, youth leadership development, public health, intercultural outreach, and multiethnic ministry. Mata serves as community transformation specialist for Compassion Creates Change, Inc., and was the director of Tools for Transformation for World Vision’s U.S. programs. He has nearly 20 years of experience in urban pastoral leadership, and holds degrees in biblical literature, religion, and urban planning.

Solution For Proactive, Unified Church in LA is Already in Place, Says Rapper Propaganda

The solution for a proactive, unified Church in Los Angeles and beyond is already in place, rap artist Propaganda (Jason Petty) told Together LA off stage at the recent Catalyst West conference at Mariners Church in Irvine.“The beauty of Los Angeles is how many amazing things various churches are already doing,” Propaganda said. “Often times we have this idea that we have to invent the solution for the city, but there is a lot of people already in the trenches somewhere.”The practical approach or “practical unity,” as he puts it, for Christian leaders is to look for programs such as social services, outreaches, and serving the community that are already ongoing rather than to set-up new programs.“Participating in what’s already happening is a great way as a church that we can do more things,” Propaganda said. He said he believes that it’s important to have a perspective on “who’s already doing what.” One church or leader should not strive to be the “hub of the city,” he said, “That’s never happened where one church is the hub of the city. The geography [alone] doesn’t allow for that.”Described by “I Am Second,” under the testimonial ministry’s video of him, as an “underground rap artist” who “grew up a fish out of water” in a Hispanic neighborhood, he is considered a poet and artist “in the midst an alpha male urban environment” early in his career. At Catalyst West, he was a perfect candidate to discuss “Uncommon Fellowship,” the conference’s theme.To see the beauty of the Church, often times, "you need to know what you are looking for,” he told TLA. “Beauty is something we’ve denigrated to being something very surface. When you are looking for just surface things you might miss it. You might miss the beauty of what’s happening somewhere.“When she (the Church) is doing her job, when she is actually functioning the way she should, it’s a very quiet, behind the scenes, calm, and steady revelation. Just the process and business of saving souls. There’s no newspaper clipping, there’s no push notification when someone becomes a believer … when a marriage is saved. You have to know what you are looking for.“Like my pastor says, ‘We don’t want to be known for the outpourings of gospel living, we want to be known for just gospel living. [For example,] it’s not in any paperwork that we serve at the battered women’s shelter. That’s just what we do because we are gospel-centered people. You see this sort of thing happening in L.A. all the time."He concludes, pointing out that in the Spirit of God, “There’s no marketing campaign. I’m just going to quietly and calmly love my neighbor, and to me, that’s beautiful.”

Segregated Churches Need to Shift From Managing Decline to Credible Witness, Says Multi-Ethnic Leader

Segregated churches in America need to stop simply managing the current state of decline and begin working together to create a “credible witness of God’s love,” Mark DeYmaz, a leader of the multi-ethnic church movement, recently told Together LA.“We can’t be all about unity in our own local churches without unity in the city,” said DeYmaz, who was at the leadership conference, Catalyst West, on Friday. “Take for example, Together LA and Los Angeles — pastors coming together with varying ethnic backgrounds, economic conditions, and the urban and suburban churches working together to advance a credible witness of God’s love for all people in and around the L.A. region — this is super important.”

Mark DeYmaz Interview at Catalyst West 2017 from One Ten Pictures on Vimeo.

In his recently released book, Disruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community, he stated that not only are Americans divided along the lines of race, class, and culture as well as religion and politics, but Christians are often at odds with one another over the same things as well.READ — Disrupting the Division: Christians Must Tack To the Wind “This is the time, then, for Christ-centered peacemakers to step up and stand out so that Christians will no longer be seen as disturbing the peace but disrupting, in a positive sense, by diffusing division at every turn,” he wrote in his book.He said that the goal for Christians should be to come together to bless the city, to lead people to Christ, to promote the greater unity, and ultimately to fulfill the great commission.“The starting point is individually building cross-cultural relationships, [and] collectively creating local churches that reflect their communities, and then the aggregate effect of bringing all those pastors and churches together to have a transformative witness in their cities,” DeYmaz explained. The process he describes is the “future of the American church.”“In fact, if we don’t get to this state (of process) we end up managing decline. That’s what’s largely going on in around this country both in cities and in the church,” he said. “We are simply managing decline because we are bowed up … in terms of how we do churches that are systematically segregated. We target people groups, [but] we should be targeting communities and that’s the future and that’s what works like Together LA and others in cities around the country are all about. It’s so encouraging to see because this is the hope of the gospel, this is the gospel of Christ.”

Catalyst West: Uncommon Fellowship; It's Time For a Family Meeting [VIDEO]

From Catalyst WestIt’s common in our culture to sort, divide, and exclude. To look out for ourselves, make it at all costs, and leave others in our wake.But Jesus is building something uncommon.Something that invites.His fellowship is a household. A place where we belong to each other, look out for each other, and build each other up.A place where individuals are celebrated, not sorted. In this family, we are included, fathered, encouraged.Something that transforms.He cultivates this fellowship with His Word. He recasts fractured desires with His own. He molds pride into humility.He breathes into us, nurtures us, recreates us.Something that sends.His fellowship extends into the world. It transcends boundaries. Challenges darkness with hope.Enters the public square with humility and redefines the contours of culture with truth.For the Catalyst Leader, uncommon fellowship tells the story of our family. Uncommon fellowship possessesthe strength of our witness, bears the heart of God, and provides a signpost of the Kingdom to come.It's time for a family meeting.CATALYST WEST - MARCH 30, 31 - IRVINE, CALIFORNIA

Church Creates Space For 'Kids Hope,' Relationships in Schools

As mentors and kids filed into the Kids Hope classroom at Eagle Rock Elementary this week, high-fiving and catching up on the important details that had taken place in the last seven days since they'd seen each other, I saw a little guy sit down at his desk, lean into his mentor and say, "I love being a Hope kid."I'm so grateful that our church believed in creating a space like this in our neighborhood — believed in going out the doors of the church to our local public school to connect with families who would never come through the church doors on their own — believed in the power of relationships to infuse a life with hope.This little boy and his family are now a regular part of our church community. Every Sunday he attends Kids Church while the rest of his family attend the 11:15 am North service.It turns out, hope is contagious, and not just for the kids!— Sarah Dornbos

ABOUT KIDS HOPE

Kids Hope USA is a national organization that has been equipping local churches to form partnerships with their local public elementary school for more than 20 years. Volunteer mentors are recruited and trained by the church, and matched with an at-risk student referred by the school — because we know that ultimately it's relationships that transform the lives of students and communities. For more information about Kids Hope Eagle Rock contact Sarah Dornbos at kidshope@cachurch.com or visit www.kidshopeeaglerock.com.

One simple thing will make a big difference in the life of an at-risk child: One-on-one, positive attention from a responsible, caring adult. Kids Hope USA develops these one-on-one relationships through the creation of church-school partnerships that pair church members with at-risk kids in supportive, mentoring relationships.Kids Hope USA mentors spend just one hour per week, reading, talking, playing and listening to a child at school. By helping the child feel loved and valued, they help that child to learn, grow and succeed.You can change a life ... and that’s no small change.

TOGETHER LA EVENTS: Kids Hope Los Angeles Appreciation Night with USA Leader