Los Angeles Church
"Trying to Turn Christianity Upside Down"

"A flourishing multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-location church that formerly met in a downtown Los Angeles nightclub is getting the attention of Christian leaders," writes the Charisma News Service.

'Mosaic' reaches particularly young people in their 20s and holds services including a mix of visual arts, theatre and elements from non-western cultures. It centres on relationships and serving others, and its attendance has grown, according to a Los Angeles Times report, from less than 100 to 2,000 in only six years. There are already sister churches in San Francisco, Seattle, Manhattan, Atlanta and Nashville, with plants under way in Germany, Spain and Scotland.

Church members come from 57 nations; almost half are from Asia, with latinos, whites, blacks and others making up the rest. Around 80% are singles, and the average age is 24.

The name 'Mosaic' is meant to reflect the variety of the members, "a broken and fragmented humanity, which can become a work of beauty under the artful hands of God," says Senior Pastor Erwin Raphael McManus.

"Part of the reason we are large is because we take people to Christ, people who would normally consider Buddha, New Age, something more mystical or kabbala," said McManus, 46, an ordained Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) minister who has become something of a guru among younger church leaders.

Associate pastor Eric Bryant, an ordained Baptist preacher, first worked at Mosaic as a volunteer parking-lot attendant. "I felt that I'd rather be an attendant in a parking lot of a movement than in the pulpit of a dying church," he said. "We can't reach L.A. unless we're relevant, speaking the language of Angelenos. When Jesus was walking on Earth, he spoke the language of the people: Aramaic."

Mosaic is associated with the Southern Baptists, but deliberately does not abide by all regulations of the USA's largest denomination.  For example, Mosaic allows women pastors. The congregation has a high percentage of artists, musicians, actors and writers, who write songs and plays and participate in performances.

Mosaic's three Sunday services are held in rented spaces. The congregation operates on a $1.8-million budget this year, mainly from members' tithing. Many members volunteer their services, and Mosaic also has 70 missionaries abroad.

McManus added: "We're a part of the insurrection, trying to turn Christianity upside down. We're an experimental church, God's research and development arm."


Source: Charisma News Service, http://www.charismanow.com/a.php?ArticleID=10016