Mosaic (L.A.)
December 13th, 2004Church Review
Scriptural View: 2/5
Beliefs: 2/5
Community: 3/5
Preaching: Topical
Worship: Choruses
Service times: 9:00 am
Website Review
Site Usability: 3/5
Site Design: 5/5
Site Content: 2/5
Review: I attended a service at Mosaic in the summer of 2004. The church meets in the heart of downtown Los Angeles in a dance club/bar. As I walked to the building from the parking lot there were a number booths I stopped to look at. Some sold food or coffee, some sold books, and some others were giving out information about Mosaic and various ministries of the church.
Inside the building it is obvious that it is a club. There is the bar at the back, disco balls hanging from the ceiling and a stage where the d.j. usually spins records in those early morning hours. But on Sunday mornings Mosaic converts this building into a place for worship by hanging various art pieces all over the building, by adding two big screens on each side of the stage, and by filling the place with chairs.
The worship of God in song was led by an eclectic group of musicians and singers who traded off taking leads. For example, one of the guitarists ,who was wearing a leather jacket and jeans with a bunch of holes in them, played right next to one of the singers who was wearing tight corduroys and a beanie. All of them appeared to be enjoying what they were doing, often closing there eyes or lifting up their hands as an act of worship to God. They played only choruses because they believe “hymns have no cultural relevance in a multiethnic, multicultural urban church.”
When the sermon time came I expected the pastor of Mosaic, Erwin McManus, to preach. Erwin McManus is the author of “Seizing Your Divine Moment” and a couple of other books. He calls himself a “cultural architect” and apparently has become what the L.A. times reported as “a guru among many younger American church pastors.” Mosaic hands out copies of the L.A. times article to people at one of their booths and has it on the front page of their website to see and download. But Erwin McManus was not there to speak on the Sunday I attended. Instead a young man shared a long story about a chain of dorm pranks he was involved in when he was in college. At different parts in the story he would reference various passages weaving them into his story. The point of his message seemed to be that he thought he wasn’t very loving when he was involved in those dorm wars and that we need close communities where we can really love each other.
Mosaic is to be commended for their interest in the arts and their courage to meet in a bar. However, I cannot recommend this church for their lack of esteem for the Word of God in their desire to reach out to culture. The doctrinal section on their web page offers nothing but simply says to get to know the lives of people at Mosaic. It states that if you are really wanting to read a “statement of faith” to read the Baptist Faith statement. Yet in the L.A. Times article Erwin McManus admits that though “Mosaic is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention it does not subscribe to many (of their) stances…for example Mosaic allows for women pastors.”