Orange County Churches Review & Guide

The First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa

January 18th, 2005

Church Review
Scriptural View: 2/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 2/5
Preaching: Topical
Worship: Hymns
Service times: 10:00 AM

Website Review - website currently down
Site Usability: 0/5
Site Design: 0/5
Site Content: 0/5

Review: I attended the weekly Sunday service in January of 2005. The First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa meets in their historic church building complete with pews, a high vaulted ceiling, an orchestral organ, and stained glass windows. As I walked in I was greeted by two elderly men who handed me a bulletin containing the order of worship.

The meeting was led by a woman pastor named Julie Elkins. She directed the service in various prayers, responsive readings, and a message from the pulpit. She began by asking any visitors to stand up and introduce themselves to everyone. After this, everyone was to go around and greet each other.

Throughout the service there were several times when everyone was directed to either stand up or sit down. One time, while we were sitting, Julie Elkins asked for anyone who had any prayer requests to share them out loud. Julie had a prayer request for a good friend of hers who was recently diagnosed with cancer. She was very emotional and after collecting herself she prayed for her friend and for blessings upon the people present.

There were a couple of sections in the service when a man led the congregation in singing some hymns while he played the organ. In addition, there were two very talented younger children who played special music right before the time of offering. One played a beautiful piece on the violin and after that the other played a wonderful piece on the oboe.

The time of offering was led by a man who performed a ceremony where money from plates that been passed around were put on an alter in front of the church below a cross. He prayed a prayer announcing the money as a gift to God.

Later, Julie Elkins had this same man read a passage from the Gospel of John, after which she proceeded with her Sunday morning sermon. Her sermon was topical in nature. She said there was a principle in this passage of John about coming to see Jesus. The thrust of her sermon was that Jesus was a good teacher and that we all need to be taught, so “come and see” and be taught by the master teacher.

I cannot recommend this church for several reasons. The most obvious reason is infringement of Scriptural teaching concerning the roles of men and women and the leadership of the church (for questions see Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood ). Other reasons include the low esteem of Scripture (demonstrated by the non-exegetical nature of the sermon), and the low esteem of Christ, who was not only a good teacher but the Son of God. In addition, there appeared to be no mission mindset whatsoever. Nearly everyone present was elderly in age.

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The First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa

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