Ecclesia – Pacific Theatre, Hollywood
So what do you do when in Hollywood? Go to the movies, obvious really. Only my cinema visit was for the morning service at Ecclesia. The church meets in the Pacific Theatre, and old movie house situated on the real end of Hollywood Blvd. I say the real end because Hollywood Blvd is the kind of place where you find every aspect of life.

Just a few blocks from the church is the Kodak Theatre where the Academy Awards are presented every year. Here is where the tourists go, where the street is cleaned and there are museums, attractions and expensive looking clothes stores. Where Ecclesia meet there’s less luxury. There’s an ‘adults only’ store on the other side of the road and the theatre itself is falling into disrepair after suffering structural damage during an earthquake a few years ago. Apparently it’s all OK as long as nobody visits the balcony.

Brandon is an accidental pastor. He was part of the group that formed the church about four years ago, with the idea of appointing a ‘professional’ pastor as soon as possible. After a search that resulted in them almost appointing someone else, God put him in charge.

He now leads the church with a small staff team, and as he talks about in the interview I recorded with him, about how he finds himself spending time on the practicalities of running the church when he would rather be investing the time in people.

Sunday’s, 200+ congregation, was mostly made up of young people. 20’s and 30’s kind of age range. Brandon told me that most work in some aspect of the entertainment industry, as a result the church service is very basic and with not so much show. Ecclesia have made a conscious effort to encourage people to use their gifts during the week and almost to come to church for a break. So the service involved a block of singing at the start, then Brandon preached before we took communion. That was about it. Pretty straightforward really.

Mosaic – Mayan, Downtown LA
Mosaic at the Mayan is completely different. Probably better described as a performance based church. There was the band that played and the dancers that danced, the improv group that did something… there was even a guy at the side when we arrived scratching (I mean with records, not fleas). The whole thing was very slick, very professional, it fitted the environment so well.

The good thing about the band, aside from the quality of the music, was that they had written the material themselves (at least that’s how it appeared). The songs were/are relevant to people living in LA in 2008, presented in a style that fits the culture.

I don’t want you to think this is something negative. People take part in services in very different ways. We’ve been cultured to expect the congregation to take part by singing etc, but what if you don’t like singing? Being able to listen to others do a good job may be more suitable.

It’s not as though they skip the teaching either. Erwin McManus spoke for about 30 minutes before taking some questions at the end, something that they usually do at the 5pm service – I can’t think of the last time I was in a service where the person speaking took open questions at the end. Download the podcast, it’s worth a listen – although, you won’t get the questions session.

I’m meeting Eric Bryant later today, he’s one of the co-pastors at Mosaic, so I may get a better understanding of what goes on at the other services, or ‘gatherings’ as they call them. I think there are about 8 meetings across LA on any given Sunday, plus there’s home groups during the week.

Summary
I like them both. Ecclesia is less of a cultural shift for me. Having been brought up in the church it’s a variation on a theme from what I’m used to. Mosaic, while being completely different, is something I could easily bring a friend to because it’s less of a shift from contemporary culture. My friends will ‘get’ this without any problems.

Neither church better than the other. They are different with different approaches. Isn’t it wonderful that God made us all so different?