Breaking away from a tendency to think of missions as something only to be done overseas, a group of about 60 to 70 pastors, seminarians, and lay people gathered last Wednesday (October 29) to discuss how the churches of Los Angeles could practically and actively love their city.
"Love the City," which took place at the Jefferson campus of Young Nak Celebration Church, allowed attendees to talk and fellowship freely with one another over complimentary coffee and lunch, and two panel speakers: Rankin Wilbourne, the lead pastor of Pacific Crossroads Church, and Michael Lee, the senior pastor at Young Nak Celebration Church. The panel was divided into two parts, the first half during which the mediator, Eddie Park, provided questions to the panelists, and the latter half during which attendees were able to ask questions.
The panelists began by emphasizing that the most important aspect to loving the city of Los Angeles is sharing the gospel and making disciples.
"I think we first have to define what loving the city is, and that's first and foremost saving lives, and souls coming to Christ," Lee said.
"Loving the city has to start with making disciples," Wilbourne said in agreement. "The best way to love is to disciple."
While staying focused on the gospel, both Young Nak and Pacific Crossroads also have been carrying out practical acts of service to love the city. For example, Young Nak has especially been focusing on youth development.
"Education is the key to alleviating poverty. If you want to transform a family, work on the child," Lee said. "We want to give hope to families who are experiencing poverty to get out of that cycle by way of educating their children."
Among their different ministries, Young Nak has been providing nurturing and mentoring programs, SAT classes, help with college applications, college visits, and scholarships to students in Lincoln Heights, to help youth achieve greater levels of academic achievement.
Pacific Crossroads Church has a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit called Hope for Los Angeles, through which some 100 churches have partnered together.
"We're trying to serve the city through channels that are already serving the city in many different areas," Wilbourne said. "We created Hope for Los Angeles for churches who want to serve the city but don't have the resources to do so." Hence, Hope for LA provides resources and connections to organizations that are already doing work in the specific ministries that churches may be interested in, including adult recovery, youth empowerment, and community development.
Pastor Rankin Wilbourne (left), the lead pastor of Pacific Crossroads Church, and Pastor Michael Lee (center), the senior pastor of Young Nak Celebration Church, participated in a panel discussion mediated by Eddie Park (right) about how churches can actively love the city of Los Angele.
Lee and Wilbourne also discussed ways that they have tried and struggled with reaching a diverse community in Los Angeles. Lee said that Young Nak started a new campus for the English congregation to reach a more diverse ethnic group of people in Los Angeles.
"Our original campus in Lincoln Heights shared a campus with the Korean congregation, so we thought it may hinder people who may feel that they don't really belong in a Korean congregation or that they are unexpected guests," Lee said. "So we launched this [Jefferson] campus to cast a new net and to catch fish that we weren't able to catch at the Broadway campus."
While Young Nak has been trying to reach a more ethnically diverse community, Pacific Crossroads has struggled with reaching more socioeconomically diverse people. Wilbourne explained that though Pacific Crossroads is ethnically diverse, he believes that the congregation is still "mono-cultural."
"In Los Angeles, socioeconomic walls may actually be higher than racial ones," Wilbourne said. He said that when he was struggling with how to address this issue, Tim Keller, the senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, encouraged him, saying that he and his church "can't be all things to all people."
"It simply takes different churches to reach different people. Know what you're doing, and recognize you can't do it all," Wilbourne said to encourage those who may be facing similar struggles.
To wrap up, panelists offered encouragement and advice to fellow pastors in the room who were shepherding their own congregations, and have also been looking for ways to serve the city.
"Saturate bringing people to Christ with prayer, and make sure that your church is a house of prayer," Lee said. "The leader has to be in the right place. You have to have that zeal and passion to lead the charge."
Lee reminded them to focus on the calling they've received from the Lord. "There's a saying that if everything becomes important, then nothing becomes important. Stay focused, remember who you are, and remember what God called you to do," Lee said.
Wilbourne focused on integrity, and remembering the position of the pastor and the church. "You have to know what you're asking your people to do before asking it from them. When you're asking your church to love their neighbors, have integrity before them."
He also exhorted them to remember that "we are not the light."
"Our role is to bear witness to the light. As Samuel Rutherford said, remember that your ministry and your life are His."
Love the City was a "preview" event to Together LA, a three-day conference to take place in February 2015 to help churches and Christians "transform the conditions of those living on the margins, live missionally, and develop cross-cultural relationships." Together LA will feature Tim Keller, who has been doing ministries to love and serve New York City.
"Let's get rid of a spirit of competition, and just come together. There is only one church in Los Angeles," Wilbourne said. "It would be amazing for all of us to come together and see how we can reach LA together."
"Together LA is just about churches that love Jesus and want people to love Jesus coming together," Lee added. "It's about seeing how we can create a greater impact to the city collectively than each would do individually."
Lee especially encouraged the Asian American church leaders and members to attend Together LA.
"We need to be there to represent the Asian church community, because Asians are a great part of LA," Lee said. "Instead of taking a recessive or passive approach, let's be bold in saying what we feel needs to be addressed in the city."
Love the City was co-hosted by Together LA and NexGen Pastors' Fellowship, a gathering of Korean American pastors who serve in the greater Los Angeles community.
(From left to right: Sam Koh, Al Han, Michael Lee, John Lee, Lenny Ginn, Sam Park) Pastors of NexGen Pastors' Fellowship gathered on October 29 to have fellowship with one another and to discuss how churches can love and serve Los Angeles.
Attendees of Love the City on October 29 enjoyed a time of fellowship together over coffee and lunch before a panel discussion with Pastor Rankin Wilbourne and Pastor Michael Lee.
