Pastor Charles Choe is the lead pastor of Tapestry LA.
"We want to be a church that represents the city, a church that reflects the diversity of the city," says Pastor Charles Choe of Tapestry LA.
Tapestry LA is a church of about 400 members located in Los Angeles, CA that was started in July 2014.
"We're mostly Korean Americans and Chinese-Americans, but there is a growing non-Asian population," Choe said, adding that becoming more multicultural is the goal. "I would say we're about 80 percent Asian, and 20 percent non-Asian right now."
Choe had long encountered people from diverse backgrounds throughout his career, though he hadn't always served in a multiethnic context. Previously, he served in a Korean American church, but he had also been bi-vocational for quite some time as he worked as a teacher in the inner city for 10 years. This not only exposed him to diverse people ethnically, but also socioeconomically. He saw the needs of the city.
"One of the things I have a passion for is being a city church, much like Tim Keller's model," Choe expressed. "L.A. is the most densely populated region west of the Mississippi, and I felt like God was strategically placing us here."
Choe said he hopes he and the members of Tapestry could become a church for the city by embodying three values: first as a family member of the church; second as a missionary both locally and globally; and third as a servant by reflecting "the servanthood of Jesus."
When it comes to teaching members about these values of the church, Choe acknowledged that "people are at different levels." In order to accommodate these differences, the church hosts an informational meeting for newcomers every month called Tapestry Connect, during which they go over these values and explain what it means to be a member of the church. Also, for one week in January at the start of the new year, the church spends a week fasting together. Following that week marks the beginning of Tapestry's discipleship training which is organized into two different tracks based on the material used in the program: "Alpha," a 12-week course for new believers, and "Experiencing God," a 15-week course for a more intense training.
It's during the 15 weeks of the "Experiencing God' discipleship track that Choe elaborates on the three values of family member, missionary, and servant, and tries to impart the values of the church to the members.
"During these sessions, I would talk about everything that this church values, the DNA that we want them to have," Choe said. "This discipleship course is basically a chance for us to talk about the things we value as a church and to impart the things that I believe are important for them as disciples. I teach on these values and I hope that people are convicted to practice them."
Of these values, the value of servanthood is the one which Choe hopes his congregants will live out as they interact with the neighboring community and serve the city in practical ways. He and the church leaders try to provide opportunities for the members to practice that servanthood on a regular basis.
One of the most regular ways the church reaches out to people in the community is by going out to the Westlake area in Los Angeles once every month, engaging with strangers, and asking if they would like to be prayed over, an outreach that the church calls "Love Westlake." Choe and Tapestry LA's leaders also encourage the members to walk to lunch on Sundays to support local businesses, and make the church's presence known as the members become regulars at surrounding restaurants.
Tapestry LA also holds an annual school supply drive to provide new school supplies to children whose families may not be able to afford buying new supplies for them each year.
The church has also been in touch with the local government. Choe said he reached out to Los Angeles City Council Member Gilbert Cedillo to let him know that the church is in his district, and Tapestry LA has worked with the Los Angeles Housing Project on low-income housing projects.
"For one of our projects with the LAHP, one of our members who is a chef went to one of the low-income housing buildings once every month. She would cook in the first floor kitchen and invite the people in the community to join, and taught them how to cook healthy meals," Choe said. "Some of our other church members also came along and volunteered."
Choe described one of the proudest moments he has had as the pastor of Tapestry LA; a time when the church partnered with a non-profit called Aztec Rising to hold a taco social with gang members in the community.
"There were 12 gang members at the social, and I didn't think many of our church members would show up but actually about 300 of our members were there," he said. "I had a chance to shake hands with the gang members and give them Bibles. And I remember thinking, "This is what it means to be a part of Westlake.'"
"We talk a lot about what it means to be a city church in our sermons," Choe explained. "That means we're here not to plunder the city, but to bless it. We can't be suburbanites who simply go to church in the city. We have to engage the people who live here, and really be a part of the community."
