Sign in or register
for additional privileges

"Ethnic" Los Angeles

Comparative Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality

Anne Cong-Huyen, Thania Lucero, Joyce Park, Constance Cheeks, Charlie Kim, Sophia Cole, Julio Damian Rodriguez, Andrea Mora, Jazz Kiang, Samantha Tran, Katie Nak, Authors
Previous page on path     Next page on path

 

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Different Churches in Koreatown

First AME Church:
2270 S Harvard Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018


The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles was found in 1872 and is an African American populated church. 
This church played a prominent role during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots because it helped during and after the riots with protecting and cleaning up in order to stand in "solidarity with the suffering of Korean-American who lost their livelihood in the riots."
The history of the 1992 LA Riots widely refer to the tension between Blacks and Koreans; however, this act from the First AME Church shows the loophole of the stigma between Koreans and Blacks. 

Wilshire United Methodist Church:
4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90005


The billboard in front of the church displays service times and shows several different services in different languages including Spanish, English, and Korean. 
The mission for this church is to "serve the diverse community" and even has multiethnic pastors: a Korean and a Hispanic pastor. This church shows the diversity in Koreatown--a reminder that in Koreatown, it is not only made up of just Koreans but also Latinos, Blacks, Whites, and other ethnic groups. 
This church also recognizes that although there are different with ethnicity and culture, religion is not ethically or culturally discriminatory and is available in all languages, coming together in unity. 


Oriental Missions Church:
424 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90004


Oriental Mission Church has a well-known history within the Korean community of being known as the "church with many problems" due to its many political differences within the church. 
The congregation is made up of many broken Koreatown families and OMC reflects how broken Koreatown is solely with its history of elders arguing with pastors, having restraining orders against one another, having police cars surrounding the perimeters, and etc. However, this church stands strong despite its history and is now growing healthier with more members, also being considered one of the biggest Korean churches in Koreatown.
This church, like many Korean churches, has a vast culture difference between the Korean and English service. The Korean service is made up of first generation Koreans and the English service is made up of 1.5+ generation Korean Americans who are fluent in English. 
Like OMC, there are many Korean churches that have this strong language barrier between the English and Korean service.  

Sovereign Grace:
1150 S Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

This church currently borrows a building and does not have their own church building; however, this is one of the biggest multiracial Korean American churches in Los Angeles. 
Not many Korean, let alone, Korean American churches, have a multiethnic congregation but Sovereign Grace is filled with many famous and multiracial people who come together to attend service.
Sovereign Grace is located in Downtown Los Angeles and is popular due to its famous people who attend service including "models, artists, doctors, lawyers, actors, fashion designers, everything". On top of the sermons lead by Alex Choi, this diversity of professions not only increases networking and social aspects, but also helps with the economic portion of the church, making it highly popular amongst younger generations.





By: Joyce Park

Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Different Churches in Koreatown"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Churches in Koreatown, page 1 of 3 Next page on path