Location: Los Angeles, Calif.

Presbytery: Pacific

Organization: Mar. 11, 1904

Membership: 70 communicant; 29 baptized

Pastors: Nathan Eshelman and Namsik Yang

Website: rpcla.org

“Get to California! Los Angeles will heal all of your ailments! It’s doctor’s orders.” Several Covenanters were hearing this medical advice from their doctors, and by the late 1880s a small society of Covenanters had begun to gather in Southern California. In winter 1894, J. Milligan Wylie of the Denver, Colo., RPC explored the possibility of beginning a church plant in Los Angeles. He wrote that the RPCNA ought to begin a church plant and noted “the people seem to live well and they enjoy the warm moist atmosphere from the ocean and think their country a paradise.” One hundred and twenty-five years later, the RP Church in Los Angeles still believes our country is a paradise, enjoys the ocean breezes, and lives well.

LA RPC was organized on Mar. 11, 1904, with 27 members. Rev. P.J. McDonald was the organizing pastor, and the Seattle RPC sponsored the church plant. Worship was held downtown in a muslin-covered tent. In 1907, the congregation built a lovely Arts and Crafts style building at the cost of $11,500. By 1947, the congregation moved to its current location and constructed a beautiful mid-century modern building.

The LA RPC is currently served by Pastor Nathan Eshelman, with Namsik Yang serving as an associate pastor. Currently Rev. Yang is on study leave, finishing his doctorate. David Ashleigh and Roel Ophoff serve as ruling elders. This year has been a year of transition as Elder Howard Huizing relocated to Colorado Springs, Colo., for retirement, and longtime elder Hector Pino retired from the eldership. We also have four deacons and two theological students under care.

The congregation meets twice on the Lord’s Day, enjoying a fellowship lunch each week between services. This is helpful in our context as the busyness of the highways makes travel stressful. The schedule also aids in calling the Sabbath a delight.

The congregation serves in various ministries and outreaches. From deacons who street preach to those who feed the homeless, the LA RPC seeks to care for both body and soul. We also have a community barbecue at the end of each summer that is free for our community. This has been a well-attended event, bringing in around 150 neighbors. Various members serve in ministries from counseling to missions organizations.

Last year there were three adult baptisms. Of our office bearers, only one elder and one deacon grew up in the RPCNA. Dr. Eshelman has been serving the congregation since Jan. 2009, coming to LA fresh from Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Rev. Yang was ordained in 2015 and has been pursuing higher education since 2017 (he has already completed two master of theology degrees). Preaching follows an ordinary expository model, preaching and teaching through books of the Bible. The Sabbath school program includes Bible studies and catechetical instruction. Much is ordinary (which God loves), but there are things that are extraordinary about us.

We have an unusually high number of left-handed members. We might be the only RPCNA congregation where no member owns a pickup truck (although an adherent now owns one). We look a lot like our city—a variety of colors, backgrounds, and cultures. Some of the first languages of our congregation include English, Dutch, Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, Arabic, Chinese, and Indonesian. It is not unusual to hear conversations happening in several languages. A visitor once described our ordinary fellowship lunch as “the international dinner.”

Prayer requests include a need for more members as several people have moved away recently due to the high cost of living in LA (rent averages well over $3,000 for two to three bedrooms in our area). We also ask that you pray we would be a faithful witness to our city as we are one of the few Reformed churches in the city of LA. Pray that God would raise up new elders to come alongside our ruling elders. We also give thanks for the recent baby boom and the many little ones that remind us of God’s covenant faithfulness to the church in the City of Angels.