A Cathedral in the Heart of Los Angeles
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles has stood at the corner of Sixth Street and Commonwealth Avenue since 1932, a gothic revival cathedral of reinforced concrete and stained glass rising 157 feet into the Los Angeles sky. Founded in 1867, it is the oldest Protestant congregation in continuous service in the city, and the building it occupies today is the church's fifth home. With more than 157,000 square feet of sanctuary, chapel, courtyard, and event space, First Church - as members and neighbors call it - draws people from across Los Angeles for Sunday worship, organ recitals, choral concerts, food distribution, and weddings under its oak and bronze.
The church calls itself progressive, open, and rooted in the arts. Worshippers arrive on Sunday mornings from every generation and background, and the program weaves classical organ music, choral singing, literature, poetry, and preaching into a single morning experience. The building is also a working venue: weekday mornings fill with concerts, recitals, filming, and Pilgrim School chapel services, while Sunday afternoons turn Mayflower Courtyard into a food distribution line serving more than two hundred families. The location, just minutes from Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills, makes the cathedral a familiar landmark for Angelenos who pass through Koreatown and the Westlake district.
The Great Organs of First Church
The Great Organs at First Church are the instrument that draws organists, choral singers, and visitors from around the world. With 18,094 speaking pipes, 328 ranks, 15 divisions, and 278 speaking stops spread between the chancel and the west gallery more than 200 feet away, the organ is one of the largest church pipe organs in existence. It is heard in a half-hour prelude concert at 10:30 each Sunday morning, then again throughout the eleven o'clock worship.
The instrument is the work of several builders across nearly a century. The Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Memorial Organ, installed in the chancel in 1931 when the present building was completed, was built by the noted American organ builder Ernest M. Skinner. The Frank C. Noon Memorial Organ was added in the west gallery in 1969, built by the Herman Schlicker Organ Company under the direction of longtime First Church organist Lloyd Holzgraf. The Holzgraf Trumpet Royale, a set of powerful chancel trumpets, was installed in 1984 to mark Mr. Holzgraf's twenty-fifth anniversary. Twin five-manual consoles by M.P. Moller, the largest draw-knob consoles ever built in the Western Hemisphere, were completed in 1992. The Gospel and Epistle Divisions in the north and south transepts were added between 1998 and 2001 under organist-in-residence Frederick Swann.
Dr. Christoph Bull has served as Organist-in-Residence for many years, bringing the instrument to life each Sunday and in concert performances that have drawn such visitors as E. Power Biggs, Virgil Fox, Alexander Schreiner, and Pierre Cochereau. The maintenance of such a vast organ requires constant attention, and gifts to its care are welcomed through the church's giving page.
Sunday Morning Worship
The Sunday morning service at First Church is traditional in structure but rich in texture. The half-hour organ prelude-concert begins at 10:30, with Dr. Bull at the console and members of the Cathedral Choir sometimes joining. The worship service itself begins at 11:00 and lasts roughly an hour, weaving together music, scripture, preaching, and congregational singing. The order of worship is available each week for download.
The preaching and liturgy draw on the Bible as a starting point while engaging contemporary questions. The service regularly brings together classical choral music, world music, jazz, gospel, and contemporary composition alongside traditional readings and prayers. Members describe the experience as one that engages both heart and mind, holding that faith and reason are essential to the spiritual journey. Communion is celebrated as one of the central sacraments of the church. Worship is held in English.
Worship is also a community event. After the service, the congregation gathers in Mayflower Courtyard for coffee and conversation - a tradition called the Coffee Hour that members can sponsor for birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones. Children are welcomed in the service but also have their own program running in parallel from 10:00 a.m. The Sunday service is livestreamed each Sunday on YouTube and remains available afterward in a recorded archive of services and concerts.
Cathedral Choir and Laude
Music is at the heart of First Church. For more than a century the Cathedral Choir has led the congregation in regular Sunday worship and at major festival services such as Christmas Eve, All Saints' Day, the annual MLK celebration, and Holy Thursday. The choir draws together professional singers from Los Angeles's vocal, theater, and film worlds and avocational singers whose other careers - lawyers, teachers, parents, doctors - bring perspective and life wisdom into the ensemble. There is no formal audition; anyone interested is invited to sing in a rehearsal to see if the group is the right fit.
The Cathedral Choir rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 and on Sunday mornings at 9:00 in preparation for the 11:00 service. The group sings music from the classical choral canon - Bach, Pergolesi, Brahms, Bernstein - alongside contemporary composition, world music, and pieces by Cathedral composers in residence. Dozens of new works are premiered each year, and the choir is the home ensemble of the annual N.E.O. Voice Festival, a festival dedicated to writing and performing new music for the voice.
Laude is the auditioned professional vocal ensemble that serves as the resident core of the Cathedral Choir. Its members are ensemble and business leaders, composers, soloists, film and stage actors, and instrumentalists from across Los Angeles. Laude leads worship on Sundays, presents its own concerts, and has recorded more than 300 tracks, including the album of Patrick Cassidy's The Mass for choir and organ, premiered with the composer in 2022 and released as a studio album in 2021.
The Cathedral Ringers, a handbell choir directed by Grace Sheldon-Williams, rehearse on Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 and on Sunday mornings from 10:00 to 10:45. The Ringers perform at special services and continue a long tradition of percussion music in sacred spaces at First Church.
The Cathedral is also the home venue for several nationally recognized choruses, including the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, Vox Femina of Los Angeles, Southeast Symphony, Top Shelf, and LA Choral Lab. These groups rehearse on the campus and join First Church's Sunday worship from time to time.
Music leadership is shared by Dr. Ianthe Marini and Dr. Fahad Siadat as Interim Directors of Music and Arts, and by Dr. Christoph Bull as Organist-in-Residence. Tiffany Ho serves as Music Librarian. The Commonwealth Community Chorus, directed by David Harris, brings together singers of all ages for special events throughout the year.
A Building Shaped by Hand and Faith
The present building was completed in 1932 in the gothic revival style, designed by Los Angeles architects James E. and David C. Allison. Its reinforced concrete construction, with more than 500 tons of steel bars embedded within, was forward-looking for the era. The sanctuary is 198 feet long and 76 feet high at the crossing, modeled on the great cathedrals of France and England. The 157-foot tower at the apex is reminiscent of Magdalen College at Oxford.
Worshippers enter the main sanctuary from the forecourt through three-inch-thick bronze doors weighing a thousand pounds each, designed and crafted by Canadian artist Albert Gilles of Quebec in 1946. The doors portray scenes from the life of Christ. Inside, the carved oak pulpit bears seven carvings: medallions of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle - each holding a book and representing the four gospel writers - flank a menorah on the left and a ship on the right. At the center, facing the pews, is a cross inscribed with the Greek letters IC XC NIKA, meaning "Jesus Christ, Conqueror."
The reredos - the hand-carved oak screen behind the altar - was added in 1949 and designed by Allison and Rible of Los Angeles, based on the reredos of Winchester Cathedral in England. Its carvings depict the vine and grapes (Christ and his followers), the rose (new life), the peacock (the Resurrection), the ship (the church), the crown of thorns and nails (the Crucifixion), and the Agnus Dei, or Lamb of God. To the south of the chancel is the Peace Shrine, named at the beginning of World War II and used then as a place to pray for loved ones in the armed services.
Stained glass is everywhere. The east chancel window depicts the life of Christ in fifteen medallions, topped by the trefoil with the traditional symbols of the Trinity. Other chancel windows and the rose window, the work of Horace Judson, complete the program. Shatto Chapel, named for Clara Shatto, who donated the neighboring land that is now Lafayette Park, is said to be the same dimensions as the Mayflower ship and houses the Hildreth Memorial Organ, brought from the previous church building at Ninth and Hope Streets. Pilgrim School uses both the chapel and the sanctuary for its chapel services. On the third floor, Wong Chapel was given in 1949 by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Wong, Sr. in memory of their son Ernest, with an altar painting by the noted Danish artist Kay Nielsen based on Psalm 23.
Open, Accepting, and Inclusive
First Church is a member of the United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination known for its progressive stance on questions of faith and society. The church's own values statement begins with the conviction that every human being is a child of God and that the doors of the church should be opened as wide as God's heart. Members and visitors of all faith traditions, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities are welcomed and celebrated.
Worship at First Church is built on ancient words and images reimagined for a contemporary congregation. The Bible is treated as a sacred text and a starting point for exploration, with science, reason, and the wisdom of other traditions welcomed as partners in the search. Difficult questions are not avoided; honest dialogue is encouraged. The ministries that follow from this conviction include commitments to justice, equality, dignity, and fairness across lines of gender identity, race, sexuality, national origin, and economic status.
The values include Excellence in Worship, Intellectual Rigor Combined with Faith, and Commitment to Children, Youth and Families, alongside the call to be Open, Accepting, and Inclusive. Each Sunday, members are challenged to love God and to love their neighbor, and to take the gifts of community beyond the church's walls.
Children, Youth, and Families
First Kids First is the church's spiritual enrichment program for children, led by Director Claire Kelly. Programming opens at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays and runs through the end of the worship service. Three classrooms are offered: Infant and Toddler Care, the Minis and First Kids First program for preschoolers through fifth grade, and the FCCLA Youth program for sixth through twelfth grade. Teachers and volunteers engage children in stories, art, games, group discussions, music, and exploration of their spiritual foundation. Children join the congregation in the sanctuary for the Children's Conversation before being returned to their families.
Youth programming centers on social justice, community service, mental health, art as expression, and Bible study. The group hosts round-table discussions, fundraisers, and service projects, and gathers for fellowship and outings beyond Sunday mornings. A monthly gathering called Girl Talk offers a judgment-free space for girls in sixth grade and up to share and find community.
Music Sundays take place once a month. Younger children join the Young Voices Club, led by singer and educator Joanna Wallfisch, for play-based musical exploration. Older children and teens join The Commonwealth, led by Brandon Harris, to rehearse and perform throughout the year. The Commonwealth performs at Sunday services and at a Christmas Eve pageant each year. Children of all ages are invited to participate in singing together on Music Sundays.
Food@First, the Gardens, and the Urban Farm
Food@First is the church's food distribution program, serving approximately 220 families every first and third Sunday of the month. Distribution begins at 12:30 in Mayflower Courtyard and offers fresh produce, canned and non-perishable goods, protein, hygiene products, and reusable bags. Goods come from the church's own Urban Farm and Cathedral Gardens, the FCCLA Sewing Club, local partners, private donors, and restaurants across Los Angeles. No questions are asked; families join the line and volunteers fill their bags. On the first Sunday of each month, a diaper program distributes diapers in newborn, sizes 4, 5, 6, and adult sizes.
The Gardens and Urban Farm at the Cathedral sit on the church's grounds in Koreatown and Westlake. The gardens include medicinal, culinary, and butterfly gardens, plus the Cathedral Production Farm, which contributes hundreds of pounds of seasonal produce to Food@First. The Sewing Club transforms donated, worn, and clean T-shirts and tablecloths into reusable market bags to phase out single-use plastic. Weekly workdays and do-it-yourself workshops build, plant, weed, and harvest, and the gardens are used as educational spaces for neighboring elementary and high school students. The gardens and farm follow regenerative practices, including composting food waste from the church and school communities into rich organic soil.
The Saturday Project and Young Professionals
The Saturday Project is a free community gathering held roughly monthly on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the church. The gathering is open to all and welcomes families with children. It offers food, family activities, and resources for the neighborhood. The Saturday Project is free and open to the community, and the invitation is shared in translation in Spanish, Korean, Russian, Chinese, Tagalog, and Ukrainian to reflect the diversity of neighbors served.
Young Professionals at First Church brings together adults in their late teens, twenties, and thirties - college students, graduates, and young working people - to connect, explore Los Angeles, and spend time with others who share their values. The group is open to anyone who would like to participate.
Collaboratives, Book Conversations, and Adult Formation
First Church organizes its adult ministry around three Collaboratives: Spirituality, Justice, and Community. Each brings together people who want to deepen their journey in a particular way - the Spirituality Collaborative through practices such as labyrinth walking, the Justice Collaborative through outreach and advocacy, and the Community Collaborative through deeper friendships and connections. Members are invited to join whichever calls to them. The collaborative model is rooted in shared decision-making and the conviction that ministry happens with people and groups, not for them.
Book Conversations with Rev. Michael Lehman, Senior Associate Minister, is a long-running adult formation series held on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:15 on Zoom. The group reads and discusses books together, working through questions of faith, science, ecology, and the spiritual life. Past reading has included Robin Wall Kimmerer's writings on reciprocal relationship with the living world.
The church also publishes The Meetinghouse, a weekly newsletter, and an events newsletter for concerts and special events on campus. The Holy Heresy podcast is another channel for ongoing conversation about faith and culture.
Fulfilling the Dream and Annual Concerts
Each January around Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, First Church hosts Fulfilling the Dream, a concert that gathers justice-minded singers from across Los Angeles into a mass choir. The event, in partnership with Creating Justice LA and the Center for Peace and Healing in Skid Row, raises awareness of housing justice and the work of community leaders across the city. Past years have featured Killer Mike, Anna Deavere Smith, the Reverend James Lawson, Martin Sheen, and many of the city's leading choral ensembles.
Christmas Eve brings a candlelit service and a Christmas Eve pageant with the children's choirs, the Cathedral Choir, and orchestra. All Saints' Day in early November is marked by the Held concert, with music for those who have lost loved ones. The Golden Thread Concert Series, held monthly, expands the ritual and ceremonial elements of a musical concert into a spiritual and artistic experience and includes music from the many ethnicities and cultures of Los Angeles. Major choral-orchestral works from the classical repertoire - Vivaldi's Gloria, Mozart's Requiem, Haydn's Creation, Faure's Requiem, Bach's Magnificat, Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem - are performed in the cathedral throughout the year.
Hosting Weddings and Events
The Cathedral hosts weddings for couples of all traditions and backgrounds. The Classic Ceremony Package takes place in the Main Sanctuary with its 117-foot aisle, gothic architecture, stained glass windows, and ornate reredos; the Sanctuary seats 800. The Shatto Chapel Package is a more intimate ceremony in Shatto Chapel for groups of fifty or fewer, starting at $1,500. First Church officiates weddings through its own ministers; outside ministers are welcome with prior arrangement. The church is open to marriages for all couples, regardless of race, religion, interfaith background, same-sex, or interracial couples.
Receptions are held in spaces that include Stuart Hall (seating for 300), the Barnum Room, Mayflower Courtyard, and the Forecourt. The church works with a list of approved professional caterers and permits alcohol service through approved vendors. A professional wedding coordinator is required for all weddings.
The cathedral is also a venue for concerts, recitals, film shoots, and other events. Spaces available for rent include the Sanctuary, Shatto Chapel, the Forecourt, Mayflower Courtyard, the Barnum Room, the Amanda Scott Room, and Stuart Hall. Tours are by appointment, and inquiries go through the Events Department at events@fccla.org.
Planning a First Visit
First Church is located at 540 South Commonwealth Avenue, just minutes from Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. The campus does not open until 10:00 a.m. on Sundays, with sanctuary doors opening at 10:15. Parking is free for worship in the parking structure directly adjacent to the church. As worshippers arrive, staff and volunteers are in the parking lot to answer questions and offer directions. For those arriving early, fair trade coffee is available in Mayflower Courtyard.
The church welcomes people wherever they are on the journey - believers and questioners, longtime churchgoers and first-time visitors. A casual gathering called Discover First Church offers newcomers a no-pressure way to meet the senior minister and others who have been visiting.
Children are welcome from toddlers through high school in the First Kids First and Youth programs, which begin at 10:00 a.m. Toddlers and older children may also spend time outdoors on Festival Plaza with the First Kids First ministry from the beginning to the end of the service. Parents and guardians are welcome to accompany their children during programming.
Large backpacks and bags must be left in vehicles or checked at the security post. The church has hand sanitizers and masks available on site, and masks are optional but recommended while indoors. The Sunday service is livestreamed each week on YouTube, and the order of worship is available for download before each service.
For those who want to stay connected through the week, The Meetinghouse newsletter carries weekly updates, and the events newsletter announces concerts, recitals, and special programs at the cathedral.