First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica

When I moved to LA 4 years ago this church quickly became my church home. The people are warm and welcoming. The worship is inspiring, intelligent, socially aware, and spirit filled. I appreciate how people of every generation participate in worship leadership. The choir is powerful and moving. In addition, I appreciate Simple Church, the Sunday evening worship held twice a month. It is a conversational and contemplative service that helps me spiritually prepare for the week ahead. I also participate and help lead Cross Brew the young adult study and fellowship group. We study scripture and other religious texts, welcome questions and have conversation about how the gospel impacts our lives.

I’ve been a member at First United for a little over a year now, and I couldn’t be happier to call this place my church home.
I’ve lived in Santa Monica for a few years, and was looking for a place to set down some roots. I thought church might be a good place to start, so I started looking up churches in the area with a strong young adult ministry. FUMC has an incredible young adults group called Cross Brew that meets about twice a month on Thursdays — anyone looking for a really welcoming, open environment to search, question and grow should check it out!
FUMC really does have something for everyone, and I’d highly recommend stopping by on a Sunday Monday, checking out a Simple Church meeting on Sunday nights, or coming to Cross Brew on Thursdays!

My wife and I had our wedding at this church. I’ll keep it short and to the point. Excellent venue with attached reception hall. Wedding coordinator was very nice. BUT the person in charge of the money was a little shady. They did not return our $ 200 security deposit citing that we left a mess after the wedding when our caterers took excellent care in cleaning up the facility when our wedding was finished. They emailed us leaving a few other excuses why we would not get our security deposit back which were all false. Thankfully, the wedding turned out perfect! It just seemed like the church was trying to nickel and dime us at the end. How very unfortunate, coming from what seems like a very nice church.