Church name: Grace Haitian Alliance Church
Church address: 8200 South Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60617
Date attended: Sunday, September 13
Church category: Different Ethnic/Racial Demographic
Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?
I attended a very small Haitian church with a congregation of about 40 people. The service was almost completely in Creole, a language I have heard some when I visited Haiti last January but not one I would say I understand. I could pick up little pieces here and there but overall, I was the one white girl just observing their worship and trying to participate as much as I could. The service started with very upbeat songs for worship and the congregation was very charismatic in their worship with much clapping and enthusiastic singing. Interspersed in the singing were three different prayer times which where lead by a pastor who would pray in the front while all the members prayed quietly but out loud in the pews. There was a performance by the mens choir and then the service started. The teaching was on a particular passage and had about 6 points which is similar to the teaching I am used to. What was different was the responsiveness of the congregation. They would verbalized when they agreed with the pastor and laughter at a funny point ( which I usually didn't catch on to) was common. The service was also longer than I was used to and the kids stayed in the service and sat in the first couple rows, most without their parents. This is different than I am used to as well. I feel like they stressed the importance of being together as one body rather than taking the kids to their own service. It was funny though to see mothers either on the stage or a couple rows back give their kids the evil eye when they were goofing off. The congregation was also very dressed up, more than I was used to. I was underdressed in my sundress and denim jacket.
What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
I loved the more charismatic and upbeat worship. One thing I fell in love with while I was in Haiti was how they worship with their whole being. They are also much more confident in their worship than I feel members of American congregations are. While we only put someone with a voice that could be on the radio on our stages to lead worship, they confidently sing praises even if they don't have a jaw dropping voice. I think this is neat because to me it shows they understand that the Lord wants our hearts and not our perfection. They confidently and joyfully praise Him and because of their joy it sounds beautiful. I also thought it was interesting how there was a lot of participation from different people leading the service. Three different men who I believe were pastors lead different prayer times before the head pastor gave the sermon. This isn't that different than what I'm used to but I thought it was neat to see many people take part in ownership of the service.
What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
It was defiantly difficult being the only white person and not understanding the language. I had found this church online last semester and wanted to visit but never did. When this assignment rolled around I thought I would use it to finally visit. I kind of just decided the night before I would go by myself and didn't put much thought into it. I woke up that morning and prayed about if it was the right decision, particularly if it would be respectful to their congregation. The Lord told me that I need to feel outside of my comfort zone, that I needed to feel like the other, that I needed to feel what it feels like to be singled out. When I arrived at the church I realized how tiny it was. There wasn't even a parking lot and there was probably 10 cars total parked a long the street. It also was not in the best neighborhood and everything in my wanted to keep driving. I was also about 10 minutes late so that didn't help the disrespect I thought I might communicate. I forced myself to park and went in where I was asked "did someone invite you?". However after I explained I had visited Haiti and just found them online, a nice lady in her 20s greeted me and made me feel welcome while they found a place for me to sit- right in the front where everyone could see me. I never really got completely comfortable- I felt the expectation on me to be able to at least speak Creole since I had just showed up here but I couldn't even meet that expectation. I definitely felt like the other and am still wrestling with if it was respectful for me to go or not. However, after the service, I feel like half the church hugged me and welcomed me to come back again and I got to talk with the pastor who went to Wheaton for his masters.
What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
The three prayer times that I described really stood out to me as being a more Biblical way to approach prayer that I have experienced. I can't remember exactly but I think there was a time of Worship, Thanksgiving, and Confession. I think prayer has been minimized in some Worship settings to a mere transition from worship to the sermon, or in its best sense a preparation of our hearts to hear the word or to worship but this congregation took it seriously. They set aside somewhere between 5-10 minutes for each of these categories and prayed fervently. The pastor lead but everyone was praying out loud, very different than what I am used to. It was almost like a guided Korean style prayer. For 10 minutes, we adored and worshiped God with our prayers, for 10 minutes, we thanked Him for all He has done, and for 10 minutes we confessed our sin before Him. Prayer was not merely viewed as something to squeeze in or to use as a easy transition but as a huge and essential part of the worship service. I gained a better picture of the importance of prayer, and specifically channelled prayers through worshiping with this Haitian congregation.
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