Daniel Phelps - Church Visit #2

Church name: First Hmong Alliance Church

Church address: 361 Marion Ave, Aurora, IL

Date attended: September 19, 2015

Church category: Different ethnic background

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

The worship service was very similar to services that I have been exposed to, with some exception. There was a before-service Sunday School for adults, which have not typically been a part of my church experience, but are not a foreign idea. To start the service off, they also had a business meeting. I was not used to that. In my church experience either the business side of church is unmentioned, or there are separate sessions for anyone interested in attending. That was probably the biggest difference. After that, everything was pretty standard: worship, prayer, scripture reading, titheing, and a sermon. Overall, there was not too much I found atypical.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?

I think the most appealing thing I found about the service was getting to see the unique culture revealed in front of me. All the men in the church shook my hand as soon as they saw me, reminding me, actually, of the culture I grew up in in Kazakhstan. I liked seeing the community of people finding their niche in the body of the church by coming together and sharing their culture. This was perhaps most evident by the language of the sermon. I have been to many churches that have used translators for special services or even sing songs in different languages. Here, however, there was no translator, rather the people on stage spoke a mix of Hmong and English. Depending on the age of the speaker, the language would favor either more Hmong or more English. I just thought it was really cool that in this way they could communicate on a more personal level with people of all ages within the church.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

I found the language issue a little disorienting. I could not really follow along what was being said often when the pastor would switch back from English and Hmong. It made it hard to really pay attention. Other than that, it was somewhat strange to be an absolute minority. I am mixed and I grew up in a different country, going to an international school, so being a minority is nothing new to me. However, usually there was no clear ethnic majority around me, or if there was, it was white or Chinese. Going to this church, I felt a little more separated because I have no conception of what it is like to be Hmong in America. There was a clear cultural structure that I could not follow.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

This may not be super theological, but I actually appreciated the business meeting and talk of church elections at the beginning of the service. Leaders of the church are often told to be blameless, and I think that a key aspect of that is as much transparency as possible. Having public meetings in front a whole body I think gives a lot more accountability.

Other than that, I think that I saw the beauty of coming together as one identity and putting it under Christ's Lordship. I think the worship is really the most beautiful when the body of Christ sheds its labels and factions and comes together as one. I love that even being in a different, awkward, cultural context, I can also worship the one true God. Even if I cannot communicate with many of the members at the church, I can worship with them. That definitely stood out to me.