Abbie Holaway - Church Visit #2

Church Name: Community Christian Church at East Aurora
Church Address: 76 S Lasalle Rd, Aurora, IL 60505
Date Attended: 11/1/15
Church Category: Lower Socioeconomic Demographic

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context? 
The worship service I attended was bilingual, and it was more urban and contemporary than the church service of my regular church. The pastor was very good at translating; he repeated every few sentences of the service into spanish without missing a beat. I liked the worship style; the worship band consisted of some teenagers and older adults. The message was a lot shorter than what I am used to, and there were a couple short videos played intermittently that went along with the message. The people were dressed more casually, but they were extremely friendly and were quick to welcome us after the service. They even gave us a visitor's gift bag, which I thought was extremely generous. 

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
The church is a relatively new church plant; there are about thirteen different branches of Community Christian Church in Chicagoland. Thus, I liked that there were a variety of people worshipping at this church and serving in leadership that seemed to genuinely enjoy being together. After the service, I got to talk to about five of the people on the leadership team of the church, and I loved seeing how joyful they were to be serving and to be living in East Aurora. It was clear to me that this church had a lot of talented people worshipping there, and they were using their spiritual gifts well. I believe that in some of the mega churches in Wheaton, it is sometimes harder to see people's spiritual gifts at work just because community tends to be in smaller groups. 

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
The hardest part about the worship service was feeling like an outsider during the service, even though many people introduced themselves to us after church. It was clear that this congregation was very close and that they spent a lot of time together. Most of the congregation were in their 30's or 40's or were children. There were not a lot of people who were college-aged. Also, the delivery of the message in the sermon was slower, since it had to be translated. 

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
At one point in the service, the speaker asked the congregation to stand up. He then preceded to teach us five hand motions that represented five c's: creation, corruption, community, christ, and completion. Even though the idea was simple, it reminded me about the unity of the bible and its plot of redemption.