Matt Paprocki - Church Visit 3

Victory Cathedral Church

369 N Weber Road, Bolingbrook IL 60440

11/1/2015

Lower Socioeconomic

                The service at Victory Cathedral was different from service at my usual church in a multitude of ways. The church itself was in a former store, I think it used to be a Hobby Lobby. I have been to churches that are not physically in a building specified as a church, Mission Church meets at Lake Forest High School, but this definitely felt different being in a building that was commercially, rather than community, oriented. The demographic was primarily African American as well. The format of the service also differed in how dominant the sermon was to the service as a whole. I’m used to worship songs being a prominent part of service, comprising about half of a service. We entered the service a little late but the worship songs were concluding about 15 minutes into the service. This was not so different compared to services I’ve seen before but that was the whole of any worship singing. The pastor’s sermon lasted the remaining time, which was over an hour.

                What I found most interesting about the service was the interaction of the pastor to the audience and the audience to one another. Throughout the sermon the pastor related his message to the practical circumstances of the audience. He constantly related his ideas to cooking or other everyday circumstances. I’ve become accustomed to one story is used by a pastor as a metaphor for his overall passage but the pastor at Victory kept giving insight to his own life, making him feel even more like part of the community. The interaction of the audience amongst themselves was active and friendly as well. Multiple times throughout the service the pastor asked the audience to “Tell your neighbor…” and the audience took it literally and in the moment turned to their neighbor to repeat the message. A bit unrelated but the audience gave hugs rather than shaking hands or just greeting someone formally to open the service. It felt like an incredibly tightly-knit community.

                What I found most challenging came in the pastor’s sermon. A main idea of the pastor’s message was overcoming ourselves and the obstacles we create in our lives. Later though he advised that to find out what our passions truly are we need to self-assess. I felt that if we are in our own way and need to overcome ourselves then how can we accurately self-assess what we are passionate about if we are held down by ourselves. I also had troubles with how the pastor delivered his message at times by playing the guilt card. I felt at times he tried the make the audience feel guilty if they were not consistently coming to services. The pastor also seemed to talk down to his audience by saying things like “what you are doing wrong…” This is something I’ve noticed before and it keeps coming up as I feel it takes away from the pastor being part of the community as it portrays him as better than his audience.

                The service had an incredibly strong basis in Scripture. Every message or topic the pastor covered was rooted in Scripture or cited Scripture directly. The mere scriptural emphasis was new as normally the scriptural citation or basis is rather light, with an emphasis more on the application. This service was heavy in both though as each time the pastor discussed scripture he related it to everyday life. One reference that stood out to me was the story of Gideon and the midianites and its relation to achieving our purpose as God intended for us and how each purpose is intentional. The pastor said no one is an accident, explicitly referring to the broken family situations many of his community are faced with. Some of the troubles those in this community face were certainly referenced in the sermon.

Kathryn McGregor - Church Visit #2

Church Name: Lawndale Christian Community Church
Church Address: 3827 W Ogden, Chicago, IL 60623
Date Attended: October 25, 2015
Church Category: Lower Socioeconomic

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from our regular context?
The service I attended was in Lawndale, right outside Chicago. The neighborhood was significantly lower socioeconomically than Wheaton. However, the church was not lower socioeconomically than the church i regularly attend at home in Kansas City. The facilities the church was held in were much nicer than my home church, and on average, the congregation seemed to be higher socioeconomically. A good portion of those that attend my home church are homeless, and our service is held in a homeless shelter on the outskirts of the city. Another interesting difference was the number families that attended Lawndale compared to my home church. My home church has many broken families, and it is much harder to find as many good marriages and families as in Lawndale. However, my home church and LCCC are similar in many ways. Both the neighborhoods surrounding the church seem to be similar. Both are affected by violence and poverty, and safety is a huge concern. 

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
I loved the community oriented feel of the church. My favorite part of the service was the time they reserved for members to come share prayer requests and praises with the congregation. That was such an encouraging way to see the way God was working in the members of the church, and a great way to keep the entire body connected to one another through prayer. The pastor also brought all the kids up to the front to ask them questions about what they had been learning. This was a great way to show the way the church loves and values the children, and included the in the main service before they went off to their classes. Overall, I really enjoyed the service.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
One of the most challenging parts of the service for me was the message. I really struggled to stay engaged and follow the message of the pastor. For a portion of the message I couldn't quite follow where he was going, and it did not seem to tie back to the scriptures he was using. However, I will admit I was very tired that morning, and the adorable kids in front of me had captured some of my attention. But, the sermon was the most difficult part of the service for me to engage in.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly as your regular context?
The service illuminated to me the importance of community, and helping those who are impoverished. Often times, churches seem to be full of people who have all of their lives together. Pain, addiction, grief, and doubt seem to be suppressed in order to maintain an appearance of having the perfect faith in Jesus. At Lawndale, and my home church, it is incredible to see the way people who are struggling are encouraged to share their struggles, and then the body comes together to help them. The program for men getting out of prison is an example of this, as well as the simple practice of having people share their prayer requests. The body of Christ is meant to build each other up, and this can only be done when we are vulnerable and open with each other. It seems this is easier to do in a lower socioeconomic setting, since the peoples needs are mainly physical and external. However, churches from every socioeconomic standing can learn from this example of helping those who are in need.

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.

Leah Blobaum - Church Visit #3

Church Name: Community Christian Church
Church Address: 76 S LaSalle St Aurora, IL 60505
Date Attended: 1 November 2015
Church Category: Lower Socioeconomic Demographic

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

Community Christian Church had a somewhat familiar atmosphere to it when I visited.  The musical worship was similar to what my own home church does, and even the message sounded like something I might hear there as well.  The church had a "downtown" feel, even in how it was decorated.  It seemed like two of the three main rooms had multiple functions.  The congregation at the service I went to was very small, and did not even seem proportional to the size of the sanctuary.  In addition to being a largely different socioeconomic demographic, this branch of Community also had a high percentage of Hispanic population in the congregation.  The head pastor of this branch spoke in both English and Spanish, then proceeded to translate for the visiting pastor of another branch of Community when he gave the sermon.  My own church back home had a Spanish-speaking branch, but this was a great new experience for me.  

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

I very much enjoyed worshiping in Spanish as well as English.  While the message was fairly simple, I appreciated it nonetheless.  I also felt very welcomed.  Not only was I greeted warmly when I arrived, but afterward, numerous people talked to me when they certainly did not have to. The pastor's wife went above and beyond, even giving me a Welcome gift bag.  Even though this was a church I had never visited before, I felt at ease; not at all like I was in a new and unfamiliar place.  Additionally, I have been to churches before that do not regularly include communion in their services, and while I cannot say for sure that this is a norm for Community's services, we did take communion together as a part of the service, and I greatly appreciated that.  The pastor also had a clearly laid out message, which may have been on the simple side, but I appreciate that it was concise and uncomplicated.  

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

Well when I arrived at the service, I was slightly disoriented because I had gotten lost on the way. The location was slightly abstract.  Also, as I was walking in, I was caught off guard because, while I was a few minutes late, there was almost no one in the decently sized sanctuary.  After worship, when everyone was greeting each other, the woman in front of me shook my hand and welcomed me to the "contributor service."  I had no idea what that meant, and I was worried that I was intruding on something I should not be there for.  After the service, the same lady explained that it was a service anyone was welcome to attend, but it was more for those helping out with the main service at 11.  I was at the 9:30 service, which was listed on the website as the English service, and I had chosen that because of the timing.  I was caught off guard, though, because it was advertised as a regular service.  The lady I was talking to then said that they were moving toward two services in the morning, but they had not officially started that yet.  

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 pastor's message was on the importance and weight of Scripture.  He made the point that when reading the Bible, it is easy to read your own agenda into it; or at least it is easy to get something out of it that pertains to your life but that the author of the Scripture did not intend to be understood.  Yet, he also talked about the importance of understanding yourself to be a part of God's story, that is also illustrated in the Bible.  We are also "characters" in God's story.  He emphasized the importance of each individual's story also.  His message was encouraging, and also pushed the listener towards desiring to be an active part of God's story and work.  

Jonathan Griffin - Church Visit #3

Church Name: St. Patrick Parish (Spanish Service)

Church Address: 40 Cedar Street, St. Charles, IL

Date Attended: 11/01/2015

Church Category: Different Ethnic Demographic 

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

Upon entering into this service, the drastically different church experience in comparison to my normal Sunday morning service was made evident. While walking in, the pews were packed with people of all ages. Lex and I were one of the few white people in the room. We turned several heads as we made our way down the aisle to find our seats. I wondered whether the quizzical looks from the members of the congregation were a result of me not being of Hispanic decent, or from me not being catholic. Regardless the reason, I was way beyond my comfort zone. The service was unlike my normal church experience in almost every way possible. The Catholic liturgies and order of the service were hard for me to understand in English, let alone in a language I do not speak. My experience at St. Patrick’s was far from my standard, yet I found enjoyment in my visit.

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

To me, the most interesting part of the worship service was how seriously invested the congregation seemed to be into the church. Looking around, I did not see a single person texting on their phone or distracting themselves from the service in anyway. As it seemed, everyone paid close attention to what the priest had to say – something strikingly different from my usual Sunday experience. It isn’t uncommon to see people at my normal church looking as if they were dragged to church through peer pressure or obligation. Many people of all ages seem to constantly check their phones for new messages or emails. At St. Patrick’s however, I didn’t see this happen once. I also enjoyed seeing the diversity of ages among the congregation. Many more children than I anticipated were spread throughout the sanctuary. A happy mixture of young and old was present throughout the service.

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

The hardest part about this worship service was the language barrier. At first, I thought the sermon delivered in Spanish was going to be manageable; the priest was using words I was familiar with and was speaking at an understandable rate. However, shortly after he finished reading from Psalms, I could hardly understand enough words to piece together the context of what he was preaching about. It was fairly easy to emulate the rest of the congregation in when to rise, when to kneel, etc., but to take home what was being preached was inevitably difficult. When it was time for the congregation to recite responsorial phrases, my non-Catholic and English background was starkly displayed to everyone sitting nearby. A combination of my inability to understand Spanish and my non-Catholic background made this worship service very challenging.

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

As the ushers came through with long handled baskets, collecting tithes and offerings from the congregation, it became evident that I was one of the slim few who did not contribute to the basket. Interestingly, as I looked around, it seemed as though every single person in the room was placing some amount of money into the basket. Even the little children made sure to participate in offering. At my home church, passing the tithing basket by is not a big deal at all; in fact, many people often seem to do it. At St. Patrick’s, this was quite the opposite. To me, this illuminated the importance of giving back to God. Scripture tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. Particularly, the people of St. Patrick’s were indeed cheerful givers – even the young children. I would love to see my church imitate those at this church through their tithes and offerings.