Christine Chen - Church visit #1

Church name: Second Baptist Church of Wheaton

Church address: 1520 Avery Ave. Wheaton, IL

Date attended: 01-26-14

Church category: Different ethnicity/race (African-American)

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

This church is very much a classic African-American Gospel church. The church building itself was smaller than my regular church, and thus the congregation is also smaller, about 100 people. When I walked into the sanctuary, its log cabin appearance feels very homey, down-to-earth, and even inviting in a way. The congregation is almost all African-American, except for the two Caucasian people I noticed later on. They were extremely friendly, and several of them greeted me even before the service began. On top of that, the regular greeting time during the service was also significantly longer than my regular context. The music is led by a praise team of about 6 singers, some of them are children, and are accompanied by an electric organ, bass guitar, and drum set. The music is in the Gospel style, very energetic with repeating lyrics. The worship leader frequently did an ad lib during the songs, something that my regular church wouldn’t do. There are also no projections of lyrics as they would do in my home church, since the lyrics are short and easy to pick up. There was also a performance of hip-hop dance by some youths of the church. The sermon on the topic of controlling our tongues was relatively short compared to my home church, but the minister spoke with very high energy and the congregation responded constantly with “Hallelujah”, “Mmm hmm”, “Preach it!”, “Come on!” etc. We closed the service with an offering (where individuals come to the altar to deposit money as opposed the offering plate being passed around) and a benediction (in which we held hands and sang a song).

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

The overall experience was very positive. I felt very welcomed and embraced (literally and figuratively) by the church, even though I was only one of two Asians there (the other being my friend who is also on her church visit assignment). I loved the high energy of the congregation and their zeal for worshiping the Lord. The worship music was also very engaging, with lots of clapping, shouting, and people spontaneously standing up. The music was less cut-and-dry like my regular church, with a lot of improvisation and even some short chords from the electronic organ during the sermon (especially when the minister was making a lot of good points). I also noticed the participation of children and youths in roles that is normally performed by adults at my regular church, such as making announcements, reading Scripture passages, and even serves as junior deacons. Several times when the church was praying, we held hands. The most interesting thing was perhaps the fact that the minister who led worship also delivered the sermon instead of the senior pastor of the church.

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

Even though I appreciated the energy of the worship service, sometimes the microphone and the singing were a bit too loud. Also, when the congregation responded to the sermon, it can be distracting at times. It was also a bit uncomfortable when the church asked visitors to stand up and introduce ourselves, which I appreciated but was still not completely at ease doing that. In addition, because the congregation response can be very spontaneous, at times it can be difficult to tell when to stand up and when to sit down. Even so, these are just things that takes time to get used to and do not reflect the church in any negative way. Since I have had the experience of worshiping with an African-American church before, none of this is new to me and thus not extremely 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?

If there is one word I can use to describe Second Baptist, it is “joyous.” Beyond just being energetic, they are very free in expressing their joy and zeal for the Lord. Everything, from the music to the prayer to the sermon, is loud, firm, and passionate. Psalms often speaks about enjoying God’s presence and worshiping with a passionate zeal, and the congregation at Second Baptist portrays this aspect of worship very well. Much of the time in my regular context (also Baptist, but in a Caucasian-dominated congregation), when we speak joy and being glad in the Lord, we tend to focus on the condition of our spirit but not so much on the outward manifestation. There is nothing wrong in being solemn and reverent before God in the church service, but it is also important to express joy vocally. The sermon was also very straightforward, simple, and applicable (and even somewhat in-your-face), with very little abstract language. This may be problematic for someone who is looking for deep theological insight when listening to a sermon, but I find this style of preaching very refreshing. For a book that’s especially practical like Proverbs (on which the sermon was based), it is of no use if you know the wise sayings but do not know how to put them into action.