Church address: 23 W420 St. Charles Rd, Carol Stream, IL 60188
Date attended: 1/25/14
Church category: Different Ethnic/Racial demographic (Latino American)
Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?
I went to the English service at New Generation, which were comprised of mostly young adults with a few children. The English service was separate from the Spanish service, which from what I could see consisted of older Spanish speaking adults with their very young children. I assume that a lot of them were the parents of the English-speaking congregation. It felt fairly familiar to the context that I grew up in (Korean-American churches). There are several parallels that I could see: The English-speaking congregation could, for the most part, speak the second language at a conversational level, CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) lead by a worship team, stackable chairs as opposed to fixed pews, a broad age range, and a congregation of about 20 people. The pastor was a young male in his mid-twenties, which is another thing I am used to, though don’t necessarily love.
What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
I loved that a 9-year old was playing the drums. Perhaps he wasn’t the best at keeping the beat consistently, however his eager participation in worship was beautiful. I also appreciated the musical worship, particularly the songs in Spanish. I enjoy participating in these, despite not speaking Spanish, because it is a beautiful reminder that we are worshipping a multilingual God. The service was appealing in that it was familiar in the bicultural sense. I liked that it was relatively small and intimate; everyone seemed to know each other and were very welcoming to me. I didn't sense apathy from the congregation or exasperation from the church leaders (which I've seen and experienced in Asian American church settings). They seemed very cheerful to be in the same space, worshipping God.
What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
The references to terms and concepts in Spanish was disorienting in that I didn’t know what the words meant most of the time. However, I’ve been in enough situations where I am unable to communicate, so it didn’t bother me too much. Another challenge was to greet and speak to other members of the congregation in that I didn't know many of them. Naturally, it was slightly awkward, but the congregants were welcoming enough for me to feel comfortable. However, for the most part, because there were so many similarities to Korean-American churches that I’ve attended in the past, I did not feel too unbearably disoriented or uncomfortable.
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 experience helped me see the flexibility of theology. I have been learning for the last few years that the gospel is enculturated, and I supposed I expect to find vastly different theologies in different settings. However at this church, I saw that theology can be practiced in the same ways in very different contexts. I grew up in a C&MA church in a major city with first generation Koreans and second generation Korean Americans. This church was an Anglican church in the suburbs with first generation Latinos and second generation Korean Americans. Despite very different contexts, the actual worship experience felt so strangely familiar. In a weird way, it reminded me of my love for the Korean American church.
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