Kirsten Rieck - Church Visit #2

Church name: Wheaton Chinese Alliance Church

Church address: 1748 S Blanchard St, Wheaton, IL 60189

Date attended: 3/23/14

Church category: Different ethnic/racial demographic

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

When John and I first walked in to the Wheaton Chinese Alliance Church sanctuary for the English service, it was very quiet. It took us a while to catch on to the fact that we were supposed to be using that time to silently prepare our hearts for worship. This is different from any other church that I have gone to. The way that the pastor spoke was also different than my regular context. He walked around a lot, on the same level as where everyone was sitting, not up on the stage behind the pulpit, like I am used to. He also went through his sermon points using a powerpoint. The sermon incorporated more biblical history than I generally hear on a Sunday morning. It was helpful, as it put the rest of what was going on into more of a context. After the service, there were a lot of people who were eager to introduce themselves to us, as we had been identified as visitors during the service. I have never seen so many people so eager to welcome visitors.

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

I loved the whole service, but the two parts that really stood out to me were probably the time before and after the service. I love that they ask people to quiet their hearts and prepare for worship before the service starts. It really puts you into a mindset that is ready to worship God. I also loved the community of the church after the service ended. The people who attend Wheaton Chinese Alliance Church obviously love each other and are a family. I saw this not only in how they all stayed around after the service and interacted, but how they were so eager to welcome the two of us who were visiting. There were a number of people who seemed like they intentionally looked for us after the service to introduce themselves to us. The people we talked to were so friendly and genuine. One of the people that we talked to told us that the church really takes you into the family very quickly, which was quite obvious, and was something that I really loved.

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

Probably the most disorienting part of the service was when the pastor got up before the sermon and asked if there were any visitors in the service to raise their hands. John and I were the only two people to raise our hands, so the pastor pointed us out and asked the church to welcome us. They all turned to look at us and applauded. I was so embarrassed and didn’t really know what to do. The pastor then said that we looked like we were there for a class assignment and asked us if that was true. We said that we were, and I was kind of embarrassed again. I wanted to let them know that we weren’t just there for an assignment, but were there to worship. I had an experience in Harlem in New York over Christmas break where it was made obvious that a predominantly black church we wanted to visit had been very hurt in the past by visitors coming to observe rather than to watch, and I have been very sensitive to that since then. We were actually able to tell that to a lot of people we talked to after the service who were asking what our assignment was, but they didn’t seem like they were very offended that we were there for an assignment.

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

I think that slowing down and being still was an aspect of theology that I really appreciated about the Wheaton Chinese Alliance Church worship service. It is so easy to forget to be still and know that God is God, even in church, when we move so quickly from one thing to another. God gave us a Sabbath, but so frequently, even that gets filled up and we forget to take time to just be still, know that God is God, and prepare to worship Him. In my regular context, transition between the start of the service, from singing to announcements, announcements to reading Scripture, Scripture reading to prayer, prayer to the sermon, etcetera, everything feels like it moves so quickly, so it was cool to see how a church intentionally made time to be still.