Beth Laskowski- Church visit #3

Church name: Wheaton Chinese Alliance Church

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

Date attended: March 30, 2014

Church category: different ethnic/racial demographic

 

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

I went to the English speaking service at this church but there is also a service in Mandarin and one in Cantonese.  The service was performed in a similar format to the services I attend at College Church and back at my church in Minnesota.  We sang a few songs, had a congregational prayer, then offertory, announcements, sermon, and a closing song in response to the message. When I was there, an elder gave the message instead of the senior pastor. This church was smaller than my regular church and there were about 100-150 people in this service. Most of them were Asian although there were some white people there too. The congregation had both young and old individuals. I was surprised at how friendly this church was and during the announcements, they asked me to introduce myself and they welcomed me to their church.

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

I thought it was interesting that although the congregation was primarily Asian, some of the leaders in the church were white. The elder that gave the message was white and so was the woman who gave the congregational prayer.  It seemed to me that the leaders of the church were both white and Asian.  I went to this church expecting the whole congregation to be Asian and me to be one of the only non-Asians but I was surprised that there were quite a few others.  I think that even though a large percentage of the church is Asian, they do seem to welcome others and it is not an exclusively Asian church. I really liked that an elder was given the opportunity to give the message because I think that it is good to hear from other church leaders as well as the senior pastor.  The friendliness of the church and the church’s willingness to interact with others who are different from them was most appealing to me. 

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

This church reminded me of my regular worship service so there was not really anything disorienting or challenging about it.  The only thing that I did notice was that many of the older members of the congregation sat in the very back rows of the church.  I do not know why because there was plenty of space in the rows more towards the front. I was also surprised that there were people sitting in folding chairs on the sides of the sanctuary. I don’t know why they didn’t move into the pews since there was plenty of room.  I noticed that after the English worship service, the Mandarin and Cantonese services started while a prayer meeting began.  I think it would have been great if the whole church could have prayed together but it seems like the English speaking congregation is somewhat separate from the Mandarin and Cantonese congregations.   The prayer meeting was mostly younger members of the congregation.

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 said previously, I think that this church really showed me hospitality and acceptance, even more than my other church contexts.  I was greeted warmly by many.  This church also seemed to be one in which everyone is committed to grow together in the Lord.  I was surprised how involved each member was.  Many of the young adults/ college students were running the Sunday school and it seemed like many of the congregation at the English service stayed for the prayer meeting.  This church is smaller than my regular contexts so that may be why things seemed different to me but I really liked how each member seemed committed to their church.  The message that the elder gave was on Daniel 3:13-30 (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace) and I really liked his point of not looking at the story as a search for the heroes and villains but to look at it as a story of God at work and how He reveals Himself to others.