First Hmong Alliance Church

361 Marion Ave. Aurora, IL 60505

April 6, 2014

Significantly lower socioeconomic demographic

 

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

The worship service included a congregation consisting of Hmong people with only us being the exception. The church setting seemed more similar to a liturgical church with its stain-glass windows and an organ. The service was a mix of both English and their own language but mostly was in their language so I had no idea what the sermon was about other than that it was on the book of Peter.  They also had their kids stay through the whole sermon and did offerings right before the sermon and after the worship. It was similar to my church in that the younger adults and college students lead the praise and worship and it was longer than most other churches. The church was also located near a poorer socioeconomic setting next to a large Hispanic population and their churches.

 

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

I found it very interesting that there were people of various ages mixed in the congregations, from small children to college students to adults and elders. They had a great community going as well, as each one of them came up to me and my friends to introduce themselves. The service was very simple and clean too and a mix between singing more traditional songs as well as more contemporary songs, having just announcements, prayer, praise, offering, children singing, and ending with sermon and prayer. I was really surprise how fast the service ended and how we did not even get a bulletin. I found it also interesting that the pastor and the other people that were serving were so young, or at least looking really young, and how there was really no elder role present. I think they also had more than one pastor that did different things.

 

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

The most challenging was definitely the language barrier. It was really weird to see how they mostly spoke Hmong language with a mix of English. When we were praising, we did start off with two English songs but then went onto two Hmong songs afterwards. I could not stay focused when the pastor was speaking because he only added a little English but mostly speaking in the way I could not understand what he was trying preach about. They were clearly for the Hmong people only, without any translation in between and I got reminded of how we discussed about this in class on how we deal with churches that speaks a different language. Also, when I glanced over at the offering, the lower income socioeconomic demographic reflected the amount there was in the offering. The service itself was not exactly timely either in that it was supposed to start at 11 but it did not start at that time.

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 I became more aware of the different churches that speak a different language from English and are able to praise God in their own ways. I also happened to go to a Korean church before when I was in middle school and never realized that it was focused on Koreans who prefer to speak and worship in Korean. I think that even though while the service is quite similar, being in a church that speaks a different language from my own makes you more disconnected than if I went to a liturgical church where the service is very different from my church.  It definitely makes me think more of the diversity in the world of the different languages that are existent and everyone worships God in their culture and context.