Kirsten Rieck - Church Visit #3

Church name: Lawndale Christian Community Church

Church address: 3827 W. Ogden Avenue, Chicago, IL 60623

Date attended: March 30^th 2014

Church category: Lower Socioeconomic Status

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

There were a number of ways in which the worship service at LCCC was different than my regular context. The church was in a gymnasium of a health center and all of the seats were facing the center of the gymnasium where there was a platform rather than facing the front of a sanctuary where there is a pulpit. There were many people coming from a lower socioeconomic status and a majority of the congregation was not White, while in my regular context, many of the people in the congregation are middle- to upper-class and almost everyone in the congregation is White. The singing part of the service felt so much like my time in the Wheaton College Gospel Choir rather than hymns sung in my regular context. The service was also twice as long as the services that I normally attend. There were very many ways in which Lawndale's church was different from my regular context and there were very few ways in which it was similar.

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

The freedom and joy of the people in the congregation were incredibly appealing. I loved that a song would “finish”—sometimes three or four times—and then start back up again. When they sang, “I just can't stop praising Him” (or something along those lines), they really meant it. They were not just singing the words because they were the words to the song, they sang it because they meant it. There was also a lot of moving and dancing during the music, which was very freeing and very fun. It was great being able to engage your body in worship as well as your mind and your voice. During the sermon, there was obvious engagement and participation from the congregation as well as they commented on different points that the pastor made during the sermon. The pastor was actively engaging with the congregation as well—responding to them, talking with individuals, singing an impromptu song, which much of the congregation joined in on.

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

I actually felt very at home at this church. There were very few things that I found disorienting or challenging. Probably the most challenging part of the service was that I had a hard time understanding what the pastor was saying at times. I'm not sure if it was because he was moving around a lot, talking quickly, or talking about things that I'm just not used to hearing about or talking about. It also could have been because I am not used to listening to a sermon organized in the way that this pastor's sermon was organized. I sometimes felt like he was talking about unrelated points, although the points that I followed, I thought were good. In the moment, it was hard for me to know where the message was going.

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

The importance of loving your neighbor/community was so strong at LCCC. There were so many really cool ministries that the church runs just to serve their community. It was incredible hearing about the Hope house, which runs a 9-month program for men who are coming out of prison or have been struggling with substance/alcohol abuse (from my understanding). Hearing stories about the men who have gone through this program were incredibly inspiring and hearing how many of them stay in the church and dedicate their lives to loving God and loving others was really cool. I've lived my whole life with enough money and have been surrounded by people who also have enough money. I, my family, and my friends are all very privileged in terms of our race and socioeconomic status. It is so easy to live our lives as individual people who are friends rather than as a community of people who are interdependent on each other and genuinely love each other. In reality, I totally need other people, but it is something I don't recognize very frequently. I love that the church puts such an emphasis on community—loving God and loving others—and actually lives it rather than just preaching it.