Madeline Allen Church Visit #3

Church name: New Life Bilingual Church/Iglesia Bilingüe Nueva Vida

Church address: 468 Ann St., West Chicago, IL 60185

Date attended: 4/6/2014

Church category: Significantly lower socioeconomic status 

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

The worship service I attended was extremely laid back, casual and diverse. The service was set to begin at 10:30am, but after observing the situation it became clear that I was 1 out of 3 people that were there on time. The people that were there were extremely friendly and welcoming which was helpful as it was my first time there. After about 30 min of greeting each other and introducing myself, worship began and included both Spanish and English lyrics interchangeably. Next, the sermon began in Spanish and English whereby the pastor would preach in Spanish, and then a different man would translate into English. The pastor preached on Exodus 3-4, highlighting God’s ability to use our weaknesses to display His strength. Specifically, the pastor discussed Moses and his inadequacy, in contrast to the important role and purpose God assigned to him regardless. The service ended with more bilingual worship songs, making the service in all about 2 hours long. 

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

What I found most interesting is the lack of growth of the church. I had attended this church a couple of times 3 years ago as I was exploring different churches in the area. It seems that the congregation may have even gotten smaller since my last visit. Although this initially appeared as a negative observation, after the greeting and rest of the service, I realized how unique it would be to be a member of a small church where everyone knows each other by name. As you may imagine, I did not see many new faces (from when I had visited 3 years ago), but it was inspiring to recognize faces from the time that I had visited previously. Specifically, I saw another Wheaton student, David, who I had originally come with my freshman year. It was crazy to see that he had been coming ever since, and had built strong relationships with the small community around me. 

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

It was a bit disorienting to observe the lack of Latino leadership, or at least what I had witnessed. The two men leading the worship and the service were two white men. Although I hold respect for them as they have been involved in the Latino community for years, it was still a bit unsettling that over the past three years there was not a woman or a Hispanic person in some form of leadership. This was disorienting primarily because of my experience in Honduras (4 different visits over the past three years) in which I saw the white savior complex play out through evangelical night meetings during my time with Honduras Project. This form of evangelism in many ways has appeared to me as patronizing and is quite dangerous in terms of empowering the Latino community. It would be interesting to spend more time at the church and to learn more about the ways that the church has empowered the Latino community in taking on leadership roles within the New Life Bilingual church. 

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

It was interesting to hear the book of Exodus discussed within an immigrant community. Moses’ leadership role in bringing God’s people to a different land is relevant for me in many indirect ways, but for the Latino community it was interesting for me to think of how the message may have been heard a bit differently in terms of its direct application to their lives. Even more so, it was interesting to think about the different implications this message has on a mixed community of immigrants and white families where the issue of immigration affects those two communities in very different ways. Overall, the pastor’s message regarding the book of Exodus was refreshing as I was encouraged to interpret the message as it relates to my life, but also encouraged to think more about how this message is heard by a community that comes from a lower socioeconomic, and ethnic reality different than my own.