Andy Suk- Church Visit #2

Andy Suk- Church Visit #2

Church name: Acts Full Gospel

Church address:1034 66th Ave Oakland, CA 94621

Date attended: 3/8/15

Church category: non-denominational, gospel church

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

The main difference between my regular services and the service I attended at Acts Full Gospel Church was the gospel music and the dancing choir. There was one gospel leader who would lead the choir in gospel songs and it was very interesting, in a good way. I felt like I actually had fun worshipping God. Everyone in the congregation was dancing and moving around and singing their hearts out. Sometimes a praise band can get a little old and it was very nice to change the style of worship!

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

The most interesting AND appealing thing about the worship service was the singing gospel songs lasted about 40 minutes! I've never been in a church service where we sang to the Lord that long! The worship session did have prayers, announcements, etc. interspersed throughout this 40-minute period. However, the choir was up their singing their hearts out all 40 of those minutes!

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

The most challenging thing was that I never really have been in a worship setting where there wasn't a majority of caucasian or asian congregation. This was one of the first times I've been in a church that had a predominantly African-American congregation! This church was in Oakland downtown; although Oakland has been always in my downtown, I never have been to a church in the city. The worship style of the congregation was a little disorienting. There were a lot of loud "AMEN"'s and "Hallelujah"'s which I've never really experienced before! However, this wasn't necessarily a negative aspect; I actually enjoyed seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ worship God in their own way, which was beautiful.     

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 biggest aspect of the sermon that stood out to me was the pastors example of the birds in the sky. Talking about Matthew 6:26, he told us an allegory where he was sitting in his living room at about 5am and he saw one bird fly in the air. It was still dark and he was wondering why the bird was already flying in the dark! He then said that this bird was the "praise leader". He said that the bird was flying to wake up his other birds to start singing praises to God. He then related this to our lives by saying that birds don't complain about waking up and going to work and starting off the day; rather they start off their day singing praises to the Creator. This was a very powerful allegory and I felt personally convicted and felt that I have been taking praising God for granted.