Dan Mitchell Church Visit #2

Church name: Lawndale Christian Community Church

Church address: 3827 W. Ogden Chicago, Illinois 60623 

Church category: Lower Socioeconomic Demographic

Date: March 22, 2015

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

I really enjoyed my visit to Lawndale Christian Community Church. I recently read his book Real Hope in Chicago which is what initially drew me to come. The layout within the building was very different to me having the stage in the center and the congregation surrounding it on all sides. The service began with singing on stage with the congregation and then flowed into a few songs by the choir and the pastor preaching. The service format was very much what I was used to. However the congregation was much different than the regular church I have attended. Lawndale Christian Community Church is located in an inner city neighborhood that is primarily African American and lower income than the church I regularly attend.

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

I loved the enthusiasm that everyone brought to the worship of the service. I vibe and energy were great. I also loved that the congregation would sometimes echo with an “Amen”. What I think is so cool about Lawndale is that it puts such an emphasis on the community around it. So many churches I have been to aren't focused on this. They support missionaries or inner city projects but don’t seek to be a part of the community around them. Having read Real Hope in Chicago I was blown away at the sacrifices made by Wayne Gordon and those who came to help him. The whole story of the church is a huge testament to the work of God.

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

Overall I didn't find it that challenging at all. I felt very welcome from the start and really enjoyed the service and the people I was able to meet. It was a little disorienting to be a minority in an environment I was not accustomed to though. While I have grown up overseas and experienced being a minority I do not have a lot of experience in an inner city African American community. I also found the pastors sermon to be much shorter than I am used to or was expecting. Although Dr Lee informed us that this is not how it normally is.

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 the message that the pastor gave out of John 14 was delivered differently that it would have been at a higher income primarily white church. To my understanding most of the church has grown up in an environment where violence, drugs, and criminal activity affect almost every part of their lives. Many at the service may have fallen into crime at some point in their lives. A lot of the trials that the pastor listed seemed so foreign to me. I think it was because of this that the pastor really focused on the hope we can find in Jesus and that he will never cease to love us or abandon us.