Sarah Han - Church Visit #2

Church name: Lawndale Community Church

Church address: 3827 W Ogden, Chicago, IL 60623

Date attended: February 8, 2015

Church category: Different socioeconomic status

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

Entering the place of worship was strangely familiar. I expected my visit to Lawndale to feel completely foreign, but instead I found it reminding me of a Baptist church my family attended for a number of years overseas. The congregation was also overwhelmingly non-white at both Lawndale and the church overseas with the only difference being that LCC was mostly African American while my “home” church was largely South East Asian. For a time, that church was also held in a gymnasium, with the same strange reverb distorting the worshipful music of the choir, keyboard, drums, and guitars. The layout of the room was also familiar as the stage was central to the congregation with chairs oriented towards it on many sides. One aspect of the service that was unfamiliar to me was the church choir singing gospel music. I have heard and sung gospel music in the context of school choirs including Women's Chorale, but I have never been in a church service where gospel was the style of worship that the choir sang.

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

I found Coach Wayne Gordon’s message very interesting because of the way in which he contextualized his sermon. He was speaking on finances and how to honor God with your money. Everything, from the style of his powerpoint to the examples of how we might waste our money to the phrases and mannerisms with which he spoke, very evidently connected with the congregation.  Coach employed a completely different style of preaching compared to the alliterated 3-point sermons or the magnifying glass, one verse expository preaching that I am used to hearing.  He spoke around a few Biblical principles regarding finances, tying them to very practical situations. He also included a few video clips in the middle of his message which, from the responses of the congregation around me, seemed to keep their attention. I was very interested by the way in which Coach demonstrated his clear understanding of the congregation he pastors in the way he taught.

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

The most disorienting aspect of this church visit was how comfortable I felt in the service. Quite honestly, I was dreading this church visit the most because I expected that the difference of race and socioeconomic status to create very clear, felt differences and awkwardness between the majority of the congregation and me. Instead, I walked away from the service with a sense of familiarity that had allowed me to engage with the spirit of worship of the service. One challenge outside of the church service was the discomfort I felt driving through the neighborhoods, as I was in a group of only college women. There is a certain fear that I feel as a young woman traveling without any men in the city, especially in areas such as Lawndale. This was an interesting tension to manage as I went in and out of a worship service where I know many of the people present are brothers and sisters in Christ.

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

My experience at Lawndale reminded me that the church looks much less monolithic than I sometimes think it is. I can easily forget that the white, suburban, Baptist/non-denominational churches I have attended are in very specific racial and socioeconomic contexts. The phrases, examples, and application pastors include in sermons are specific to these demographic contexts. The diversity of the church is invigorating. It reminded me of the passages of Paul’s letters in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 about one body made up of many diverse members with diverse roles. I have often heard this interpreted as individual people being individual parts, but I think these passages can be understood also as different gatherings of Christians who have unique characteristics and roles in the body of Christ, built across time and space. Visiting LCC reminded me that our faith is so all-encompassing that it has an academic depth while also being completely applicable to daily life; it is personal and communal; it is a faith passed down through centuries and relevant to every time, place, and people.