Caila Paquin – Church visit #2

Church name: Lawndale Community Church

Church address: 3827 W. Ogden Avenue

Date attended: October 5, 2014

Church category: Different ethnic demographic

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

Lawndale is similar to my regular context in that it meets in a gym, and we sing similar songs, and follow the basic church structure. In almost all other aspects it was a very different experience, especially given the predominantly African American demographic which is not my home church in the least. We arrived just in time for the songs of praise and were treated a revolving circle of excellent singers. Next there was a call to worship and welcome that transitioned us into a time of being led by a choir. They choir was such a treat. After this was the time of Prayer & Praise during which the congregation opened up to one another about the struggles and praises they had experienced lately. After this, pastor Darryl Saffore shared about Christian discipleship, how lives are changed, and the struggles we may face as Christians. The service ended with a reverent Lord’s Supper.

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

For starters, I cannot say enough about the Prayer & Praise time in which members got up to share their struggles and joys. I have seen this done occasionally in churches before, but this was a less structured time than normal. Generally the churches I’ve observed do this are very small so they know that this time won’t go on for too long. You could tell that Lawndale was committed to this time too as story after story included “most of you know…” or “I shared last month about…” which led me to believe that the church is worthy of its Community title. I also loved the work evidenced by the congregation. We sat across from the Hope House men and got to hear a Hope House alumni speak and the power of Christ was so evident in that transformation. From the prayer and praise I also knew that I was in the presence of people who had faced tiring weeks of opposition, so worshiping alongside them was genuine and refreshing.

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

I was in the woman’s restroom and no one—and it was quite a talkative group—talked to me. I know this isn’t part of the worship service itself, but the feeling of being an outsider sort of hung over the whole event, and this was expected and all right. I just found it interesting that people would approach our group, in its defined outsider status, but not single person me. The other thing I found disorienting was the way the speaker addressed the congregation about doing community development. Coming straight out of CCDA I viewed the congregation as a community people like us develop. Instead, they were the ones encouraged to be developing their own community and that threw me off. In a great way. I threw me off in a way that was humbling and necessary, but nonetheless a throw off.

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

Community seems like the copout answer here, but I’m going to use it seriously. While it is a predominately African American church, there were a number of other ethnicities represented and, it seems, welcomed fully into the church body. Again, I was struck by the time of community sharing structured into the service. But even the layout of the church emphasized togetherness and equality, we all gathered around in a circle, technically this creates a center, but the bigger emphasis is on togetherness and unity. Obviously my church emphasizes community as well. Christians in general tend to realize the importance of it and structure their services around it, but I thought the way that Lawndale emphasized it was more…extreme. While not everyone is at the same place, it is so clearly a welcoming neighborhood church that community comes across more distinctly.