Hunter Beck - Church Visit #2

Church Name: Free Church

Church Address: 1022 Lake St, Oak Park, IL 60301 (Oak Park Movie Theater)

Date Attended: 9/27                                     

Church Category: Lower Socioeconomic Status

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

Free Church was one of the most diverse churches that I have ever been to. It is located in Oak Park (which is a more affluent community than the surrounding neighborhoods), but definitely markets to the surrounding neighborhoods, especially Austin. Their main point is “come as you are” and I think people really did that. About 200 people attended the 9:30 AM service and every aspect of church body was extremely diverse! There were homeless people sitting next to families sitting next to physically/mentally handicapped people. There were teens attending on their own and there were elderly couples that were probably into their 70’s. There were Whites, Blacks, Latinos and Asians as well. My church back home is nearly all white, middle/upper class families and has about 2000 people in attendance each week. I really loved that this church knew everyone who attended regularly and noticed when people were new to their church and made an effort to talk to them.

What did you find most interesting about the worship service?

The thing that I found most interesting about this church was the music and worship. They did not play main stream contemporary Christian music, although it sounded like mainstream contemporary music. Most of their songs were more like gospel music in character as they would sing short choruses over and over. My church back home is mostly contemporary main stream music, and usually on the “cutting edge” of Christian music (i.e. more folk style songs). The other thing that I found interesting was how charismatic the worship service was. My church is quite reserved when it comes to worship but this service was very energetic, people with their hands in the air, dancing and shouting, some of which carried into the sermon as well. It was not the first time I experienced a charismatic worship service, but it was the first time that it happened in such a diverse church.

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

The thing that I found most challenging about the worship service was the way that prosperity gospel was preached. Going to this service the day after coming back from CCDA definitely made me more aware of that type of preaching, whereas if I had gone the week before, I probably would not have even noticed. The preacher on 9/27 was not the regular pastor, but he was the head pastor of a church in Texas that planted Free Church. He taught about if you take advantage of the opportunities that God gives you, he will bless you more than you could imagine. I did not necessarily disagree with what he was saying, but he did not ever specify what types of blessings he was referring to (material vs spiritual vs relational). If he had clarified that he was not speaking strictly on material blessings then I would have found his message more credible.

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

I think the primary thing that I got out of this service was the diversity (both socioeconomically and racially) of the church and how important it is to have different walks of life in the church. The church definitely puts an emphasis of people coming as they are and I gained a new appreciation for it. There is something about being a college student, worshiping with a homeless person, who is worshiping with someone who is physically handicapped, praising the God of the universe who dies for us all. It seemed to be the embodiment of love your neighbor. Outside of the service we may not have very much in common with each other, but once we enter into the House of the Lord (even if it is a movie theater), we become brothers and sisters in Christ.