Church name: Lawndale Community Church
Church address: 3827 W Ogden, Chicago, IL 60623
Date attended: 9/25/2016
Church category: lower socioeconomic church
Describe the worship service you attended.
How was it similar to or different from your regular context? (150 words)
The service was definitely very different
from what I’m used to, particularly in the sense that worship at Lawndale felt
more raw and real. It seemed congregants had the freedom to exercise their
personalities and culture unlike other contexts I’ve been in, whereby social
and cultural norms (e.g. saving face) constraint churchgoers from being able to
fully express themselves in worship. People seemed to say and sing words with
more conviction, as though declaring the meaning behind those words. I think
this is tied to the simpler worship music; unlike past churches playing newer
CCM songs, I felt a sincerity in Lawndale’s worship service that made me think
back to how gimmicky other services I’ve been to were—where I’ve sung words I
don’t realise carry a lot of weight and meaning behind. I think this idea of
sincerity in community was reinforced with the seat layout, baptism
celebrations, and prayer and praise. I know it isn’t perfect, but I think
Lawndale exudes a quality other churches can also benefit from having.
What did you find most interesting or
appealing about the worship service? (150 words)
I was especially intrigued by how sincere
it felt, being at Lawndale, where your past and differences between one another
do not matter—especially in a place of worship. I think this was rooted in in
how communal the whole service was, from the ground up but structurally as
well. There was a sense of community I haven’t seen in churches I’ve attended
before. I never had a home church in Jakarta and as I grew older I also grew
sceptical of the function of church when I felt like you had to fake a holiness
to be there (obviously not true). Part of what exemplified Lawndale’s community
feel besides the warmth and welcome was that congregants physically/verbally
responded to what was being said or presented, especially during Prayer &
Praise. This section appealed most to me, as I saw the real value of being in a
community in Christ; I don’t recall people from my old church in Jakarta ever
asking us for prayer requests, and this has shaped the way I approach prayer
now as well. I was both genuinely surprised by the kind of community at
Lawndale, which I think has been forged and reinforced in the midst of going
through hardship together.
What did you find most disorienting or
challenging about the worship service? (150 words)
To be honest, I struggled with the thinking
of visiting a lower socioeconomic church. This is a bit weird to explain, but I
felt as though I have been visiting churches with a lens. A lot of systemic
injustices were brought up in the service, even though that is probably more
normal than naught at Lawndale, but each time something like that was brought
up I felt like an observer rather than a fellow Christian worshipping with the
rest of Lawndale Community Church. I did not feel uncomfortable or weird being
at Lawndale. In fact, I felt like I could continue attending. However, I was
very aware of how I come from a different world and I wish I could have just
focused on worshipping with fellow Christians. I suppose these visits are to disorient them in some way, but I
hope I’ll be able to focus more on our similarities and less on differences.
What aspects of Scripture or theology did the
worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in
your regular context? (150 words)
I thought the music sung reflected a
theology of living people in Lawndale could identify more with rather than
people from my regular context. Lawndale churchgoers have definitely
disproportionately suffered in the hands of systemic injustice—the music
reflected this and lyrics affirmed the worth of human beings as bearers of
God’s image. Scripture (Matt 7:3-5 and Psalm 139) also reinforced this, as
Coach really stressed the importance of finding our own masks and taking the
log out of our own eyes before moving on to helping others. Simple yet meaningful,
his message was interwoven with very relevant references to the oppression of
African Americans in the US, which I realised would be an everyday topic of
conversation, heartbreak, prayer, and concern so close to home for the majority
of those in that room. I saw hints of this in my regular context, but the
current oppression of African Americans is starkly different from colonised
legacies of Indonesia and South Korea (my regular context). The idea of
injustice pervaded throughout the service, definitely shaping how people
reacted to Scripture and read it as well.
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