Caitlyn Fong – Church Visit #1

Church Name: Lawndale Community Church

Church Address: 3860 W. Ogden Ave. Chicago, IL

Date Attended: September 11, 2016 – 11am

Church Category: Lower Socioeconomic

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

The basic components of the service were pretty much the same as I have experienced at my church in Wheaton and also back at home in Boston: singing worship songs, Scripture reading, prayer, and a sermon. However, the order of the service was different than what I am used to. The two Scripture readings were interspersed throughout the service (instead of read right before the sermon) and the songs of worship were broken up by various other parts of the service, like the Scripture readings and corporate prayer (instead of singing straight through). Also, the style of worship and music was different than what I typically experience, as I did not know most of the songs we sang and the services I usually attend do not have choirs or special music performances.

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

I thought it was really cool how the room was arranged physically. The “stage” was in the center and the chairs were lined up in rows around the room, looking towards the middle. I enjoyed how this setup gave a feel of unity with all the members of the congregation facing one another. This also took away the appearance of levels or hierarchy as there was not really a front or back of the room, but just one community gathered together. In addition, I enjoyed the way LCC did prayer requests and praises. They had two microphones, one on each side of the room, for members of the congregation to go up and briefly share what they want to ask the church to pray for and/or praise God for. The sharing continued until there was no one left in line, and then the congregation was led in praying for all of the requests right there during the service.

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

I think it was an unusual service in that LCC was transitioning from summer into fall and the start of a new year. It was Coach Wayne Gordon’s first week back from his annual summer sabbatical so he spent much of his sermon sharing about what he did during his time off, like various experiences he had while he was traveling abroad and great books he had the chance to read. Coach also advertised their “Friendship Sunday” that was coming up the next week and explained how LCC is moving to one service at a new time for the fall, so there were several announcements and I was unsure of what was actually the sermon. It was just a lot of information, which was a little hard to navigate as a visitor.

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

It was convicting how LCC clearly put into practice what they preached. The Scripture readings were Psalm 133 and 1 Peter 3:8-9, and the theme was “Being the Family of God”.  As I mentioned in the response above, Coach talked about LCC’s “Friendship Sunday” service, which gives the members of the congregation a specific and concrete way to apply the teachings of 1 Peter 3:8-9 and invite others into the family of God. Similarly, the change from two services to one is a direct result of wanting to be a community like that referred to in Psalm 133. In my experiences at other churches, pastors usually try to provide the congregation with advice on how to apply what they learn from the sermon, but most of the time, it is individual actions that need to be taken in one’s personal life. Yet at LCC, it is the community doing something together as a whole to follow what they read in Scripture.