Mark Sawyer, Lawndale Community Church - Lower Socioeconomic Status

Mark Sawyer – Church Visit 1, Low Income

Church name: Lawndale Community Church

Church address: 3827 W Ogden, Chicago, IL 60623

Date attended: 9/18

Church category: Lower socioeconomic status than usual.

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

When we entered the auditorium, there was a general hubbub of background noise that was louder than the church I grew up in. People were conversing with each other, there was some live music playing, and people were trickling into the service slowly. My congregation at home (Perimeter Church, PCA) sticks to a structure where people know when to sit and stand, when they talk to those around them, etc. LCC was more fluid, which I enjoyed. The gymnasium was also set up with seating in the round, much like a black box theater. Perimeter Church has traditional amphitheater style seating – there are certainly advantages to both, but I realized that I could watch the faces of fellow congregants as they worshiped or took in the sermon when I looked across the circle. I think that LCC’s setup fosters a sense of community during the service.

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

One of the things that I found most interesting about the service was the reliance on song and readings rather than liturgy or a highly academic sermon. Today I sat in an Anglican church service and recited paragraphs of Scripture and read call-and-response passages that utilized very complex vocabulary that even I do not fully understand at all times. I realized that someone who was illiterate or not well-versed in church vocabulary would probably not feel welcome or engaged at the Anglican church. Perhaps that is why LCC used song and solo Scripture readings so much, and why Coach’s language was so accessible. (This is not to imply that LCC’s audience is largely illiterate, or that they are incapable of understanding an academic sermon. It should also be noted that this was “Friendship Sunday”, so it was probably also very “seeker-friendly” in the content of the service.) I also loved the way that the church staff were interacting with those that they knew in the audience. I saw multiple individuals go up to people they knew and appear to check up on their friend, encourage them, or just give them a good hug while the service continued. If I was looking for a church, community, I would want something similar.

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

The most disorienting aspect was the style of worship. Audience participation in many of the musical numbers seemed to be much looser (more “freestyle”) than I am used to. At Perimeter Church, the songs will generally follow similar arrangements week after week, and the worship leader directs or guides the audience rather than worshipping with the band and allowing the audience to appreciate the music and join in in whatever way they feel. I really enjoyed the worship, but at times struggled to keep up even when I knew the songs, as the arrangements would be different. I was also distracted during worship as I took in the sights and people around me. In addition, the upbeat worship songs engaged my whole body in rhythm and worship, but I had a harder time concentrating and getting my heart into a worshipful state.

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

I have attended a few churches of low socioeconomic status, and at almost all of them I have noticed an emphasis on the Imago Dei and the innate value of an individual’s life. At my PCA church, the total depravity of man and the chasm between our sin and God’s grace is the doctrine of humanity that is generally received. This serves to magnify the greatness of God and display His goodness, and it is certainly not incompatible with a robust view of the image of God in created man. However, Coach emphasized that “your life matters”, that “you are somebody”, and that God honors everyone He created. I suspect that his congregation needs to hear that message because it is in a community and wider society that tells its people, both subtly and directly, that their life does not matter as much as another. This positive, affirming, empowering view of our created identity, when accompanied with the knowledge that we need God, is a message that I and many others at my church could really benefit from. After all, anxiety, identity issues, and feelings that “my life does not matter” are not unique to Lawndale, even if they may be more pronounced or take on more explicit forms there.