Lawndale Christian Community Church
3827 W. Ogden Chicago, IL 60623
10/16/16
The first thing I noticed about Lawndale Christian Community
Church was that the stage was in the middle of the gym and all the seats were
surrounding the stage. In the church I attend, all of the seats are facing in
the same direction towards the stage. I thought it was kind of funny that the
pastor had to continually turn in circles in order to address his audience.
Having the service in a gymnasium was different but it did not seem odd to me
because the church I go to has its main service in a high school auditorium and
the children’s ministry is in the cafeteria, certainly far from the tradition
context of a worship service. In the service itself, there was a wide variety
of worship music that was played. They started the service with about five lead
singers who sang contemporary worship songs, like Hillsong Music. Later they
sang a couple of gospel choir songs were everyone was sitting except for a
couple people who stood up and danced. The main message came after the music
which was similar to the church I attend but the difference was in how
interactive the crowd was during the message.
What fascinated me most about the worship service was the
diversity of the worship music. Usually a church has one type of music; whether
hymns, gospel, or contemporary. However, at Lawndale, they combined both
contemporary and gospel into the same worship service. I thought it was a
beautiful collaboration between two genres of music that would typically be
played at two different churches. In a way, I thought that by simply having
each of these kinds of music, Lawndale was breaking down a barrier that so many
churches have created in the way they worship God. After the service I searched
for the Gospel song “He Reigns Forever” and added it to my playlist of
primarily contemporary worship music.
I honestly did not find a whole lot that was very
challenging about the service. If I had to choose one thing, it would be not
knowing whether I should stay seated or get up and dance during the Gospel
choir. I would have loved to get up and dance but I figured since I was a first
time guest I did not want to start dancing with my eyes closed only to open
them to see a whole sitting congregation looking at me like I am an idiot. Out
of respect for the service I decided to stay seated, but if I were to go back
another time I think I would have some serious difficulty not moving my feet at
least a little bit.
It was difficult to address too many questions about wealth
and poverty during the service because there is no way that I could completely
tell a person’s economic background from the one outfit they decided to wear to
church that morning. Though what I can say is that there were people wearing
old T-shirts and athletic shorts, others with khakis and a polo, and even some
dressed in a full suit. But to be honest, the clothes each person was wearing
never really seemed to make a difference in the way the congregation worshiped
and interacted with one another. It reminded me how no matter what economic
situation someone is in, they are still able to worship God from within that
context. It was just particularly encouraging to see people from a wide variety
of economic backgrounds come together in the same congregation to worship their
God.
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