Jonathan Oldham

Jonathan Oldham

Lawndale Christian Community Church

3827 W. Ogden, Chicago, IL, 60623

October 2, 2016

1.  The Sunday morning service I attended was held in a gymnasium, with chairs set up around a central, square platform.  There was a small combo (keys, drums, and bass) warming up and playing some stuff before people arrived.  The service itself followed a very similar flow to that of my normal church.  It started with some worship, followed by announcements for the church.  After that was a child dedication ceremony, which was cool.  We sang a bit more, then listened to a sermon from the pastor.  We watched a video as well that highlighted the message that he wanted to get across, and it was a very powerful video.  We ended by taking communion together, and were then dismissed.  The overall flow was similar to my regular context, but there were subtle differences, like the size of the congregation, the style of worship, the physical orientation (circular), and the use of technology through the video.

2.  I definitely found the general atmosphere of acceptance and community appealing.  It was a smaller church than I go to, and it felt like a lot of people knew each other well.  There were casual conversations and greeting before the service started, and I really got the sense that the people cared for each other.  I also really liked the set-up for the audience.  All the chairs were surrounding a center stage from which the pastor spoke and the singers sang.  It made it feel more community-like, rather than all of us being aimed at a frontal stage.  I also really appreciated the child dedication ceremony, as it was not only a testament to the congregation, but it was also a call to the congregation to enter into the process of raising a child in Christ.  Overall, the community seemed authentic and the people genuine, and the service reflected such.

3.  Naturally, I was a little disoriented by the worship.  I’m not a huge fan of songs that repeat a few lines over and over without any actual verses, which is what I found at Lawndale.  They also had a choir sing a song, but we didn’t know the words and we just kind of listened, which I was unsure about.  The ending benediction-like song didn’t have any printed or projected words, but most of the congregation seemed to know it.  I felt left out during that part.  I also felt a little unsure about the use of a 15-20 minute long video that almost seemed like its own sermon.  I don’t know if I would say that this was a bad thing or a good thing, since it did have visual enactment that enhanced the message.  Overall, I felt much more aware of my own presence in that church, partly from it being new but also from us being some of the only white people there.

4.  This visit made me think about a number of things on wealth and poverty.  First of all, I was expecting the situation and the actually church to be a lot worse off economically.  I was expecting it to be more run down, but the facilities were fairly nice, and there was a good use of electronic media.  I think that speaks to my own preconceptions about what churches in low-income neighborhoods are like.  Second, I admired the joy and thankfulness and generosity of the congregation.  They didn’t seem bitter, and there wasn’t an atmosphere that anything was missing either.  They were genuinely happy with what they had, and the offered what they had to the church.  I think that goes to support that people who have less seem to be more generous (see Mark 12:41-44)