Jon Gibson - Church Visit #1

Jon Gibson – Church Visit # 1

Iglesia de la Resurrección

23W420 St. Charles Rd. Carol Stream, IL 60188 

Attended on 9/6/14

Different ethnic or racial demographic

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

The first thing I experienced was how friendly everyone was.  It seemed like every member of the church came over and introduced themselves to myself and my two friends.  They even asked if we needed a translator or not.  At my church back home that kind of thing never happens, assuming this friendliness was not merely a byproduct of the small size of Iglesia.  The second thing I noticed was the congregation’s different view of time.  The service was supposed to start at 4:30, but didn’t end up getting going till around 5:15.  Although, during this time all the members of the church worked together to set up the sanctuary for the service, which I thought was really cool.  Another aspect of the service that was different than my regular context was the formality of it.  The pastor was much more dressed up than at my home church and there were a lot more formal decorations.

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

The thing I found most appealing about the worship service was the sense I got from the people in the congregation.  It just felt like one big family.  For example, on one occasion during the sermon the pastor was right in front of the first row and touched the heads of some of the children in order to make a point.  He wasn’t behind a pulpit like in other church settings, separated from the congregation.  This sort of closeness and atmosphere could be felt throughout the sanctuary.  Not only was this closeness felt between the pastor and the congregation, but also between individual church members as well.  I’ve always been told that Latin Americans put more emphasis on family than people in the U.S. do.  I got to observe this first hand, and I really appreciated it.  I think this is the way church should be, all members caring and interacting with each other on a very personal level.

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

Besides the fact that the sermon was in Spanish, the thing I found most disorienting about the worship service was the flow of the service.  It seemed like there was not a real clear structure for the service.  This could have been just me not understanding what was going on because of the language barrier, but it seemed that we would be singing one moment, reading scripture the next, then the pastor would preach, and then the cycle would repeat.  I also wasn’t quite used to the amount of liturgy that went into the service, so that was disorienting as well.  One observation I found to be very challenging was the absence of men in the congregation.  I know this is a stereotype of churches nowadays, but this really struck me as a problem in this congregation.  There man/woman ratio was probably somewhere around one to four.  This trend is very alarming to me, and I hope that it will change in the future.

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

The main aspect of Scripture and theology that was highlighted for me was the fact that God can be worshiped in any language, dialect, or other means of communications.  This really brought to mind for me Revelation 7:9 which says, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. . .”  The worship service, especially the songs were just so beautiful to hear in Spanish.  I know a little Spanish myself, and the things I did understand, mostly the choruses of songs, were fun to listen to and understand.  I also want to highlight again the sense of community that I felt at Iglesia.  Their worship service reminded me of  Romans 12:10, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brother love; in honour preferring one another.”  Overall, It was a great experience and I learned a lot from it.