Eric Friend Church Visit #3

Church name: Wheaton Bible - Spanish Service

Church address: 27W500 North Ave, West Chicago, IL

Date attended: 11/2/2014

Church category: Different demographic

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

It was different (most obviously) because it was in a different language, and by the demographic makeup of the service. However, contrasting these differences, were broad, high level similarities. The people in the congregation behaved in a way that I am very familiar with, the church building itself was extremely well-kept and beautiful, and the cadence of the service moved in much the same way. Because I am not fluent in Spanish, I spent most of the service observing the people around me. I was sitting in the back, there was a group of English speaking Spanish students sitting next to me, and otherwise a completely Spanish/Mexican church body makeup. The music, which I found interesting, was comprised of all songs that I know -- simply translated into Spanish. This was great because I could more actively participate in the worship, but to my dismay, it did not give a cultural diversity that I was hoping for.

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

What I liked most about the service was the welcoming congregation, and the demystification that occurred to me when I was at the service. With my last church visit in a lower socioeconomic congregation and also Spanish, I subconsciously married these two together. I thought that a church of a predominantly different culture was also going to be in a poorer context. The Spanish service at the extremely nice, well-off Wheaton Bible church showed that other cultures also range in general economic status, just as my culture does. This part of the service was a great realization for me to make that I think will have residual impact on my understanding of other churches around the county, country and world.

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

What was most disorienting about the service was my inability to understand the message at all. The man talked so fast and my (very) limited Spanish was not able to keep up. So it's hard for me to say what was challenging about the service other than the demystification that I went through. This being said, I was a little bummed that worship music was so Americanized, but I wouldn't say that disoriented or challenged me -- I just would have liked to see how Christians in other demographic locations worshiped. If I had known more about Wheaton Bible (I did not expect such a massive, beautiful, successful church, I may have picked a different demographically other service to attend.

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 service illuminated a couple things from scripture that I may have not realized otherwise: that culture really does shape religion (and vice versa) and that God is willing to move in ways that many would not recognize. For my first point, this was a Spanish service, but it was so Americanized. From the building, to the music, to people's clothing and to the general tone of the pastor. If this service was in English I would have likely not been able to tell it was different (save the congregation demographic). This says to me that the US will have a profound and lasting impact on churches that take their roots here. Yes, some denominations are not this way, but the parallels were immense to what I am familiar with and the common denominator is not denomination but location. However, this does not mean my second observation is not true; God was still active in that church and in those people. This opportunity to worship came from a gigantic church that decided to sacrifice resources, time, energy and labor to create a space for people who were Spanish speaking and would not get much out of an English service. And that is a cool way to see God moving in ways that I would otherwise not have if I stayed at my home church last weekend.