Church name: Vessels of His Love Church
Church address: 533 W. Front Street Wheaton, IL 60187
Date attended: Nov 2, 2014
Church category: different ethnic/racial demographic
1. The worship service started off with praise and worship, like how it is at my church, but it was different in that there were three vocalists and only a piano. It was "choir" style where voices were emphasized more than the instrumental. The service was very similar in that it consisted of all the "order" I was used to in my service (like sermon, offering, etc.), but different in how it was acted out. The church was a smaller size than my original church, but they were much more welcoming and friendly. Also, they had a long time for greeting each other and catching up with one another (about 10 minutes long) which was something I was definitely not used to. I was used to standing up, saying hello, giving some hugs, and sitting back down, but they walked around to meet everyone. The way they did offering was also different. Instead of passing around the basket, they left it at the front and had a separate time for all of us to come up during the service to place our offerings there.
2. I found the response of the congregation throughout the worship service to be the most appealing. To hear someone in the crowd agree and affirming the pastor or whoever was speaking was a great encouragement. It is not something I grew up with so I admire it so much and wish that it was also part of the church I attended. I also found the time for testimonies after the sermon to be interesting. This time gave the congregation members to state praises, share how the sermon convicted them, etc. It was such a straight application. Often times I go back home and forget what the sermon was about, but allowing it to apply it directly to their lives and situations, at that specific moment, allowed them to make the sermon become personal.
3. As one of the congregation members were kind enough to tell me, this church was a lot more "relaxed" in several ways than I was used to. The service almost seemed to just go with the flow. There were people who left after the praise and worship. The service had some structure, but there were definitely parts where I was confused and did not know what was happening. These moments caught me off guard and was disorienting throughout the service, as I am more fond of structure with set time spans for each section of the service. Also, the sermon was not the type of sermon I was used to. Rather than having specific points on a Scripture passage, the pastor chose a passage but went through it in a way that I would describe a bible study rather than a sermon. It was a blessing in its own ways but I found it challenging to apply the sermon to my own life.
4. More than the service itself, the people and the community of the church truly illuminated what a church should look like. It was a small sized church, but they loved each other greatly. They were also quick to welcome the newcomer (me) and made me feel at home. Most of the members came to me and introduced themselves to me and gave me hugs and smiles. Despite looking so different from them, they did not hesitate to embrace me with Christ's love. It almost makes me shameful of my own church back home, knowing that there are so many who have left the church because they did not feel like they belonged. It was a stark contrast and a wake up call having the privilege to experience this Christ-like love in a church that was so different, yet similar, to me.
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