Church name: New City Fellowship

Church Address: 2412 East 4^th Street, Chattanooga, TN 37404

Date Attended: February 16, 2014

Church Category: Different ethnic or racial demographic

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

I attended New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this last week. I was on a roadtrip to Chattanooga and was invited to come to New City by a girl I met in the dorms of Covenant College there. The worship service at New City  was very different from any that I have attended; it is a PCA church, and I have attended a few like it in this respect, but the worship was Gospel worship (not as familiar to me) and the church’s main goal (as they stated it) was racial reconciliation. Montana, where I grew up, is a pretty racially homogenous state, and racial reconciliation is not something that my church in Montana ever talked about. My church in Wheaton, All Souls Anglican Church, is predominately white as well, so it was different to attend a very purposely multicultural church. New City has two locations in/near Chattanooga – one is made up of mostly African American and white congregants (this is the location I attended), and the other is primarily Hispanic and white congregants. New City’s mission statement, below and a picture of a cross being held by three hands, each of different races, is on the front of their bulletin: “To establish a cross-cultural worshipping community, centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that produces disciple believers who become God’s instruments of grace, justice, and mercy.”

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

As an English major, I must say I loved the poetry reading during the service – the poetry of Langston Hughes (especially fun because I just studied his poetry in a class last semester) was read very wonderfully and well as a part of the church’s celebration of Black History Month. Many churches seem to shy away from aspects of culture such as poetry, as they think it won’t be appealing to all or accessible to all (or at least this is the case with many Montana churches), but I found it to be enriching and beautiful. I also loved the worship – it was energetic, beautiful, simple in a very special way, and theologically rich. The fusion between the church’s PCA roots and Gospel worship was lively and fitting, which I was surprised by, because I had never experienced much of either tradition, much less the two paired together. The congregation members were very friendly and welcoming (this seemed to be the case with most Southern people I met though…loved it), and the church made a specific effort to welcome visitors by having us stand up right before greeting time. I loved the liturgical aspects of the service  - we all read the Lord’s prayer, a prayer of confession, and the Scripture for the day together.

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

I am not very familiar with Gospel worship, so I must say I was a little disoriented during the worship times. This did not diminish my enjoyment of the worship at all – it still brought me lots of joy, and I was very thankful to see a church body taking on a tone of worship like New City did. The disorienting part (I am embarrassed to say) is that I am not used to worshipping dynamically and physically (my old Baptist church doesn’t really move, and my Anglican church sings hymns with an organ), and more practically I didn’t know when it was appropriate to sing with the Gospel choir and when to just listen. So I did a little of both, which I am guessing is appropriate. I don’t know that this is a bad thing at all, because it seems to me that listening to worship music is very valuable as well as participating in it directly. The sermon length was very challenging for my attention span, as I have grown used to the short sermon and drawn out ceremony of an Anglican service (and I hear this sermon was particularly long). The sermons at All Souls are also indirect and non-linear, but in a very concise and effective way (not sure exactly how that works, but that is the impression I always come away with), so it was difficult for me to hear what I felt like were the same points about righteousness stated over and over again but from different angles and in a progression that took about an hour. I also have grown to love the Anglican tradition and celebration of participation in Communion, so it felt strange to me to have everyone taking Communion at their own pace and without much ceremony as it was handed out.

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

I loved that New City very directly made racial reconciliation part of the Gospel mandate rather than a separate issue to talk about as Christians. Particularly in light of the mostly white congregations I have attended church with, it is rich and challenging for me to see racial reconciliation proclaimed as the main goal of a church rather than (more passively) assumed as a byproduct of God’s people gathering for fellowship. The head pastor, Kevin Smith, emphasized in his sermon that racial reconciliation is difficult to talk about for all involved, and this is exactly why New City chooses to proclaim reconciliation so directly, and with grace for all the frustrations that surround communication involved with topics of race. It seemed to go without question that the sermon about righteousness would include the topic of race, and the way in which New City is celebrating Black History Month is especially beautiful – as I said, Harlem Renaissance poetry was a part of the service, and the church is hosting all sorts of feasting and lectures and discussions during the month.