Troy de Freitas - Church Visit #1

Church Name: Living Hope Church
Church Address: 6414 South Cottage Grove Ave, Chicago, IL
Date Attended: Feb 15th 2014
Church Category: Lower Socio-Economic Demographic


The worship service was set in a small building that once housed a pool hall. Newly renovated, the sanctuary had a very makeshift feel. The church was composed of a melting pot of half young University of Chicago students of all different backgrounds and a handful of adults and young people from the surrounding neighborhood. The service opened with a time of extended greeting where people actually introduced themselves by name and held conversation for about five minutes, until the pastor congregated everyone for a time of corporate confession and subsequent prayer. During corporate prayer, anyone could stand up and offer a prayer in front of the congregation. The church prayed for local issues pertaining to the neighborhood, where many of the prayers concerned recent violence in the area. Prayer was followed by music-led worship and then the sermon.
The church was similar to my own in that it was also PCA and held exactly the same doctrinal beliefs, but the expression of worship and especially corporate prayer was different.

I found the corporate prayer to be the most intriguing part of the service. Although the church shared the same doctrine and heritage as my own church, the congregation was more close-knit, praying for each other publicly, sharing requests, and then concluding the service with discipleship over a shared meal. Everyone seemed to know each other and engage with each other at the church, and people seemed to participate enthusiastically in the life of the people around them. Though there was a sermon at the end, it didn't seem to be the highlight as in many other PCA churches. People engaged more with the worship and prayer.

What was most disorienting was trying to find ways to connect with people when my background was so different from their own. Given that the congregation seemed so tightly connected, it was difficult for me as an outsider to feel at home and comfortable.

Participating in worship at Living Hope illuminated that two congregations that share similar theology can express their theology in different ways. Though Living Hope and Naperville Presbyterian both subscribe to the Westminster Catechism of Faith, the way that they worship and do christian life together differs greatly. Living Hope exhibited a preference for very intertwined communal life while Naperville Presbyterian's congregants prefer a more private form of Christianity.