Church Visit #2--Different race/ethnicity

Church name: Iglesia del Pueblo

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

Date attended: Sunday, 3/30/14

Church category: Different race

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

Iglesia del Pueblo was very different than the church I regularly attend, Glen Ellyn Bible, in many ways. First off, the language was entirely different—all Spanish. It was humbling to sit through the service in that I am not quite fluent in Spanish. I understood almost all of the worship music, but I only understood about fifty percent of the sermon (Thankfully it was a sermon on 1 Corinthians 13, a passage that I know well enough). Again, this was humbling for sure, but also very, very cool. It’s an awesome experience to worship in another language—it gives me a greater sense of the global church and brings to life the scripture “every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:11).

With the different language came a different ethnicity. Whereas Glen Ellyn Bible is almost 100% white, Iglesia del Pueblo was almost 100% Latino—the only white folks I saw were fellow Wheaton students (five other than myself, to be exact).

Though Iglesia del Pueblo is just a sub-congregation of a bigger church, the sanctuary is much bigger and nicer than the church I regularly attend. It is a very modern and beautiful place.

Also, the service at Iglesia del Pueblo was about twice as long as to what I have grown accustomed—lasting from 11:15-1:05.

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

I especially enjoyed being in the Latino setting. I recently spent a week in a Honduran village with Wheaton’s Honduras Project. Part of the Project involved nightly worship meetings with the people of the village which includes testimonies, worship songs, and sermons from local pastors. Though Iglesia del Pueblo is a long way from the outdoor, dirt floor, tarp-roofed, 2 speaker PA system sanctuary in which we worshipped in Honduras, the language and the passion of the pastor reminded me of my time among the Hondurans. Something about the Latino/a culture that I enjoy is the unspoken hospitality. The way in which many Latinos and Latinas great one another (either with a firm handshake between men or kisses on the cheek between women) sets a very welcoming tone.

Also, although I am not fluent (as mentioned above), I loved the passion and energy with which Pastor Hanibal Rodriguez preached. There’s something powerful in the Spanish language. Again, the sermon was on 1 Corinthians 13—the commonly cited passage on love. During a certain part of the sermon, Pastor Rodriguez repeatedly said the phrase, “nunca, nunca, NUNCA deja ser” meaning “love never fails.” I’ve heard that phrase so many times, “love never fails.” Hearing with Pastor Rodriguez’s energy and in a new language, however, sent it home in a powerful way. NUNCA! Though I didn’t understand everything, there was plenty that was a joy to listen to in a language other than my own.

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

The biggest difficulty was certainly the language barrier. Though I was surely the tallest man in the building, physical-features was not the biggest factor of my feeling out of place. I wasn’t dressed nicer than the majority of the members of the congregation and I wasn’t uncomfortable with the worship or preaching style. In Honduras, the socioeconomic gap was clear and the worship style was excitingly different than what I was used to, but at Iglesia del Pueblo the most disorienting thing was the language gap.

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 can’t remember exactly how Pastor Rodriguez said it, but one of his key points that love is love even if you don’t feel it. He referenced many Latino, as well as some non-Latino, examples from popular culture that show just how “love” we are. Culture, however, has a terribly inaccurate view of love. He continued to come back to the idea that love is love even when it’s not a feeling. I wonder if the motivation towards this point came from the common theme of “amor romantico” in Latin America (and that is not to say that we don’t have a theme similar in “white culture”). It was interesting and illuminating at the same time…and it turned out to be very timely, in that later that week I just wasn’t feeling lovingly connected to God (for whatever reason), but at the peak of it all, I remember Pastor Rodriguez’s words and was reassured that the Lord loved me, even if I, in my sinful nature, didn’t recognize it.