Church visit #3

Church Visit #3 - Sydney Tanner

Church name: Brotherly Love Church

Church address: 3827 W. Ogden Ave. Chicago, IL 60623

Date attended: Sunday 4/6/2014

Church category: Different socioeconomic status

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

Brotherly Love Church was very different from my regular context. The congregation was composed primarily of African American women over the age of 50. Men were definitely a minority in this church body. The service was primarily led by these women. The service began with a time of intercession prayer, followed by a call and response reading from Isaiah. Only one song was formally sung and printed in our programs, one of my favorite hymns "Come Thou Fount." There was only a keyboard and drum set and no official worship team. We as guests were introduced and greeted by much of the congregation, making us feel welcomed and loved. It was a very small church, quite different from Willow Creek, which often feels more like a baseball stadium than a church. There was a time of prayer requests, three sermonettes led by female ministers, and we ended the service by taking Holy Communion together.

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

At one point during the service, an older woman in the church stood up and shared about one of the young boys in the church, a 5th grader. She had his report card in her hands and read his grades aloud to the congregation. She shared that he and his parents planned for him to one day go to college. The entire congregation applauded and shared in this family's joy. It was a really special moment of intimacy and connectedness in the body of Christ. I also loved the time of prayer requests. After many had shared, many women went up to the altar and held hands while one of the ministers prayed. There were several times of prayer throughout the service, and the unity of the congregation in these prayers struck me. This church sees the power in prayer and connects to Christ by communicating directly with Him. They currently do not have a pastor, so three of the female ministers each gave a mini sermon on a different passage of scripture, and I absolutely loved listening to these women preach the Word of God with such passion and conviction.

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

There was not much about the service that was disorienting because I felt very safe and welcomed by this church. Usually I prefer more singing, but I enjoyed the spontaneous song style of this church. It was definitely confusing to me why there was not more men in the church. At one point, one of the ministers prayed for the husbands, so I assumed many of these women are married, but was a unsure why they were not present in the congregation. If I am correct in my memory, there were four men in the church and two male children.

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 way this church thanked God was absolutely amazing to me. Here we were in a lower socioeconomic, urban context and we heard "thank you" spoken to The Lord countless times. It was convicting to me of how ungrateful I am for the excess of blessings I have received. My church definitely does not express our gratitude to The Lord enough. I am thankful to this church for reminding me of the importance of gratitude. I also was greatly encouraged by the emphasis on prayer we experienced in this congregation. They pray faithfully and continually for one another and in their search for a pastor. I also really appreciated the emphasis on coming clean before God before partaking in Holy Communion. There was an entire page in the church bulletin as to why communion is important, providing three scriptural reasons. At my home church, I have taken communion once in the three years we have attended there. It was such a gift to partake in the sacraments this morning. We meant to go to Dr. Lee's church this morning but ended up in the wrong building, worshiping with this community, and I'm so glad we did. It was a wonderful experience and I am thankful to have met so many new sisters (and a few brothers) in Christ.