Church Vs Baptist Essay

When I visited my first Jewish synagogue, I expected it to be very different. My previous experience with religious ceremonies was limited to a few visits to Baptist churches. The most surprising thing for me at this one was, oddly enough, its similarity to Christian services and rituals. I went into the religious visit expecting an enormous difference in the customs and perhaps even in the attitudes of the people attending the service. What I found instead was a religious ceremony very reminiscent of the Christian ones I’ve been to before.

Apparel wise these two religions have separate beliefs as well. In some Baptist churches, women are not able to wear pants in the sanctuary. Baptist believe that as long as you don’t wear pants in the sanctuary that everything is kosher. Pants are ok out of the sanctuary. Apostolic believe that women should not wear anything that pertains to a man. They believe that pants are for men only according to Deuteronomy 22: 5. Accessories are worn in abundance by the Baptist, but apostolic believes that it should be the inward adornment of a person that should shine and that modest apparel is best.

I chose to do my religious ethnographic study at my home church, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown, Ohio on Sunday, May 8, 2016. Tabernacle is an 112-year-old historic Black Baptist church located on the lower Northside of Youngstown surrounded by a mixed income housing development, homeless shelter, Youngstown State University, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. I would say the average age of a Tabernacle member is 55 years old. About 70% of the members at this church are “middle-class” families. Until about five years ago, its membership was almost exclusively middle class. There has seen an influx of membership in working class individuals and students since the arrival of Tabernacle’s young, vibrant pastor, Rev. Christopher McKee, Jr., three years ago. The church is attentive to the needs of this demographic but remains true to its historic Black Baptist church roots. The church previously struggled with this conundrum until it came to the reality that an exclusivist mindset around worship is detrimental to the body of Christ when it did not have a pastor for over three years. The church was dying because no one was welcome to it and it did not have a leader. Though it was difficult, this reassessment was beneficial in making Tabernacle more relevant and welcoming to the community it is blessed to serve.

What ministry types are present within the Black Urban Church that may not take place in the Black Rural Church setting? (Chapter 6) The present picture of black urban churches is a complicated, mixed picture of some effects of privatization among unchurched sectors of the black population, and the withdrawal of some black churches into a sphere of personal piety and religiosity; but there are also numerous signs of a continuing tradition of activism and involvement in the political, economic, educational, and cultural aspects of black life among the majority of black clergy and churches (Lincoln, C. Eric, and Lawrence H. Mamiya

Baptist believed that church authority rests with the congregation. For this reason Baptist church government is designated “congregational”, in contrast to other denominations which are “Presbyterian’ or “Episcopal.

Black churches today are becoming more diverse, and a great place to worship for all people regardless of ethnicity. However, for some people of Caucasian decent it can still be confusing understanding the traditions of the Black church. Here is a brief guide to non-African Americans understand the church.

I visited the Beth Samuel Jewish Center, in Ambridge Pa. While I was there I meet up with Barbara Wilson, who is a Congregational Administrator at the synagogue. Before taking the tour she let me know some of the background information about the synagogue. First she explained to me that the Beth Samuel Jewish Center was the only synagogue on Beaver County, where it is located. She then went on the explain that they have families from all over the county coming to their religious services. I then asked if the synagogue was more conservative or reformed. This is when Barb explained that since Beth Samuel is the last synagogue left in the area they have to cater to both sides of the spectrum. Barb explained, “On different days of the week we have

The difference between First African Baptist and Elizabeth Baptist Church can best be described as the past and the present. Visiting First African Baptist, one can see how it was the center of the Civil Rights Movement, and the role its services played in the movement. However, the church and its congregation has grown old. On the other hand, Elizabeth Baptist Church was full when I attended and people of all ages where there. I could easy see Elizabeth Baptist Church as a center of activism, the central place for a second Civil Rights Movement in west Alabama.

In the southern church community, Blacks and Whites did start to congregate in worship. Whites still controlled black preachers, but still enjoyed their performance which was usually “witty and rhythmic” (Whelchel 59). These preachers gained some respect from the whites. The church services were the first places were the races integrated. The higher white society came with the poorer black slave society in hopes of finding salvation and going to

At the main service we started with a prayer. And then we sang a few songs and listened to the sermon. The sermon was about how no matter how broken we are God will accept us. After that we ended the sermon concluded with a few songs and went home. Overall I really enjoyed the experience at Frazer it was very nice and they had some really good points. But one thing that I didn't really like was the fact that it wasn't really personal like I like the Church service to be. The next service I attended was First Baptists Sunday service when I first got there I knew almost every single person the people that were there were mostly Trinity people and some the people were from other schools but I still knew most of them. The first thing that happened was they had a free breakfast for anyone who wanted it. The first thing we did was talk about the wednesday service and what they did at the Wednesday evidently that Wednesday they talked about being fit for God. So after we sang a few songs we went to the Sunday School. The person who hosted the Sunday school class was

I jumped at the opportunity to complete the extra credit assignment because of the topic. I have always wanted to attend an African American Baptist Church. I was raised Catholic in a predominantly white community and for the chance to experience something different was appealing. I’ve seen the stereotypes in movies and on TV about what an African American Baptist church looks like but I wanted to experience it myself. I wasn’t sure on what to expect but kept an open mind about the situation.

Our churches in Baptist are more simple buildings, plain white (representing purity) with very little art displayed. Some may have the cross but without the crucifixion of Jesus. The art you may possibly see are stained-glass windows but doesn’t have any images of Jesus or God, the images displayed will be praying hands, a white dove, bible or a beaming light. Our Churches also have no candles, altars, relics, or Saints displayed, in our faith we don’t idolize statues or Saints but our God the creator. Catholic churches have confession booths and repetitive prayers to repent from all sins. We pray to repent from our sins, but our prayers don’t consist of any Hail Marie’s and we don’t have confession booths in our

In Baptist history there has always been differences in doctrine. This has unfortunately resulted, at times, to separate believers from one another. This can be evident from comparing two American Baptist confessions. The most notable difference in doctrine between The Philadelphia Confession of 1742 and A Treatise on the Faith of the Free Will Baptists, 1834 and 1948 is the doctrine of Calvinism versus free-will. The Philadelphia Confession supported Calvinism and the Free Will Baptists supported Arminianism. A closer look at these two confessions show that throughout Baptist history certain doctrines remain constant while others are debated and cause separation of believers. However, this has not stopped the Gospel message to be preached

In my second field experience, I’d decided to go to a Baptist church. However, I did not come from a religious background. Although I am not completely in the dark when it comes to religion I have learn about different religion through friends and books. Therefore, I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally experience a service and put my ignorance aside. Meaning the assumption and expectation I had of church service. Furthermore, it provided me the opportunity to challenge myself and my own biases I have towards going to church. Once I went to church I was surprise to see so many black people, for the first time since I moved too Greensburg, I was actual able to see a room overflowing with individual who looked just like me, my first emotion was excitement and enjoy. Some of my expectation, was something I have learned from my mother. My mother always told me that “black people churches last longer”, with this in mind I was prepare to be there for a long time. However, to my surprise it did not last as long as I’d expected it to. My overall experience, was warming, peaceful and positive.

“The biggest reason that I attend a Black church is that of the atmosphere and environment that I get not only from the people but also from the worshipping that I don’t get at a white church,” says Allen.