My Experience At A Baptist Church

My first experience at Bridgetown church was very long overdue and very interesting. Most all of my friends and family all have been inviting me to Bridgetown specifically because they all really enjoy a specific pastor there that speaks on Sunday services. I never saw the need to go, mainly because of my night shifts are scheduled so oddly I was afraid of falling asleep at a religious sermon that I was not interested in embarrassing myself at and also not wanting to go out of my way to attend something that I was not particularly interested in. Bluntly writing I did not want to waste my time to go to something I wasn’t very excited about, especially when I do not know what to expect. This assignment did give the opportunity a bigger reason and I am glad to have been able to make such an insightful visit that I may not mind trying again in the near future.

As the only white individual entering the church on Sunday I felt extremely out of place and very uncomfortable, at first. Upon entering the church, before I could even find a place to sit, the pastor came to welcome me and showed me a place to sit for the service. The pastor was very kind and so welcoming that my nervousness and worry started to vanish. Once I was seated and more people entered the church, I was treated as if I had always been there and was part of the group. Although I was the minority at the service I did feel very comfortable with my surroundings and with the people in attendance. The whole experience was very interesting and broadened my perspective on the African American culture.

On Monday, I went to the local Crossroads Baptist Church, located at 850 Edwards Ferry Rd NE, Leesburg, VA. This was my first time experience as I am Hindu and my parents never exposed me to any churches. Dr. Kenneth K. Baldwin was the pastor at the time I went. Luckily, I got the chance to speak with him after the service. After our brief conclusion, I realized that he had a great vision for his church and is leading it to success through his passion. I sensed his passion for preaching and religious beliefs as they were evident during the service. Despite this being my first visit to a church, I learned a lot of valuable things about churches and Christianity.

For my Religious Experience Paper I decided to visit a worship center. I decided to choose this as my project piece because I had already been contemplating out of curiosity how this particular worship center worships based on previous discussions and invitations from a friend of mine that always stemmed from conversations of each other’s religious practices or functions etc. So today I was accompanied by my friend Lenore to experience her church. Multiple times during conversation Lenore has invited me to visit her church, Bandera Road City Church otherwise known as BRCC. I will admit I have wondered what kind of experience goes on behind that door at BRCC each time I’ve passed by it. I grew up Catholic and still practice Catholicism despite my concerns for some of the ways of the church. I won’t get into the personal issues as it would take too long to discuss in this paper and is not the purpose of the paper but have mentioned it in a couple of my posts in our class discussions. The way parishioners treat my sister because she is Lesbian, the outlook the church has towards LGBT is hurtful rather than the loving way of Jesus. As well as the fact that my previous parish advised me that I could no longer teach religious education since I divorced my 1st husband. Therefore, there have been times in my life that I asked myself if I wanted to continue to practice Catholicism and continue to attend Catholic Church Mass. This assignment allowed me to finally accept

I grew up in a Baptist Church that I attended with my family. My family was very involved with the church and so we spent a lot of time there. My brothers and I used to spend hours in that church helping out and simply running around as the little kids we were. Several years ago, we started attending a non-denominational church that met in a middle school because they had outgrown their building. The first service we went to, the pastor of the church announced his resignation. After that, a few other leaders left

As an illustration, Levine says, “Before we ended the service I led the whole gathering in a short meditation on forgiveness and gratitude, and we all offered our love and forgiveness, ending the period of reflection with a funny sound that Toby was famous for making. Everyone was laughing and crying at the same time.” (Levine 493-494) He claims that this short meditation there’s a sign of relief and forgiveness to help Toby move on to his afterlife. Levine recounted an experience of memory that a spiritual teaching has helped him oneself can bear grief, anger and fear not for a long time and at some point he or will realize the reason what, how, and why he has survived. An example, Levine described was the loss of his friend, “It felt like nothing had prepared me for this; no amount of meditation, no amount of therapy, none of the spiritual practices or experiences I’d had, prepared me to lose my best friend. I felt like without him nobody in the world really knew me.” (Levine 492) Levine explains that he lost his best friend in just a click, and he was not ready to take the outcomes that he is gone because he and his friend had such a great reminiscing and a connecting through friendship that now has disappeared into thin

t a really tough time in my life, I set out to search for a connection with God. I visited many churches and denominations. I wasn’t sure what I was searching for and if I’d recognize it when I found it. While looking for a Bible, I called and subsequently visited the bookstore of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. While in the bookstore I felt welcomed and cared for. That visit prompted me to attend the upcoming worship service. Upon arrival, I felt a connection to the environment and people. Behind the pulpit there is a large multi-colored mural with scenes from various functions of life. The artist depicted the people with multi-ethnic physical features. This certainly was not a Michael Angelo rendition. I felt a sense of belonging. The pastor used Psalm 51 for his text. Although the topic of sin was a part of his sermon, the message that I heard was one of mercy, love, acceptance, deliverance and restoration. My experience at Bethel felt like a great burden was lifted; I felt free. I was no longer alone; I found a community of people who were also on a spiritual journey. Although I had been in therapy for a number of years prior to my profession of faith, it was my new found relationship with God that empowered me to make some personal changes. I describe my conversion experience with three terms: liberation, empowerment and community.

Throughout my entire life I have been faced with the different viewpoints between the Catholic Church and my beliefs as a Baptist. One teaching that was very interesting to me was purgatory. As I got older I began to understand sin and it’s affects regarding our relationship with God. In this paper I will be researching Purgatory and diving into what it is, where it comes from and where you can find it in scripture.

The church across from my house, Wellspring Bible Fellowship, used to be predominantly white. However, within the last couple of years, myself and my neighbors have noticed a larger population of colored individuals attending the church. My neighbors and I further discussed the positive effects of diversity and the coming together of individuals from multiple races. The landscape of the church in my community may vary from the church in another students community because it took the closure of Fitch Middle School before the public united and began to bond. Therefore, in other students communities, the church may contain individuals of only one race or it may contain individuals of all different races. Lastly, the landscape of the church helps individuals understand my community because of the cultural history that has

According to Cleve R. Wootson, Jr., writer for The Washington Post, the fire took 12 minutes to be put to a stop, but the church would be forever ruined with burnt pews, vandalised walls which said “Vote Trump.” Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi served as a victim of religious hatred during the hectic election month. In today’s society, people’s beliefs either bring them together or take them apart; as a Catholic I gained the courage to step outside of my comfort zone to experience something different, a different kind of church service.

     I went on a mission to share the things that I believed with anyone who would listen.  I felt unqualified.  What did I know of life?  I felt scared, I felt anxiety.  I went to Natchez, Mississippi.  I felt out of place.  And I felt humbled by these people that would let me into their homes and lives.  How could white middle class me do this?  Let me explain.  I found out that no matter in whom or what you believe about spirituality, the discussion of it can come from the heart of a person.  As a missionary,

Hallelujah!! Amen! Preach! are responses heard in many black churches. I have always been a shouter, a runner, a singer, a dancer, one who cries and protest during the heightened celebration of what we called Black Worship. I never thought anything about it, but always understood and accepted by faith that this was God spirit’s interacting and responding with my spirit. We were doing a dance and celebrating together. We were in agreement!!! The creator’s nurture comes near to us and envelope us when we are in spaces of nurture in black churches.

For my second church reflection, I attended NewSpring Church. I attended the eleven o’clock service at the Greenville campus, which was located in the TD Convention Center. Since this was not the main campus, the sermon had to be watched on the screen. However, the music was live. This service had a casual and contemporary feel. Although this church is Southern Baptist, it did not have the typical Baptist feel. Everything seemed to be more casual, modern, and laid back, especially before and after the service. Interestingly, even though this service was very modern and contemporary, there was still a great lack of diversity. Their staff, volunteers, band, and pastors were very diverse, but the people attending the church were less diverse. The general demographic was made up of Caucasian families as well as many Caucasian teenagers and young adults. There were a few African Americans (the worship leader was African American), but overall there was a lack of Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans. There were certainly not very many older adults either.

I went to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Santa Rosa, California. The church is located in the old movie theater in downtown Santa Rosa. I parked in a nearby parking garage, grateful for the free parking on Sunday, and walked down the street toward the church. I knew that I had arrived at the correct place because of the large granite sign with the name Unitarian Universalist Congregation Santa Rosa. There were many people standing outside talking to one another. I was immediately greeted by a church member who welcomed me and showed me to the main entrance. As I walked through the door, I noticed a rainbow flag above the main entrance, and could not help but begin thinking of the differences between this church and the one I was raised in. The first thing I noticed as I entered the first room was the pictures on the walls. They were not of gods or deities, but of ethnic minorities who had lived in the local community and had a positive impact. Underneath each photo was a brief description of who the photo represented. I continued walking down the main hall and it ended in a large semi-circular room with a kitchen nook in one corner. They had many chairs available chairs and tables to sit and socialize. Another friendly church member approached me, noticing a new face in the congregation, and asked if I was new. After I briefly explained why I was there, he told me that he was one of the reverends and had just finished conducting the nine o’clock service. He

In my life I have never been a person to attend church or religious ceremonies. I have gone twice to church and I personally didn’t like because I think that one doesn’t need to go to church to worship god. I believe that as long as you have faith god would never abandon you. My experience in the Jehovah`s Witness ceremony was very interesting because they are very similar to Christianity but their believes are different.