Personal Narrative: City Church Chicago

The people there were very welcoming and kind. The shook every single person hand and greeted them genially when they walked in. As I sat down, there was a countdown till when it begins. There were seats all around and in the center they had a stage, where there were people preparing to sing. They began their ceremony exactly at 8:30 with singing 3 songs. When we sang, everyone stood up for respect. Followed by that, the pastor recited a prayer with everyone to make this week better than the last. He welcomed everyone, including the people who are new, and told them more about what they do at Kennedy Road Tabernacle Church. The priest then talked about the Provision of Vision from the bible. There was a sheet that was handed out so as you listen you fill in the blanks. ( I attached the sheet I completed) I thought this was very convenient because it makes you pay attention and have something to do other than sitting down. He was reading about the Provision of the Vision and relating it to financial difficulties and how God is always there for you. After, I talked to one priest to get a better background of Christianity. I related what he said to the reading of ‘Christianity’ we did earlier in September. When he spoke to me, he said that they believe in one god, but that includes the father, son, holy spirit, He said Jesus died for us on a cross for the sins of the

After arriving in Tennessee, my parents were very adamant about getting plugged into a church. I was raised in church but up until then, I went because I was told to. Usually I had to count ceiling lights or people in pews to keep from falling asleep during sermons. We attended countless services, but it wasn’t until one special Sunday that we found Sand Ridge Baptist Church. Unbeknownst to me, it would change my life.

Church, temple, sanctuary, or the Lords’s house, these are just a few names that your average person might call the place you come to worship God, I have always called it home. The Church I have been attending, Memorial Baptist Church, which is also where I attend high school, I have been attending since I was the age of three years old. Moving to the area that my family lives in now, I do not believe is any accident. At the age of two years old, my father was stationed in Tennessee for the military. After passing away from brain cancer, my Mother moved my two older sisters and me to Killeen Texas, to be closer to her family. Memorial Baptist Church was the only church we have ever been members of since moving to Texas, it has always felt like

I have written many essays since I was in middle school yet most of my writing was not that important besides for a grade. Yet there is one piece of writing I wrote that change my life and felt that it had an important impact to The City of Chicago. My teacher during that time wanted the class to enter in a citywide competition, which is called “Do The Write Thing”. It is a way for students to voice their opinions on how to stop the violence in Chicago. I wanted to help reduce the violence in Chicago since many youths are being killed in the streets every single day. In my paper, I mainly focused on three body paragraphs. The first one was why the violence in the city was increasing. The second one was some type of violence that I have witness in my own personal life. The final paragraph

When I was around five or six years old, my family was stationed in El Paso, Texas after my dad came back from overseas. The church that my family attended every Sunday was the Church of God and Christ. The Church of God and Christ is where southerners say all of the “holy-rollers” attended or the overzealous Christians attended. My parents were not really holy-rollers themselves, but we attended this church because my dad wanted my family to attend to gain a sense of God and know about Christianity because he always attended church as a child while he was growing up in Mississippi and that helped him as he developed. He wanted my mother, sister, and I to be exposed to Christianity as well, especially my mom since she did not really attend church during her childhood.

For many years, I have worked in ministry as a support ministry member. In 1993-1997, I served as Administrator at Beacon Light Full Gospel Baptist Church under the leadership of Bishop Darryl S. Bister. I was responsible for all of his appointments, drafting of documents, and overseer of additional staff members and responsible for the day to day operations. In 1997, I was called to Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church with my husband under Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr. I served in many capacities in this ministry from worship leader to Administrator to the Registrar for Greater St. Stephens School of Ministry. My husband along with our 3 children was then called to Denver, Colorado to serve at Heritage Christian Center under Bishop Dennis Leonard. We serve in that ministry

or those who know me, they know that nearly every Sunday morning I’ll be sitting next to my wife, on the front row of Topeka Baptist Church. To be clear though, I’m not implying that I’m super-spiritual, nor am I trying to impress anyone by my seating preference. Truth be told, I’m an avid people-watcher and easily allured by my surroundings, so sitting on the front row gives me the best opportunity to pay attention since the only person I can see is the pastor. I can’t tell you the day, month, or even the year when we started attending our church, nor can I tell you exactly how long we’ve sat on that front row now. However, I do know that I’ve listened to the pastor faithfully deliver sermon after sermon, Sunday after Sunday. Although I

Moving to the United states was a very hard transition for my family not only economically but also on our believes. It was hard to find a church where we felt comfortable and for a while we didn’t go to church at all. Moreover, after a few years we settled down and my mom had become very interested in Christianity. There was a beautiful Christian church with wonderful people where we used to go for a

churches that came together for the service in Buka. Praise God for the denominations that are coming

The city of Chicago has been displayed as a dangerous city in which all residents are affiliated with drugs, gangs, and misconduct of firearms. Whether someone fits into this stereotype or not, is normally based on their surroundings and their interactions with others. Growing up in Gage Park, named one of the worst neighborhoods, falling into this stereotype and becoming affiliated with drugs, guns, and gangs, would not be too hard for someone to do. However, I have lived in Gage Park my whole life and have not fallen into the status quo. I have had family members and friends fall into this realm of unpleasantness and watching them become another wrong kind of statistic is upsetting. I have been faced with the decision of continuing to have

It was my first time visiting this church, I was nervous yet anxious. The pews had beautiful burgundy cushions and plenty of space. I was just thinking in my head, ‘I hope this church is great and not boring’. Ramah Grove Missionary Baptist Church was my grandparents’ church so I was being introduced to everyone. It seems as if as soon as we sat down the choir started singing behind the pulpit. They sung a few songs that didn’t genuinely interest me so I started to daydream about starting a new school the next day and then I heard something that caught my attention.

The Service in which I attended was at the Holy Cross Perish in San Jose off Jackson street and North 12th Street at 6:00pm. It was still day time so I was able to get a good glimpse of the area in which the church was in. We parked across the street from a park that was called Backesto Park where it seemed that some people from the church would wait there until the service would start, because when I was waiting outside the church I was able to look over at the park and noticed a good amount of people coming toward the church. The experience was pretty interesting. I am a Latino and it was still a bit hard to understand what the priest was saying. The church seemed to look like a regular one with rows of benches

The two churches I attended were First Baptist and Frazer Methodist Church. The experiences I had were not too far from each other meaning they weren't really all that different. The First Church I went to was Frazer. When I first got there I was a little confused because I didn't really know anybody at first. But as I got in to the church and started to meet more people I felt very welcomed like I was meant to go the church. When the service started the first thing that happened was the Youth Minister came and spoke to us. He was telling us about the mission trips they are currently doing and also what they had been learning about in the weekly service for the past few months they had been talking about being spiritually fit for God. After he talked to us about that he sent us all off and we went to Sunday School. At Sunday school there

If I were to start my own Faith Community Practice I would first plan to sign up for EMU's online Faith Community Nursing Course in order to fully understand what an FCN is and how best to go about establishing my own practice. After completing the course, spend however much time I needed to figure out how exactly I want to run my practice. After figuring out a baseline plan, I would go about facing my other challenges. One challenge that I would most likely face is where to set up my practice. I would most likely want to start my practice in service to my home church at Lindale Mennonite Church. I don't believe we have an FCN practice there and I think it would an amazing opportunity to serve my home church in that manner if they allow. My

We had just moved across town from League City, Texas to Cypress, Texas, and my husband Mark and just moved his business from Downtown, Texas to Cypress, Texas. And this is the part where God was working, as we were seeking the place where He wanted us to be. I had been talking with my sister, who was helping me settle into our new house, and telling her that we were interested in finding a non-denominational church, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if it could be close by. While my sister was reading the “subdivision newsletter”, and this was all taking place while we were talking about where to attend church, she jumped out of the chair she was sitting in, ran over to me and said, “Bunnie, here is the church you are looking for, it is right in the neighborhood”. Of course, I was so excited, and promptly told my husband we have to go and check this church out. So, that Sunday we went to what started out as Fairfield Christian Fellowship, and today is known as Fountain of Life Church of God, pastored by John and Kerry LaLonde. The church met at that time in the pastor’s home, so it was a smaller church body, with about 30 people in attendance that particular Sunday. Everyone was welcoming and friendly, the praise and worship was wonderful, the uncompromised word of God preached, that is when we knew this is where God wanted