Personal Narrative: Growing Up In The Western Christian Church

Walking through the forest, a lone owl hoots at my presence. There are thousands of creatures accompanying me in this dense wood, yet my eyes catch only this owl. The leaves crunch under my feet; the predators and the prey of the forest watch in curiosity as this strange intruder stamps across their land. I know they’re there, somewhere, yet they stay shrouded in their leafy homes. It was in that moment that I found what fascinates me the most: why am I here among these creatures? It wasn’t a feeling of alienation, rather, a lack of understanding for the purpose of our existence.

Throughout my time with the Methodist church, I have experienced great opportunities and also many challenges. My family and I have been taught by a man who I think to be one of the most godly men I have ever met. Reverend Felder has always had a positive outlook on St. Luke UMC future even through trials and adversity. In fact, I truly think the Lord used him to save St. Luke because when he became pastor the city of Augusta had the land the church occupied labeled a future parking lot. However Felder had a vision for the church and the vision included having the sanctuary packed with families from the neighborhood of Harrisburg. The church is now an entity in the neighborhood that it was not before Reverend Felder came, and while is has a

As Catholic Connections comes to a close, Ruth and I complete our service project during her visit during spring break. She had completed her side of the project earlier in the year, while back in New Jersey, and donated her and her friend’s and family’s clothes to a clothing drive at her church. I was planning to do my project alone as well, but at the beginning of the 2016 year, I was told that she and her family would be coming to visit during Spring Break. When she arrived in Utah, we had to wait until later in the week, when she had more time. When she did, we walked to a Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah Clothing donation box. With two bags of clothes in hand, we donated the clothing and spoke about how Ruth had volunteered there, when

Growing up in a Christian middle-income home, I had never experienced poverty and I assumed that it only really existed in other far away countries. Everyone

This past month I got the opportunity to attend church with my friend Norbentina who is originally from Honduras. She attends Southwest Christian Church which is an all speaking Spanish congregation. I accompanied Norbentina to a Sunday morning service and as you can imagine it was quite different than what

Reading was very diffuclt to me. The pronouncing and putting two-three letters together was discouraging. “Th” or “et”, made me feel like I was illiteric.

While I believe it is important to be able to work with any clientele regardless of their, sex, race, or religion. I would like to approach my education with a Christian world-view. As I myself carry a Christian perspective, I would like to continue my education in the environment that enriches this perspective. I hope to gain further education that instills these values that I can continue to maintain in my future career as not only a professional counselor but as a child of God.

Growing up in a Christian home was nothing extraordinary. My father volunteered at my church and was very connected with the community, while I went to the kid service every Sunday. About four years ago the church we had gone to for my entire life shut down. Loosing that church was a tough experience because the church was like my second family.

I grew up Catholic. My church was very traditional and it was a place of worship. Jesus is still a part of my life. I was baptized, confirmed, and assisted in the music ministry. However, I wasn’t a very good catholic. I do not pay attention in church. Whenever the priest begins his sermon, my mind jumps into another place and time. I half hear what is said and everything is routine. However, the true catholic church like the one in St. John Cantius in Chicago and it was an entire different experience for me. Latin mass was daily and the Cantique de Jean Racine echoes in the chapel as many servers come weaving in and out among the mass. Hundreds of people come to see the mass with the best clothes. It brings my childhood memories of my old church to shame.

On Thursday September 7, 2017 I had the opportunity to attend a Catholic Church Service with two of my roommates. I am a non-denominational Christian so attending a Catholic service was totally out of the norm for me. We first entered the church and I immediately noticed all the saints and crosses around the church. Before we entered the pews, they bowed and crossed their chest. After we entered, they pulled out something to kneel on so they could pray. The experience was something I was not used to regarding all the traditions.

Christ has always been apart of my life. The only issue was I didn’t quite understand what it meant to trust him completely as my lord and savior. As long as i can remember my parents had me going to church at ccv and i attended many church camps . When i started to get older i got involved in club sports which took up lot of my time where i couldn't fit church in my life anymore. When i started 9th grade i had a friend named Makensie and she kept bugging me yo go to church again however i didn't want to because i was scared to go back. After awhile of her begging me i went and realized what i was missing and attended church camp that year. I loved it but i still didn't understand what it meant to give my life to him. As time went on i still continued to go to church every weekend.

Just to give some background, I grew up not in a religious family at all. We went to the kids camps at church to mainly make friends, but when I left for the day that's where it stopped. I also as terrible as it is to admit, have not been to church in a very long time, which I would love to change. My family is Christian, I suppose if you had to put it in a category you would say non-denominational. My husband grew up from a Catholic turned Christian family. I have never experienced going to Catholic mass or any other variation of Christian church in my life. He is from Oklahoma, where chowboy churches are apparently a thing. Being from Indiana, I have personally never heard of this before in my life. So being a believer and wanting to try something new, I took it upon myself to find one we could both enjoy around our house. At first, I thought he was making this up completely, however after running into a few of these churches while driving, I was now interested. We found one called 3C Cowboy Fellowship, that prides itself on getting rid of judgement and just wanting to do what was intended and praise God. Being someone that has not gone to any type of church in awhile, I was skeptical, even though that was their saying that they did not judge. I swallowed my pride and attempted to

Throughout the beginning of my entire adolescent life, I was forced, by my parents, to wake up and attend church every Sunday. I never really understood why I had to wake up every single Sunday and forfeit the day to Christ. When I transitioned from grade school to high school, I wasn’t forced to go to church anymore, and my relationship with god got weakened. At that time, I didn’t really know what to believe. All that changed about six months ago, when I was about halfway through my senior year. I had a few friends who really liked to challenge Christianity from a scientific standpoint, and at that time god gave me his first mission. On my way home from visiting with my friends, I wept the entire ride home, begging for god to help me in the situation.In that car I felt god’s presence, and instantly knew that he wanted me to try and convert my two friends.

Since my youth, I had been an active member of a religious tradition that emphasized salvation by works— I grew up in the Catholic Church, but I went only because mom said to. I had more of an agnostic view of God -- I believed in God, but I didn’t try to learn about Jesus. I didn’t know the truth about Him.

I was "born in church", I tell them for the thousandth time. Not necessarily born in the church building, I was actually born at the New York Hospital in Manhattan. But that's how I find myself explaining it to everyone.