The church I decided to study was St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Amarillo, Texas. I selected this church because my best friend attends this church and I sought to go out of my norm and learn more about my friend’s religious background. I normally attend the non-denominational church of Trinity Fellowship. I am considered to be a Conservative and my friend is a Liberal. Many Presbyterian churches in Amarillo are liberal, but the majority of Presbyterian churches are known to be conservative because of their beliefs. I assumed it would be interesting to visit this church due to the fact it would help me to keep an open mind of how people worship and have different beliefs than I do. St. Luke Presbyterian Church was a relaxed church. Presbyterian churches abide by the sovereignty of God, the scriptures, and grace through faith. The Presbyterian Church members that attended the service were dressed from casual pants to dresses and suits. The church setting was considered to be a small, local church with roughly about 30 rows of pews. The choir included 15 women and a teenage boy. The members were very welcoming and seemed eager to get to know the guests that were new that Sunday morning. The preacher was an older man, in about his late 60’s or early 70’s. This was mainly a diverse family church with a few college students. At the beginning of the sermon they had children’s church, which is when they relate the word of God to the younger kids so they can understand what the
Preparing for the event was very nerve-racking and I felt extremely anxious and apprehensive. The church attendance was all African Americans and mostly low-income with a mix of young and old. The church itself is very old, established in 1787, and sits in one of Carbondale’s poorer neighborhoods. I have been to this church before though, for work purposes to do a homeless count at the soup kitchen, so I was a little familiar with the church in general. Based on the soup kitchen experience the attendance of people in the church was pretty much as expected.
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
Chances are if you grew up in the south, then you most likely have been to a church service before. I remember as a kid getting the wakeup call every Sunday morning from my mom, “Get up and get dressed for church!” Even if I did not feel like going, she would drag me out of bed and make me go. Anne Lamott writes about the same thing in her essay “Why I Make Sam Go to Church.” Lamott wrote “Why I Make Sam Go to Church” in 1999 as part of a collection of autobiographical essays in a book called Traveling Mercies. My main reaction to this work was a positive one. I thought the essay was eye opening in a sense and it shows that everyone needs guidance and help from others sometimes.
Church of the Brethren does not accept abortion. Participating in abortion is not support their beliefs. Church of the Brethren is a denomination that was formed to continue their practices their own way. They started as a small group and to this day still recruit new members. They solely use the New Testament as their source of guidance for the practice they preach. Rational Choice theory explains Church of the Brethren 's position in opposing abortion.
For an observation of an AA meeting my classmate and I made arrangements to go to an open meeting at Our Lady Star Of The Sea Church, which was held in a basement during a Tuesday afternoon session at 4:00 p.m. I first looked up the sessions online on a website where it held all the meetings on Staten Island and this one fit my schedule well. Its not unusual for me to be attending or visiting churches but for this assignment it did feel a little out of my comfort zone, because I didn’t know what to expect or what others would think of me. I chose a seat in the back corner that wouldn’t be too obvious yet it seemed like a typical seat for a newbie to sit at. The room was fairly large and I was surprised at how big the crowd got at least 30 plus people attended.
Every week, approximately sixty to seventy devoted followers of Jesus gather in a traditional, white church building nestled by the woods, across from a horse pasture on the edge of the small, mostly blue-collar town of Sparta, Michigan. As they take their seats, those with gray to white hair fill the pews to the left of the aisle, while those whose in their middle age fill the pews to the right, along with a dozen middle and high school students in the back. Baptist Bible Church (BBC) was founded in 2008 and led by a part-time interim pastor until a full-time pastor could be found. However, since their founding as well as their leader's passing in 2010, BBC has been unsuccessful in finding the right pastor for the job and has continued
Description: One Sunday, every month, I help in the nursery at my church. This shows leadership because I teach the children right from wrong. I also play with them and entertain them.
Every year near the Christmas season there are several places in Portland Oregon asking residents of the city to donate gifts for those in need. There is the KGW toy drive, which is partnered up with Les Schwab Tires and KGW Television and Radio station. Donate a new unwrapped toy at any Les Schwab Tire store in the metropolitan area of Portland. They can also be delivered directly to KGW 's station house located at 1501 SW Jefferson St. in Portland. Donations for gifts in Portland can range from unwrapped toys to food items. There are several places that you can donate non-perishable food items for the holidays. The Oregon Food Bank is located 7900 NE 33rd Drive. A person can also donate their time at the local Gospel Mission. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas they are in need of donated gifts of time and food items to feed the homeless and needy of Portland and it 's metro areas. The Union Gospel Mission is located at 15 NW Third and 222 NE Couch . One can go to either of these locations and donate the gift of time for Christmas and Thanksgiving both. A person can also give the gift of an unwrapped new gift or clothing at the Salvation Army at three different locations. 11 NW Fifth Ave; 30 SW Second Ave; and 139 SE ML King Blvd. Take any donations to these locations and ask that they be placed for Christmas giving. KATU Television and Radio also has a toy donation drive for Christmas. Located at 2153 NE Sandy Blvd. Anyone may take an unwrapped new toy or gift of
Going to a church that is not of your current denomination or faith is an uncommon thing to do. We are accustomed to staying within the group of people that have common beliefs, especially in regards to religion. Therefore, attending a different church can be uncomfortable for some. Personally, I had the irrational fear of being rejected by church goers of a Southern Baptist church for worshiping the same God in a different manner. Despite my initial concern of being left out or unacknowledged at the sermon, Panther Creek Baptist Church was humble, welcoming, and open to talk about the regular attendants.
Coalbush United Methodist Church is in Mishawaka, Indiana. The Indiana Conference church development team selected Coalbush as a strategic location for potential growth. The church is located right off of the US 20 bypass on the south side of Mishawaka. The city is slowly moving out toward the country, which is how this church views itself: a country church. Mishawaka is not predicted to experience great growth in the next ten years with the make up of a household having little change either. The majority of the people are Anglo-American with little diversity. This is a somewhat traditional community where the majority of people report a sense of well-being. The average household income is approximately $60,000. The largest age group is between 35-55 years old.
I am a part of the Wesleyan Singers at North Carolina Wesleyan College. Our group performs Christian culture music and it was my first time I ever sang for church. I had a wonderful privilege to learn about Christian culture after I became a part of this group. This small group consists of fifteen people and I am one of the two tenors. Every year we have been doing lots of performance inside college but singing in a church, in front of large number of spiritual people was my first time. we performed at Wilson, North Carolina. It was at the Wesleyan Singers Director’s church named First United Methodist Church. There were lots of people but none of them were teenagers, we could only see old spiritual people and a very few children. This was my first time ever being inside a church and being a part of the choir that was going to perform felt like a great privilege.
On Saturday 7, 2015, Alex, Michael and I drove to the Holy Cross Lutheran Church located in 11515 Ashcake Road Ashland, Virginia (about a 5 minute drive away from campus). The first thing that caught my attention was the external structure of the church. The architecture of the church is old school and it looks like a wooden house. Inside the church we could immediately tell that there were at least two floors. The top floor was where the altar was located and where the congregation took place. As soon as we stepped into the top floor, a really nice lady approached us and told us to sign a book of guests that everyone that attends the service had to sign. After we signed in, the pastor approached us and we told him that we were attending the service for a research project and that we were students from Randolph Macon College, he seemed thrilled to be able to help us.
On Monday the 22nd, I went to the local Crossroads Baptist Church, located close to home at in 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 discussion, I realized that he had a great vision for his church and is doing a great job leading it to in the right path. I sensed his passion for preaching as they were evident during the service through his tone and demeanor. Despite this being my first visit to a church, I learned a lot of interesting things about churches and Christianity.
To all Overseers, Pastors, Ministers, Lay People, National Officials, Trustees, Deacons, Young Adults, and Youth.
I entered into the worship service, unaware of what to expect. I was not familiar with this church, it was a non-denominational church, but the pastor had his roots in the A.M.E. Zion Church and branched out to establish his own church. I walked into the sanctuary prepared to participate in the Sunday School. I found a seat and readied myself to engage in some meaningful discussion. After sitting for several minutes, I asked one of the gentlemen who was standing at the front of the church if they had already started and where was the lesson coming from. He looked at his watch and indicated that he didn’t know if we had time for Sunday School. A puzzled look came over my face and I couldn’t help but express my confusion as I looked at