The Importance Of Congregation In The Danville Community

Pastored in 1952 by Alice Lavern Riles, known as Mother Sheppard, The Church of Columbus remains today within the city of Columbus, Georgia. From a tiny building on 49th Street, to the over a million-dollar facility today, The Church of Columbus has gone through its share of change. Growing up, the church was called the First United Pentecostal Church, but once the church moved locations, Pastor renamed it The Church of Columbus. Located on 2001 Double Churches Road, there lies my second home, with its grand 36,000 square feet structure. Growing up, I was always at the church, whether it was for practice, or just to play sports such as volleyball and football with my lifelong friends that I had made throughout my attendance at the church. According the church’s website, “the church has grown from a Sunday morning attendance of sixty-one in 1985, to a consistent attendance of over 400 in 2013” (The Church of Columbus). The church’s motto is “Loving all to Christ”. The motto refers to the church’s ultimate goal of reaching the 290,000 souls of the Columbus, Phenix City, Fort Benning area (The Church of Columbus). A church member, Lisa Gail Stringer-Johnson described the church; “The first thing you feel when you walk through the doors is an outpouring of Love and God’s presence.” I am extremely grateful that I have such a tremendous place to call my second home.

Choosing an unfamiliar place within the small town of Athens, OH was a difficult task for someone with a diverse list of interests to do. Personally, I had to think about where I wanted to spend my time ‘culture watching’. There are many places that I have spent much of my time, like coffee shops, multiple basketball and football games freshman year, and three well known dining halls across campus. I had to think to myself where have I not spent time in Athens, and then it came to me, church. For the cultural immersion project, I spent three Sundays observing the Athens First United Methodist Church, each service being one hour long focusing on different areas each time. The location of the church is extremely familiar to me being that I live

In the Introduction section of the book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Israel Galindo states that a congregation is a “corporate relationship organization” (3) and is not an organization. He points out that the hidden life of a congregation would depict the “nature” of a congregation. This further identifies the relationships and faith of the congregation. According to him, the universal principles are followed by the congregations so that “systemic relationships” can work. The leaders learn the roles that they have within the people who are the congregation. The journal will focus on Dr. Fowler’s question “what is the purpose of this gathering we call the church?”

Community Service is not strange to me because I have been doing community service at Northview Church since the beginning of my sophomore year in high school. When I saw the assignment that I have to complete 4 hours of community services, I knew that Northview church was my first choice. Northview church was found by Tommy Paino in October 1980. There were only 30 people in the cafeteria of Carmel Elementary School where they formed the church which later become Northview Church. Three years later, in the month of July, 1983. 285 people attended the last service at Carmel Elementary School, then they moved to the church’s new place which is located at 131st and Gray Road. In the late 1985, the church bought an 81-acre of land located at the highest point in Hamilton County on the southwest west corner of Main Street in the city of Carmel. This is the place the church is currently located at (“Northview Church History”). Throughout my service, I learned that the church’s mission is to connect people with God and connect people with people. They value relationships, spiritual growth, and the ability to reach out to those who are far from God.

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.

There is an age old question about good old America and its foundation that has been debated on for decades that I have the pleasure of touching on today. That question I tend on giving my insight on today which is, was United States was founded as a Christian nation or as something else? In retrospect one can say that America was founded on three documents: The Declaration of Independence, The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783, and the Constitution; however what does that mean to America being a Christian Nation? Well the Declaration of Independence has many references to God, and both the Treaty and the Constitution end with them being sign in the “Year of our Lord”. One would assume this is all evidence that the founded on Christianity, but then I read Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptist. After reviewing the letter’s substance and the reason for him writing the letter it would appear that I’m torn even as I am writing this.

Our American people learned about freedom and the consequences, good or bad, that may occur from it at the church. Also, there was no segregation allowed at the church. People of any race could attend and worship without worry. That freedom is still held strong and practiced today. As you can see, this church has many things that we can learn from it and the past.

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.

After meeting Pastor Bobby Guerra I found to be very comfortable with the people and atmosphere. I kept going to service on a consistent base along with working and trying to get my life back on track that was one of the biggest struggles I’ve experienced only because I should have gotten it a long time ago and now trying to get it all back. I had got so comfortable with the church when they had invited me to their park outreaches for the community I was hesitant to go because I didn’t know if I was done with the past and the wreckage had haunted me.

*The Old Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church located at the corner of Walnut and 3rd Streets. It was built in 1789. It is still there today.

“We are a church transformed by grace, connected through relationships and committed to service” is their mission statement and as is everything down in Texas, they are big! They have a large campus with several buildings surrounding the main sanctuary and a visitors center that can be accessed with one of their many golf carts. I must say, as someone who works with youth, I was impressed as to their commitment to a separate building for kids, especially those in middle school and high school. At a time when autonomy is so important for a young person, (and budgets are limited), having their own space is quite impressive.

Church is an important part of being a Christian. It isn’t about the building or what it looks like, but it is about the community and learning about God. When saying we love Jesus, but hate the church we have to understand that saying this is impossible. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, talks about how Jesus is the head of the church and we are the body. If we hate the church it is like hating the head of the body. People get so involved in what the church may look, whether it has a modern day feel to it or if the building hasn’t changed since they were kids. After being a part of a church for so many years you get comfortable with the surrounds. I found this project interesting because I got to see how different churches worship Jesus. Especially

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.

So, we moved business and our home to Cypress, TX., this is where we made another change in where we would attend church.

A person has to really pay attention to the details to see the name. It is pretty hard to drive by and notice that there is a church on that street. In the Catholic Church that I attend, the name is pretty obvious. A person can tell that there is a church from quite a distance. In my opinion, the church did not lend itself to worship.