A Fieldwork Paper About My Church Experience
Fieldwork Paper about My Church Experience Christianity is a brand new thing for me. In my entire 19 years of life, I haven’t had a lot chance to get involved with any church related activities. I have read it from books, seen it from movies, but I have never experienced what is Christianity all about by myself. From where I grew up, most of the people will claim themselves atheist. Lots of us were convinced that here were no Gods or any spiritual power existed in this world. Although our government will claim that China is a country of religious freedom, such claim really makes me laugh. People should not take Chinese government’s word really seriously. Communist governors are masters of manipulating. They promise us that we can believe in any religion as we wish, as long as it did not involve illegal activity. However, the government keeps indoctrinating Chinese people with all those negative
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ideas about religious beliefs, especially about Christianity. They make us believe that people who believe in God are maniacs and people who have religious beliefs are not allowed to work for the government. They made us believe that all religions are just people having blind faith. We were raised to believe that all the things in the world can all be explained by science. However, “Is that really the truth?” I asked myself. In case to get more point of views on this question, I think it would be a good idea for me to attend one of the church events with one of my American friend’s family in Pittsburgh. The family that I went to church with is the Ackerman family.
I know the family’s oldest son as a friend from Virginia Tech. They invited me over their house to spent spring break with them. Mrs. Ackerman is the worship arts associate at her church, all of her family members are really devout believers. Mrs. Ackerman told me she was raised in a Christian family and she started to accept God when she was only six years old. Therefore, I decided to go to church with them at the following Sunday. It was a cold Sunday morning. Although it was already March, it was still snowing in Pittsburg. I remembered I had to get up at 5:45 in the morning because Mrs. Ackerman had to get to the church pretty early. It was a half hour drive from Mrs. Ackerman’s house to the Chapel. There were lots of hills in Pittsburgh area, therefore, I often got car sick from the driving and plus that day was quite cold so that half hour drive was really painful. However, compare to the early morning driving, my experience at the church that day was quite interesting and
exciting. The name of the church that I went to is called the Bible Chapel. It is located at the south hill of Pittsburgh. It was founded by nine couples who lived in the South Hills of Pittsburgh in 1963. On June 15, 1965, these couples held their first Sunday worship service in one of the couples’ house and there were only few people attended the worship. However, after about 50 years of development, more and more families in this area became involved with The Bible Chapel. And right now, The Bible Chapel became a relative large church that can hold approximately thousands of people. My first glance of the church was the backside of the church. Be honest, the church building itself did not look like a church for me. First of all, the decoration of the building looked really different than what I had in mind. In my impression, I always thought a Christian church should look more like a Middle Ages Roman castle. They should all have those tall spires stand at the front side of the church building. And the spire should all be well decorated with fine carved sculpture. Also, the church building should be covered with delicate stained glass. However, The Bible Chapel church building looks totally different than the church I saw in the movies. For me, it looks more like a modern hotel. The church building was painted white and rooftop was painted green. The only parts that make this building look like a church has to be the white cross that stand at the top of the roof and the gigantic window in the front of the building, which the window frame looks like a huge Celtic cross. Under the gigantic window, there were some people enter the church through the front door. Although it was only about 7 o’clock in the morning, the church was already filled with quite a few people. Inside of the Chapel, there was a long aisle. The aisle was approximately two hundred feet long. The wall of the aisle was painted in light orange and the floor of the aisle was covered in red carpet. The most notable part of the decoration in the aisle had to be the three gorgeous chandeliers hanging on the ceiling. Each of these three identical chandeliers has four glass arms that extend up to a candle dishes. And there were one candle bulb on each of this four candle dishes. And under four arms, the light was covered with polished teardrop crystals and crystal bead chains to refract color, producing beautiful color spectrums. At each side of the aisle, there were dozens of art works hanging on the wall. Most of the art works were paintings of Jesus and the stories that mentioned in the bible. There were also some green plants grow on the side of the aisle which I had not idea what kind of plants they were. Along the aisle, few staffs were serving coffee in front a table. In order to get ready for the morning Sunday service, I got myself a cup of warm coffee and walked into the worship center. The worship center was the place where the church held Sunday service at. This auditorium can approximately contain one thousands of people. In the middle of the worship center, a Christian band was preparing on the stage in the front. At the backside of the stage, there were three huge TV screens were embedded into the wall. The stage was surrounded by rows of seats and there were already lots of people sitting in their seats. I found myself a seat and I looked around. I was surprised by the decoration of the worship center. It was quite simple. There weren’t much typical Christian decorations like wall paintings of God, statue of Jesus and Virgin Mary and holy water font. The only thing they have were two huge wooden crosses standing in front of each side of the stage. The decoration was totally different than those luxurious churches that I saw in the movie. However, what surprised me even more is the atmosphere in the Chapel. People in Chapel actually looked like they were relaxing and joyful. People were talking and laughing, they seem they were actually enjoying themselves. It made no sense to me at that time. “Are they even allowed laughing so hard in the church? Shouldn’t church be a place that people have to be solemn and dignified?” I started to ask myself those questions. I was shocked by the atmosphere in the Bible Chapel, because it was totally conflicting with the impression I had in mind about the Christian church. For me, I used to think Christianity was only about some kind of boring meetings, which were held at every Sunday morning. And most of the people who attend the service have to dress up nicely and be seriously all the time. I always thought church services were for elder and old-fashion people. Therefore, at the beginning of the experience, I was really taken aback. Mrs. Ackerman, my friend’s mom, saw the confusion on my face, so she asked me what was in my mind. I told her all the questions I had about the church decoration and the people in the church. Then she started to smile. She explained to me that the impression of a church that I had in mind was a catholic church, which in a catholic church there were lots of rules and traditions that people had to follow. So that was why the Catholic Church would always have the same kind decorations like the painted ceilings and stained glass. And because of all the rules, people in the Catholic Church tend to be very serious and dull. However, she also told me that the Bible Chapel is different. It was a non-denominational church. People in the Bible Chapel came to the church to learn the word of the Lord rather than following the rules. That is why the Bible Chapel was so different than a Catholic Church. Talks about Catholic Church, I actually had a painful experience in a catholic church before. Maybe about a year ago, that was my exchange student year in Kentucky. My host family mom was a sixty year old lady who lives by herself. And she was the head singer in a catholic church. So one day she invited me to listen to one of her choir practice and that was how I got my worst experience in my entire life. I felt awkward and uptight the minute I stepped in that church. Everybody in that church was wearing dresses and suits except me. Most of them were elder people or at least middle aged people. There weren’t a lot young people like me in that church, therefore, that were one of the reasons why I felt so uncomfortable. Few minutes after my entrance, the priest came on to the stage and started to talk. The priest looked like he was in his early seventies and he was dressed in a black cassock. The minute he stepped on the stage, the people in the audience stopped talking. Everyone suddenly became very serious and they were all staring at the priest when he was opening the Bible. However, after about hour later, there were almost half of the people in the audience started to fall asleep and some people already left the church. The atmosphere in that church was really boring and lifeless. There was no interaction between the priest and the audience. The whole preach was just dull and pointless. Finally, after the priest finished his boring speech, the choir started to performance. Unfortunately, the choir singing was just as disappointing as the preaching. The performance of the choir was flawless, they made no mistakes during the song, and their facial impressions were even all the same. However, their performance was really staged and lifeless. There was no passion in their singing. However, the service I had in the Bible Chapel was totally different. It was mind-blowing. First of all, the people in the audience were from totally different age groups. There were teenagers, adults, elders and even little babies. And most of them dressed very casual; they certainly were not required to wear suit or dresses all the time. One of the most important differences was that people in the Chapel actually looked passionate about what they believe, at least most of them. The service of the Chapel started with singing. The band started some prelude and the singer said few simple prays. Then the singer began to sing. Suddenly, the whole crowd stood up and started to sing along with the music. Some of them stood up with their arms wide open, some of them were kneel on their knees and some of them were even in their tears. The whole scene was just way beyond my understanding. Be honest, as an outsider, I was terrified at first. In my entire life, I have never experienced group of people as large as this being so passionate at the same believe. It really shocked me when I saw some of the people started to shed tears. Although I am not a Christian, It still amazed me when I saw those people’s hearts broken down by the power of God. After a few songs, the band stopped playing. Then a middle-aged man jumped on stage, and started to talk. It took me a while to realize that he was the pastor. He was dressed in a blue suit rather than those white cassock and he began his preach with few jokes which really relaxed the atmosphere. He was nothing like the priest in that Catholic Church I went before. No uniform, no dull lecture, no Latin speech and he did not need to call for people’s attention. People all listened to him willingly. What surprised me about his preaching was that he did not only just read the bible directly. He started his speech with his own life experience. The topic he chose to talk about that day was about temptation. Therefore, he talked about all the evil temptations that he had to face everyday, which was the same thing I had to deal with everyday. Therefore, his humorous preaching style and casual dress really made me feel like the pastor were just a normal person like me. There was no difference between him and me, which in a catholic church, the priest was acting like he was better than all of you. Therefore, for the first time in my life, I actually learned something and had fun in a church service. In order to learn more about this church, I interviewed another person who volunteered to work in the bible chapel, Mrs. James. Mrs. James was in her late thirties and she volunteered to sing at the Sunday service every week. She told me that she was raised in a protestant family. However, she did not really started to believe in God until she was 17 years old. She has been volunteering in the bible chapel for almost 16 years. She told me that the main reason why she chose the Bible Chapel over the other church was that most of the people in the Chapel were actually living by the God’s words rather than living by the rules, which I still found really hard to understand what was the different between following God’s words and following the rules. As an unbeliever, I think the main reason why I cannot understand the things mentioned in the bible is because I don’t have faith in God. I think faith is the only thing that separates believers and unbelievers. For me, I think it is madness to believe that one single God created the whole universe. However, what if I grew up in a Christian family, I probably would have totally different views at this question. I probably would think it is normal to believe that God created the whole world. Therefore, I think faith is the most important things that separate me from the church. However, although I did not believe in God, I still thought the experience I had in the bible chapel really changed my worldview. I learned that Christianity was nothing like what Chinese government told us. It was more than just rules and restrictions. It is a desire that human has for greatness. It was beautiful and pure.
ideas about religious beliefs, especially about Christianity. They make us believe that people who believe in God are maniacs and people who have religious beliefs are not allowed to work for the government. They made us believe that all religions are just people having blind faith. We were raised to believe that all the things in the world can all be explained by science. However, “Is that really the truth?” I asked myself. In case to get more point of views on this question, I think it would be a good idea for me to attend one of the church events with one of my American friend’s family in Pittsburgh. The family that I went to church with is the Ackerman family.
I know the family’s oldest son as a friend from Virginia Tech. They invited me over their house to spent spring break with them. Mrs. Ackerman is the worship arts associate at her church, all of her family members are really devout believers. Mrs. Ackerman told me she was raised in a Christian family and she started to accept God when she was only six years old. Therefore, I decided to go to church with them at the following Sunday. It was a cold Sunday morning. Although it was already March, it was still snowing in Pittsburg. I remembered I had to get up at 5:45 in the morning because Mrs. Ackerman had to get to the church pretty early. It was a half hour drive from Mrs. Ackerman’s house to the Chapel. There were lots of hills in Pittsburgh area, therefore, I often got car sick from the driving and plus that day was quite cold so that half hour drive was really painful. However, compare to the early morning driving, my experience at the church that day was quite interesting and
exciting. The name of the church that I went to is called the Bible Chapel. It is located at the south hill of Pittsburgh. It was founded by nine couples who lived in the South Hills of Pittsburgh in 1963. On June 15, 1965, these couples held their first Sunday worship service in one of the couples’ house and there were only few people attended the worship. However, after about 50 years of development, more and more families in this area became involved with The Bible Chapel. And right now, The Bible Chapel became a relative large church that can hold approximately thousands of people. My first glance of the church was the backside of the church. Be honest, the church building itself did not look like a church for me. First of all, the decoration of the building looked really different than what I had in mind. In my impression, I always thought a Christian church should look more like a Middle Ages Roman castle. They should all have those tall spires stand at the front side of the church building. And the spire should all be well decorated with fine carved sculpture. Also, the church building should be covered with delicate stained glass. However, The Bible Chapel church building looks totally different than the church I saw in the movies. For me, it looks more like a modern hotel. The church building was painted white and rooftop was painted green. The only parts that make this building look like a church has to be the white cross that stand at the top of the roof and the gigantic window in the front of the building, which the window frame looks like a huge Celtic cross. Under the gigantic window, there were some people enter the church through the front door. Although it was only about 7 o’clock in the morning, the church was already filled with quite a few people. Inside of the Chapel, there was a long aisle. The aisle was approximately two hundred feet long. The wall of the aisle was painted in light orange and the floor of the aisle was covered in red carpet. The most notable part of the decoration in the aisle had to be the three gorgeous chandeliers hanging on the ceiling. Each of these three identical chandeliers has four glass arms that extend up to a candle dishes. And there were one candle bulb on each of this four candle dishes. And under four arms, the light was covered with polished teardrop crystals and crystal bead chains to refract color, producing beautiful color spectrums. At each side of the aisle, there were dozens of art works hanging on the wall. Most of the art works were paintings of Jesus and the stories that mentioned in the bible. There were also some green plants grow on the side of the aisle which I had not idea what kind of plants they were. Along the aisle, few staffs were serving coffee in front a table. In order to get ready for the morning Sunday service, I got myself a cup of warm coffee and walked into the worship center. The worship center was the place where the church held Sunday service at. This auditorium can approximately contain one thousands of people. In the middle of the worship center, a Christian band was preparing on the stage in the front. At the backside of the stage, there were three huge TV screens were embedded into the wall. The stage was surrounded by rows of seats and there were already lots of people sitting in their seats. I found myself a seat and I looked around. I was surprised by the decoration of the worship center. It was quite simple. There weren’t much typical Christian decorations like wall paintings of God, statue of Jesus and Virgin Mary and holy water font. The only thing they have were two huge wooden crosses standing in front of each side of the stage. The decoration was totally different than those luxurious churches that I saw in the movie. However, what surprised me even more is the atmosphere in the Chapel. People in Chapel actually looked like they were relaxing and joyful. People were talking and laughing, they seem they were actually enjoying themselves. It made no sense to me at that time. “Are they even allowed laughing so hard in the church? Shouldn’t church be a place that people have to be solemn and dignified?” I started to ask myself those questions. I was shocked by the atmosphere in the Bible Chapel, because it was totally conflicting with the impression I had in mind about the Christian church. For me, I used to think Christianity was only about some kind of boring meetings, which were held at every Sunday morning. And most of the people who attend the service have to dress up nicely and be seriously all the time. I always thought church services were for elder and old-fashion people. Therefore, at the beginning of the experience, I was really taken aback. Mrs. Ackerman, my friend’s mom, saw the confusion on my face, so she asked me what was in my mind. I told her all the questions I had about the church decoration and the people in the church. Then she started to smile. She explained to me that the impression of a church that I had in mind was a catholic church, which in a catholic church there were lots of rules and traditions that people had to follow. So that was why the Catholic Church would always have the same kind decorations like the painted ceilings and stained glass. And because of all the rules, people in the Catholic Church tend to be very serious and dull. However, she also told me that the Bible Chapel is different. It was a non-denominational church. People in the Bible Chapel came to the church to learn the word of the Lord rather than following the rules. That is why the Bible Chapel was so different than a Catholic Church. Talks about Catholic Church, I actually had a painful experience in a catholic church before. Maybe about a year ago, that was my exchange student year in Kentucky. My host family mom was a sixty year old lady who lives by herself. And she was the head singer in a catholic church. So one day she invited me to listen to one of her choir practice and that was how I got my worst experience in my entire life. I felt awkward and uptight the minute I stepped in that church. Everybody in that church was wearing dresses and suits except me. Most of them were elder people or at least middle aged people. There weren’t a lot young people like me in that church, therefore, that were one of the reasons why I felt so uncomfortable. Few minutes after my entrance, the priest came on to the stage and started to talk. The priest looked like he was in his early seventies and he was dressed in a black cassock. The minute he stepped on the stage, the people in the audience stopped talking. Everyone suddenly became very serious and they were all staring at the priest when he was opening the Bible. However, after about hour later, there were almost half of the people in the audience started to fall asleep and some people already left the church. The atmosphere in that church was really boring and lifeless. There was no interaction between the priest and the audience. The whole preach was just dull and pointless. Finally, after the priest finished his boring speech, the choir started to performance. Unfortunately, the choir singing was just as disappointing as the preaching. The performance of the choir was flawless, they made no mistakes during the song, and their facial impressions were even all the same. However, their performance was really staged and lifeless. There was no passion in their singing. However, the service I had in the Bible Chapel was totally different. It was mind-blowing. First of all, the people in the audience were from totally different age groups. There were teenagers, adults, elders and even little babies. And most of them dressed very casual; they certainly were not required to wear suit or dresses all the time. One of the most important differences was that people in the Chapel actually looked passionate about what they believe, at least most of them. The service of the Chapel started with singing. The band started some prelude and the singer said few simple prays. Then the singer began to sing. Suddenly, the whole crowd stood up and started to sing along with the music. Some of them stood up with their arms wide open, some of them were kneel on their knees and some of them were even in their tears. The whole scene was just way beyond my understanding. Be honest, as an outsider, I was terrified at first. In my entire life, I have never experienced group of people as large as this being so passionate at the same believe. It really shocked me when I saw some of the people started to shed tears. Although I am not a Christian, It still amazed me when I saw those people’s hearts broken down by the power of God. After a few songs, the band stopped playing. Then a middle-aged man jumped on stage, and started to talk. It took me a while to realize that he was the pastor. He was dressed in a blue suit rather than those white cassock and he began his preach with few jokes which really relaxed the atmosphere. He was nothing like the priest in that Catholic Church I went before. No uniform, no dull lecture, no Latin speech and he did not need to call for people’s attention. People all listened to him willingly. What surprised me about his preaching was that he did not only just read the bible directly. He started his speech with his own life experience. The topic he chose to talk about that day was about temptation. Therefore, he talked about all the evil temptations that he had to face everyday, which was the same thing I had to deal with everyday. Therefore, his humorous preaching style and casual dress really made me feel like the pastor were just a normal person like me. There was no difference between him and me, which in a catholic church, the priest was acting like he was better than all of you. Therefore, for the first time in my life, I actually learned something and had fun in a church service. In order to learn more about this church, I interviewed another person who volunteered to work in the bible chapel, Mrs. James. Mrs. James was in her late thirties and she volunteered to sing at the Sunday service every week. She told me that she was raised in a protestant family. However, she did not really started to believe in God until she was 17 years old. She has been volunteering in the bible chapel for almost 16 years. She told me that the main reason why she chose the Bible Chapel over the other church was that most of the people in the Chapel were actually living by the God’s words rather than living by the rules, which I still found really hard to understand what was the different between following God’s words and following the rules. As an unbeliever, I think the main reason why I cannot understand the things mentioned in the bible is because I don’t have faith in God. I think faith is the only thing that separates believers and unbelievers. For me, I think it is madness to believe that one single God created the whole universe. However, what if I grew up in a Christian family, I probably would have totally different views at this question. I probably would think it is normal to believe that God created the whole world. Therefore, I think faith is the most important things that separate me from the church. However, although I did not believe in God, I still thought the experience I had in the bible chapel really changed my worldview. I learned that Christianity was nothing like what Chinese government told us. It was more than just rules and restrictions. It is a desire that human has for greatness. It was beautiful and pure.