Holy Trinity Orthodox Church

I chose to do my religious ethnographic study at my home church, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown, Ohio on Sunday, May 8, 2016. Tabernacle is an 112-year-old historic Black Baptist church located on the lower Northside of Youngstown surrounded by a mixed income housing development, homeless shelter, Youngstown State University, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. I would say the average age of a Tabernacle member is 55 years old. About 70% of the members at this church are “middle-class” families. Until about five years ago, its membership was almost exclusively middle class. There has seen an influx of membership in working class individuals and students since the arrival of Tabernacle’s young, vibrant pastor, Rev. Christopher McKee, Jr., three years ago. The church is attentive to the needs of this demographic but remains true to its historic Black Baptist church roots. The church previously struggled with this conundrum until it came to the reality that an exclusivist mindset around worship is detrimental to the body of Christ when it did not have a pastor for over three years. The church was dying because no one was welcome to it and it did not have a leader. Though it was difficult, this reassessment was beneficial in making Tabernacle more relevant and welcoming to the community it is blessed to serve.

For this assignment I took part in a religious service at a small Orthodox Church in Baltimore.

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?”

Years later in this process of growth, I was blessed with a summer internship at a larger congregation in Dallas, Texas. Although I grew from my relationships and from the mentorship I received, I also observed that the bulk of the ministry meetings focused on changing and adapting our church’s corporate worship to be more and more “seeker sensitive.” The thought was that corporate worship was something malleable that could be altered into something more like the culture of the surrounding neighborhood, so people would want to come. “After all,” so the thinking went, “scripture provided only a rough guideline as to what the church is to do when coming together and there is little-to-no reason to keep intact what past generations did or passed down.” In essence, we sought to form our corporate worship for the purpose of evangelism. I believed that the important thing to focus on is love of God, love of neighbor, and piety. Something in the line of reasoning that insisted on changing the community worship ritual to reflect the world didn’t feel right to me, yet I could not articulate what it was. Several months later I visited an Eastern Orthodox Church as part of a course on Christian spiritual development and after a didactic

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

The Church hosts a multitude of activities to promote interconnectivity in the community. Aside from Sunday sermons, the church also holds weekly Wednesday bible study groups, church hoedowns, and a monthly potluck breakfast for the church's most

Community Church has been in existence for roughly 28 years and in that time, has grown very rapidly. While starting out with around 120 original members, Community Church now averages a weekend attendance of 3,000 over all the services and campuses in the Hampton Roads area. Community Church’s membership spans from infants to the retirees, with most of our members being young, growing families. There is something for everyone and a place to fit for all ages. Further, Community Church has 10 cores values such as: pray first, speak life, live fully alive, proclaim and become the Good News, and love God-love people, just to name the few. Our core values drive the mission and vision of our church and is the foundation of everything we

The church that we used to attend -Wooddale Baptist- was a mega church just outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. Every Sunday, I had the same schedule consisting of Sunday School, snack time, and then “Big Church,” which was with the adults. Due to the unthinkable amount of kids, I was never given the opportunity to make anything more than acquaintances. Every Sunday it felt like I met someone new, plus I only got to know their surface layer identity. Once we started at my new church, Aldersgate Church, my social and religious outlook improved. Starting on the first Sunday, my family and I had made plenty of good friends. We even had dinner plans with two strange families after church that night! Little did we know that these two families became the most supportive and trusted people we would ever meet. Also, the small community within the church and the pastor inspired me to grow in my faith than ever before. I began to enjoy Sunday school, and understand the lessons. Exchanging churches changed the way I worshipped God, and gave me the chance to meet new

In contrast to the tall spires one might expect when encountering a Roman Catholic Church, the Saint Mary Orthodox Church in East Brunswick, NJ is a relatively small, unprepossessing structure. It does not resemble a conventional Roman church or steeple; nor does it resemble the elaborate domed Orthodox Churches of kind I have seen in photographs of Russia. It is a square brick building with two relatively nondescript pillars flanking the front. What is noteworthy is the elaborate mosaic of Mary that adorns the front of the building. I have long heard that icons and images are a very important part of the aesthetics of Orthodox worship and this was confirmed by the sight of the building.

When I visited my first Jewish synagogue, I expected it to be very different. My previous experience with religious ceremonies was limited to a few visits to Baptist churches. The most surprising thing for me at this one was, oddly enough, its similarity to Christian services and rituals. I went into the religious visit expecting an enormous difference in the customs and perhaps even in the attitudes of the people attending the service. What I found instead was a religious ceremony very reminiscent of the Christian ones I’ve been to before.

In the religious project I choose to attend a church of a different domination. While I grew up Baptist and the Baptist culture are very familiar to me. the church I decide to attend was Holy Ghost Catholic Church. The reason I choose a Catholic church was because I have always been curious of their worship service. Right away, I noticed the pulpit and as in the Baptist culture this too seemed to be sacred. As only the priest and his helpers were allowed in it. The next thing that stood out to me was the church pews. That I thought all had foot rest. I soon realized that it was for their knees for praying. My experience was very eye opening as I went there not knowing what to expect. I didn’t find the music or choir selection as fun or energetic as in the Baptist

When Jesus gave Mary to the Apostle John at the end of John's gospel, He gave her to the Church. She is now our mother, and her heart burns with love for us. I had a good friend once ask me, “ Why are you so into Mary? ” My response was, “ The real question is: Why is God so into Mary? ” He chose her. I don't think any of us would have complained had Jesus just appeared at the age of 30 and began His public ministry. But He chose Mary to participate in His saving work, and He still does today. Since the time of Christ, she has appeared throughout history and proclaimed the need to repent and embrace God's love. I'm not talking about the ink stains on the sides of buildings, or her face in a potato chip- that's stuff for the tabloids. I'm talking

The question was posed, “How do we tell people outside the church?” How can we prepare visitors? Answers given were one, those near them could help them through the service and explain parts, two, those bringing the visitors could teach them before going, however this requires prior and proper teaching of the members, and three, the analogy of the house. The analogy of the house was comparing the church to a house, and the members to a family. In a house, the family knows all the rules, they know how to act and how to behave.

I’ve spoken to four people who help organize the church during the week. My first person who I interviewed is the priest of the Mandir, Pandit Ravi Maharaj. Pandit Ravi Maharaj told me he has been a priest for about 7 years for the Queens Hindu Mandir, he told me that he loves praying in this temple because it gives him peace, and praying for others help him feel better as a person. Pandit Ravi Maharaj told me that he does Sunday services and he also prays with individuals who call him to prayer for certain reasons. He also prays with large gatherings on special occasions like Diwali etc. another person who I have spoken with is Devi; she is the decorator

Every person in this world belongs to a different culture within their society. We all have different values, beliefs, and norms that help build our culture. I recently had the opportunity to look further into the belief aspect of culture. When we think about cultural beliefs, the first thing that comes to mind is our religion. Religion truly represents what an individual believes in. On March 14th of this year, I attended a Methodist Church service. I am Catholic so it was quite an experience for me. I have been to a Community Church service before, but never a Methodist one. The church I attended over Spring Break was located in a small town inside Green Bay called Allouez. It was called the First United Methodist Church. When I first arrived, the outside of the church was a little different looking than most churches. Most churches have steeples, while this one is more flat top. It flourished with brown brick and stone sculptures on the outside walls. I could tell that most of the people who were attending the mass were middle to upper class individuals. There were generally a lot of nice cars in the parking lot, but most of the people had to park across the street in a business lot because the church lot was not big enough. The elderly and disabled take up most of the closer spots. I could see this by all of the Oldsmobiles, Cadillacs, and Buicks that were parked. After I parked I walked up the steps and into the lobby of the church. The lobby contained a big bulletin