Personal Narrative: Christ Community Church

Improved Essays
When I first came to Dordt as a church shopping freshman, I became excited when I found out about the Church of Christ. Its website made it sound like its theology was the closest to the nondenominational church I grew up in, so I had it in my mind that this was the church I wanted to become a regular member of. One autumn Sunday morning, a friend and I put the address on the website into my GPS and set out. I was convinced that my GPS was malfunctioning when we ended up in the parking lot of a dark building that didn’t look like a church and didn’t even look like it was open. We became more confused because there was a sign that said Christ Community Church, but there wasn’t a building that said Christ Community Church on it. This was the …show more content…
I appreciate the sentiment that authentic worship doesn’t have to be defined by an official church building, but there really should be more signs to indicate where to go. This lack of identification gave the church an exclusive feel, making it seem like it was only for those in the “in-group,” keeping themselves a secret. On the contrary, the exact opposite inclusiveness took place once I was finally able to find the others. Seven cars. I counted seven cars in the parking lot. Once I was finally able to make the connection that the dark insurance building was not locked, I somehow made the connection that there were people in the downstairs portion of seemingly abandoned building without any signs to guide me. The pride of my discovery was quickly dampened by …show more content…
In between each of these components was what the bulletin called “sing and praise.” In front of each seat on the tables was a hymnal book of songs. A man would go stand in front of everybody and lead them in singing. Perhaps the most distinctive part about this church was that everybody sang a capella without any instrumental music. This was my least favorite part about the service, to be honest. I had never heard of any of the songs before, and everyone (including myself) was painfully hitting sour notes left and right. I probably shouldn’t, but I place a big emphasis on music as the most intense way that I commune with God, so in this case I wasn’t really feeling God’s presence. If it wasn’t for this aspect of worship, I would consider attending this church more often. Regardless of what others may say, I feel like I have the right to be picky in the selection of my church membership by using music as a dealbreaker for my decision. I was delighted to find out that this church serves communion every week. I took this for granted as the norm growing up but then became discouraged thinking that nobody in Sioux Center did this. I admit that the Church of Christ didn’t make as big of a deal out of it as Christ Community does when they only observe communion quarterly. However, I loved feeling like I was back at home when I was at the

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The site that I visited was Mercy Hill Church in Greensboro, NC. I went to a sermon, with some friends, that took place on a Sunday night. When we arrived at the church, we stayed together and observed the site. The members of this church all seemed to be within their twenties and thirties; there were a few younger children and a few older women and men, but not many. Most of these people seemed to be from Christian ethnic backgrounds or just unaffiliated with any ethnicity.…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Spanish Mass

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Spanish Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church 1. What happened during the services? I arrived at the church a few minutes prior to the service and I was greatly surprised by how well attended the service was. There were dozens of families in a spectrum of Sunday best and work-stained denim jeans and nearly every person wore a yellow and white vest with a red cross embroidered on the lapel. At the entrance there was a small dipping well and although there was no water in it at the moment, (most likely due to the sizeable crowd) people still placed their fingers in the dry well and crossed themselves before entering the chapel and before sitting, they would cross themselves again.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Recently, if not in the last twenty years, several evangelical Christians have begun to convert to a more traditional aspect of Christianity, few have seemed to notice the thread connecting all these conversions to be a need for deeper meaning in worship. Thomas Howard's book Evangelical Is Not Enough: Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament speaks to those longing as well as how to satisfy them through the liturgy. Tom Howard's whole aim is to direct the reader to understand that every church needs to identify its roots and appreciate the two-thousand year old history behind communion. Furthermore he does an excellent job in breathing life into doctrines and practices of both the evangelical and catholic world, that many of us lose the sight…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I thought to myself, "It's going to be boring like those other churches." As time moved on, I keep on attending Hmong First Baptist Church and getting to know the youth more, I felt more closer to my youth but mostly to Jesus. Hmong First Baptist Church is the first church that open up and invite me to be part of their Sunday church family. During bible study our youth would take turn teaching the youth.…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people don’t know what they want to be when they “grow up”, as for my mother she didn’t know what type of religion she wanted to be in when she “grew up”. However, she did know the basics that she believed in which was God, the Holy Spirit, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Bible that being said she considered herself Christian and raised me as a Non-Denominational Christian. That was until my senior year of High School when my mom decided she no longer wanted to be part of the Non-Denominational Christian faith and switched over to becoming part of the LDS faith known as the Mormons and flipped my life upside-down with their different views of norms and values. Growing up Non-Denominational Christian is fairly simple faith and to me…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    About two years ago, I moved to Grass Valley, CA. Truly I tell you, this was a brand new experience. My whole life was centered around the city of Elk Grove, my previous city. My friends, family, and everything were there. The day I moved was exciting, a chance for new experiences, but at the same time I felt something new: pain.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The instant greeting I received made me feel at ease and made me feel less as a stranger. As I came inside the main entrance I noticed the church was very large and well maintained. I was then welcomed again by other servers who then seated me and asked what my was name. I introduced myself and they told me to enjoy the service. I looked around the church and noticed that most of the interior was simple and nothing extravagant.…

    • 1515 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The service I attended was the 12:30 service at Jubilee Christian Church. Everyone engaged in conversation and, it was a very friendly environment. The seats were filled by the time the service started. The service opened up with a prayer. Afterward, music started to play, and this was the start of praise and worship.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One thing that really stuck out to me was the loudness of the music. It was so loud that for a while after the service was over my ears were still ringing and I was sure I could still hear the songs being played in my head. Because it was so loud and everyone was singing, the only thing I could focus on was the words I was singing and what they really mean. Seeing people with so little dressed in their Sunday best as happy and joyous as they were was something I envied.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The churches were places that people could belong to at this…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Uncharted Journey of Faith: Past, Present and Future “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11 Introduction I titled this essay “Uncharted Journey of Faith” reflecting on the past, present and future growth of my faith experience. When I think of faith in general, the word mystery comes to my mind.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On August 26, 2005, I gave my life to Christ, and it was the start of a whole new chapter of my journey. I still remember that night vividly in my head. The feelings of excitement, joy, and love were very tangible in my heart. My mom and dad were both sitting beside me on my bed while I was told the importance of this decision and how my life would never be the same. Even at 5 years old, I was aware of my decision to follow Jesus and accept him into my heart.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During my childhood and lower teens, I was very involved in church. I would go to every event or meeting put on by our church. Watching certain senior youth members, I didn’t understand why they would just come to the fun events. I would only see them during our mission trips or camps, but never at business or regular meetings. Then I promised myself that I would always stay as active as I could.…

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    I’ve attended in the past had many informal elements in their liturgy, designed to make new-comers feel a little less awkward and part of the church family. As a new Methodist, I have found many Methodist churches (particularly contemporary ones) to be a good mix of the familial atmosphere that i loved about Pentecostal church and the church tradition that I 'm seeking at this point in my faith walk. For this reason, I wanted to visit a Catholic church. I reasoned that…

    • 2396 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On Sunday May 15, I visited Christ Centered Church. I was invited to attend this church by my friend Art, who is a Deacon there. Christ Centered Church is a newly planted church that is lead by a Pastor who has retired from the marines after twenty-years. The service I attended was not their normal order of service and they held a surprise Pastor’s Appreciation…

    • 1051 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays