Introduction This past Sunday I attended church with one of my close friends. She is from the Ivory Coast and has been eager to invite me into her church family just as I had invited her into my church family about a year ago. To prepare for this cross cultural experience, I asked my dear friend for advice on dress, behavior, and inappropriate behavior. Also, I was very conscious about getting rid of any expectations from previous experiences in African churches. Throughout the course of the service, there were times where I felt incredibly welcomed, absolutely blessed and quite honestly, uncomfortable. My short time spent participating in this small church opened my eyes to the intentionality behind every aspect of gathering. Whether it was
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Contrary to the flexibility observed in the church building, I noticed that where on sat during the service held weight and significance. I noticed this when a woman asked the group of girls in the row in front of me to move to another set of seats. When they moved, I was then asked, or told, to move to the recently emptied seats. Of course I listened, but I was fairly confused. As I looked around the one room building, I realized that families were sat together, ethnicities sat together, the leadership sat together, and finally, all of the first time visitors and infrequent attendees sat together. Quite honestly, this is reminiscent to my church at home. Families sit together, the leadership team always sits in the from row with their families, and the youth group usually sits in a section together. The main difference, however, is that in my American church sitting in these groups is an unspoken social rule. In this cultural context, it was not only assumed, but enforced.
Family
As previously mentioned, the congregation as very family oriented. This applied to the immediate family, extended family, and the family of the church body. This attitude of family was even extended to me, the guest. Naturally, I stood out in an african church with a predominantly African congregation. When the pastor walked to the front to introduce himself and welcome …show more content…
Unfortunately, discussing each unique factor would be impossible. There were two observations that really told me a lot about the culture of this church. The first is the fact that at the front of the church, there was a flag for each country represented in the church body. To me, this was a wonderful picture of the relational focus. Not only was the immediate family valued, the extended family was valued. Also, the continent and various nations of Africa were united. Because of this deep understanding of the importance of family, I believe this culture has a deep understanding of the meaning of the body of Christ. It is hard for Americans to fully grasp the importance of unity in the church because our culture is not family
Contrary to the flexibility observed in the church building, I noticed that where on sat during the service held weight and significance. I noticed this when a woman asked the group of girls in the row in front of me to move to another set of seats. When they moved, I was then asked, or told, to move to the recently emptied seats. Of course I listened, but I was fairly confused. As I looked around the one room building, I realized that families were sat together, ethnicities sat together, the leadership sat together, and finally, all of the first time visitors and infrequent attendees sat together. Quite honestly, this is reminiscent to my church at home. Families sit together, the leadership team always sits in the from row with their families, and the youth group usually sits in a section together. The main difference, however, is that in my American church sitting in these groups is an unspoken social rule. In this cultural context, it was not only assumed, but enforced.
Family
As previously mentioned, the congregation as very family oriented. This applied to the immediate family, extended family, and the family of the church body. This attitude of family was even extended to me, the guest. Naturally, I stood out in an african church with a predominantly African congregation. When the pastor walked to the front to introduce himself and welcome …show more content…
Unfortunately, discussing each unique factor would be impossible. There were two observations that really told me a lot about the culture of this church. The first is the fact that at the front of the church, there was a flag for each country represented in the church body. To me, this was a wonderful picture of the relational focus. Not only was the immediate family valued, the extended family was valued. Also, the continent and various nations of Africa were united. Because of this deep understanding of the importance of family, I believe this culture has a deep understanding of the meaning of the body of Christ. It is hard for Americans to fully grasp the importance of unity in the church because our culture is not family