LIFE IN HIS PRESENCE IS AMAZING: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A PENTECOSTAL CHURCH - final DRAFT
A lot of literature has gone into defining Christianity and what it entails. This article, however, will seek to do an ethnographic study on a Christian community from an insider’s perspective. It will explore their common beliefs – values – practices – and rituals that bind them together. I was born into a Roman Catholic Christian family. However, I attend a Pentecostal church close to me sometimes. For this study, I am using participant observation, interviews and field notes to study a Pentecostal Church situated close to me in Nigeria.
Christianity has loosely been defined as one of the religions of the world by many. However, according to Fowler (1998), “Kierkegaard complained that everyone in Denmark considers themselves to be Christians because they were born into the state church and baptized as infants, concluding that if everyone is a Christian, then no one is a Christian” (p. 142). Kennis while conversing with me said that a Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with God and is evidently living out that life for everyone to see. He added further that, Christianity is a mere connotation the world uses to classify those it perceives as Christians under one umbrella (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
For the purpose of this study, the Pentecostal church where the methodology for this study was applied is Grace Mission Church, Akure, Nigeria. I attended their 9 am service on Sunday, February 3, 2019, for the first observation and field note taking. However, a week later I repeated again to continue with the observation and try to get people to interview.
On getting to the church on February 3rd, I could see how the people were warmly greeting each other in English and some native dialects – smiling – and welcoming one another. You could literally see the sparkle of genuine love and concern in their eyes as they hugged and greeted each other. The atmosphere felt palpably peaceful and incredibly radiating with love, seeming as if there were no challenges or bills to pay out there in the outside world. It seemed like people felt differently, happy and were not worried about anything outside this gathering.
As people walked in exchanging warm pleasantries, the keyboardist at the corner was doing a beautiful job with soft tunes, turning the atmosphere metamorphically into a cocoon glowing with holiness and distinctly separated from the bustles and troubles of the outside world. From my observation, the number of women in attendance was more than men. This buttresses Chittister and Marty's findings (as cited in Dailey, 1996) that women more than men (83% to 76%) believe God to be an active role in their lives. Additionally, women more often than men (53% to 47%) were more inclined to hinge on the church as necessary to having a relationship with God. (p. 13)
The church service started with prayers which took about 40 mins. In the course of the prayers, some people paced around with mouths moving hysterically in prayers. Others seemed to be crying and some others were speaking a language that was no longer English. The once calm scenario changed into a dense cobweb of discordant voices praying in different languages that may literally stun a first-time visitor.
The faces of people that were once beaming with smiles turned so serious and concentrated, emotionally engaged in the prayers. It seemed like they were emptying their hearts and complaints to someone. It makes you wonder whether if these people were not the ones a couple of minutes ago who were seen smiling. How did we get here?
kennis in his interview defined speaking in different tongues as a spiritual language used to communicate with God. And for you to get this gift given by the Holy Spirit, you have to be born again, for it is the Holy Spirit that teaches it (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
After the prayers, the Bible study/sharing started. Christians usually study the bible because “It is the word of God written by Holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Hence in it lies God’s word which has the potency to change any man’s life” (Kennis, 2019). In addition to being the inspired word of God, the Bible has also been viewed as a theological document of several ancient recordings written by men. Hence some Christian denominations believe it is not free from errors. The Boisi Center Papers on Religion in the United States (n.d.) wrote that, while all Christians understand the Bible as the authority for Christian life, they differ over the question of the Bible’s “inerrancy” (p.12). Nevertheless, against these contrary opinions, what fundamentally remains unshaken in this space and all Christian communities globally is the unanimous acceptance that this document which contains God’s words has the power to change any man’s life and still remains the authority for Christian life.
On this day the Bible study teacher was Chigozie and his topic was centered on love. Theme: Love, living the Christ example in the church. The congregation seated down, with their Bibles opened, listened and participated in the discussion throughout this session.
The Teacher spoke about how Christians are supposed to emulate Jesus Christ in their daily lives by showing selfless love for others. Chigozie in his interview on February 4, 2019, said, “Agape love is that Christlike kind of love which was first authored by God, by virtue of allowing his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. So, that we can be reconciled to Him”
Christians believe that Jesus Christ had to die for the sins of man, so that man’s sin may be forgiven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16 King James Version)
Immediately succeeding the bible sharing was the praise and worship session. As the drummers and keyboardist spurred their instruments to vocalize beautiful sounds, the choir sang spirit-moving songs of praises and worship. These made the congregation stand and dance with a heart full of joy. Some occasionally busted into speaking in tongues and waving their hands in the air. The powerful melodies generated by these percussion instruments and the harmony it lends to the voices of the choristers literally turned the air in the room into palpable protons of electrifying worship electrons that could amazingly melt any human’s heart of stone.
People out of excitement and joy sang along with the choir while looking at the lyrics of the songs displayed on the huge electronic television screens hanging at different corners of the room. As the various musical instruments even breathtakingly navigated through very difficult notes, the congregation were inspired more to sing louder and wholeheartedly. It was an incredible fascination to behold, as singing and praising is seen as an act of prayers. Hence, the congregation wholeheartedly immersed themselves in it in reverence to God. The bible says,” Praise the Lord, all people on earth, praise his glory and might” (1 Chronicles 16:28 King James Version).
As soon as the praise and worship ended, the head pastor, Pastor Dickson ascended the podium and headed towards the Altar where the lectern was centrally situated. He ran through a couple of announcements - welcomed first time visitors - encouraged people to go around and greet each other. Then, he ushered in the tithing and offering session. This session with the support of the songs rendered by the choir, people came out smiling and heading towards the altar to drop their offering (money put inside envelopes) inside a bowl placed in front of the altar. These offerings are voluntary donations by people for the sustenance of the work of the church. He stated that though it is your decision to tithe or not to, it has a lot of benefits attached to it. Because if you sow a seed you must surely reap a harvest from that seed (Dickson, 2019).
According to the pastor, tithing is giving a tenth of your income to the work of God, or for the care of the needy, charity and other noble ventures that touches God’s heart. Christians who are also believing God to do something great in their lives also use this medium to approach God.
Immediately the donation exercise ended, the congregation settled down to their seats, then the sermon commenced. Pastor Dickson taking the sermon built his preaching over the theme he called, “Calling in the Harvest”. It centered on sowing and reaping of harvest as a result of your seeds. As he preached the word of God and making references to various bible portions, people were quietly listening and a few others taking notes. His teaching also presented practical examples in today’s world on how to sow and reap. With the level of attentiveness from the congregation, any pin that dropped on the floor could easily be heard. Regarding sermons, Hwang (2005) noted that “preaching is the event of God bringing to hearers a Bible-based, Christ-related, life-impacting message of instruction and direction from Himself through the words of a preacher (Parker, 1991)” (p. 48). Based on the days teaching, Pastor Dickson emphasized that if you sow bountifully to God’s work, He will reward you bountifully. He also added that “God is not really demanding money from us, but it is foolishness not to know where your source comes from” (Dickson, 2019).
The sermon was the high point of the day’s event, the following activities were the events to round-off the service for that day. The sermon, however, ended with people being called to pray and recommit their affairs to the hands of God.
Reaching out to the less privileged is also one activity carried out by this church. They budget some amount yearly for evangelism and blessing of those who cannot afford a good livelihood both foreign and within. Pastor Dickson said, “reaching out to the less privilege is so dear to my heart. I love giving to those going through a difficult situation and when I get feedback of an improved life, I feel happy” (personal interview, February 10, 2019)
Grace Mission Church is a Bible-believing friendly church where everybody is somebody. They run an open-door policy and welcome anybody who wants to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Everybody feels comfortable in this space to share and breathe. People here feel loved and cared for. Their belief that everybody is somebody in the house of God binds them together to the work as evidenced in the massive participation of all in the rituals of the service.
References:
Dailey, T.A. (1996). Someone to Care: An Ethnographic Study of Full Gospel Christian Church. Honors Project. Paper II. Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=socanth_honproj
Fowler, J.A. (1998). Christianity Is Not Religion. Retrieved from: http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Christiantynotrel.pdf
Hwang, J.S. (2005). Sermon Forms As A Dimension Of Communication In The Current Worship Context In The South Korean Churches (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/25286/Complete.pdf?sequence=5
The Boisi Center Papers On Religion In The United States. (n.d). An Introduction to Christian Theology (1-20). Retrieved from https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/boisi/pdf/bc_papers/BCP-Christianity.pdf
Interviews:
Eboh, Kennis. February 8, 2019. church member and Chorister
Ndubuka, Chigozie. February 4, 2019. Church member and Bible study teacher
Ojukwu, Dickson. February 10, 2019. Pastor
Christianity has loosely been defined as one of the religions of the world by many. However, according to Fowler (1998), “Kierkegaard complained that everyone in Denmark considers themselves to be Christians because they were born into the state church and baptized as infants, concluding that if everyone is a Christian, then no one is a Christian” (p. 142). Kennis while conversing with me said that a Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with God and is evidently living out that life for everyone to see. He added further that, Christianity is a mere connotation the world uses to classify those it perceives as Christians under one umbrella (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
For the purpose of this study, the Pentecostal church where the methodology for this study was applied is Grace Mission Church, Akure, Nigeria. I attended their 9 am service on Sunday, February 3, 2019, for the first observation and field note taking. However, a week later I repeated again to continue with the observation and try to get people to interview.
On getting to the church on February 3rd, I could see how the people were warmly greeting each other in English and some native dialects – smiling – and welcoming one another. You could literally see the sparkle of genuine love and concern in their eyes as they hugged and greeted each other. The atmosphere felt palpably peaceful and incredibly radiating with love, seeming as if there were no challenges or bills to pay out there in the outside world. It seemed like people felt differently, happy and were not worried about anything outside this gathering.
As people walked in exchanging warm pleasantries, the keyboardist at the corner was doing a beautiful job with soft tunes, turning the atmosphere metamorphically into a cocoon glowing with holiness and distinctly separated from the bustles and troubles of the outside world. From my observation, the number of women in attendance was more than men. This buttresses Chittister and Marty's findings (as cited in Dailey, 1996) that women more than men (83% to 76%) believe God to be an active role in their lives. Additionally, women more often than men (53% to 47%) were more inclined to hinge on the church as necessary to having a relationship with God. (p. 13)
The church service started with prayers which took about 40 mins. In the course of the prayers, some people paced around with mouths moving hysterically in prayers. Others seemed to be crying and some others were speaking a language that was no longer English. The once calm scenario changed into a dense cobweb of discordant voices praying in different languages that may literally stun a first-time visitor.
The faces of people that were once beaming with smiles turned so serious and concentrated, emotionally engaged in the prayers. It seemed like they were emptying their hearts and complaints to someone. It makes you wonder whether if these people were not the ones a couple of minutes ago who were seen smiling. How did we get here?
kennis in his interview defined speaking in different tongues as a spiritual language used to communicate with God. And for you to get this gift given by the Holy Spirit, you have to be born again, for it is the Holy Spirit that teaches it (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
After the prayers, the Bible study/sharing started. Christians usually study the bible because “It is the word of God written by Holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Hence in it lies God’s word which has the potency to change any man’s life” (Kennis, 2019). In addition to being the inspired word of God, the Bible has also been viewed as a theological document of several ancient recordings written by men. Hence some Christian denominations believe it is not free from errors. The Boisi Center Papers on Religion in the United States (n.d.) wrote that, while all Christians understand the Bible as the authority for Christian life, they differ over the question of the Bible’s “inerrancy” (p.12). Nevertheless, against these contrary opinions, what fundamentally remains unshaken in this space and all Christian communities globally is the unanimous acceptance that this document which contains God’s words has the power to change any man’s life and still remains the authority for Christian life.
On this day the Bible study teacher was Chigozie and his topic was centered on love. Theme: Love, living the Christ example in the church. The congregation seated down, with their Bibles opened, listened and participated in the discussion throughout this session.
The Teacher spoke about how Christians are supposed to emulate Jesus Christ in their daily lives by showing selfless love for others. Chigozie in his interview on February 4, 2019, said, “Agape love is that Christlike kind of love which was first authored by God, by virtue of allowing his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. So, that we can be reconciled to Him”
Christians believe that Jesus Christ had to die for the sins of man, so that man’s sin may be forgiven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16 King James Version)
Immediately succeeding the bible sharing was the praise and worship session. As the drummers and keyboardist spurred their instruments to vocalize beautiful sounds, the choir sang spirit-moving songs of praises and worship. These made the congregation stand and dance with a heart full of joy. Some occasionally busted into speaking in tongues and waving their hands in the air. The powerful melodies generated by these percussion instruments and the harmony it lends to the voices of the choristers literally turned the air in the room into palpable protons of electrifying worship electrons that could amazingly melt any human’s heart of stone.
People out of excitement and joy sang along with the choir while looking at the lyrics of the songs displayed on the huge electronic television screens hanging at different corners of the room. As the various musical instruments even breathtakingly navigated through very difficult notes, the congregation were inspired more to sing louder and wholeheartedly. It was an incredible fascination to behold, as singing and praising is seen as an act of prayers. Hence, the congregation wholeheartedly immersed themselves in it in reverence to God. The bible says,” Praise the Lord, all people on earth, praise his glory and might” (1 Chronicles 16:28 King James Version).
As soon as the praise and worship ended, the head pastor, Pastor Dickson ascended the podium and headed towards the Altar where the lectern was centrally situated. He ran through a couple of announcements - welcomed first time visitors - encouraged people to go around and greet each other. Then, he ushered in the tithing and offering session. This session with the support of the songs rendered by the choir, people came out smiling and heading towards the altar to drop their offering (money put inside envelopes) inside a bowl placed in front of the altar. These offerings are voluntary donations by people for the sustenance of the work of the church. He stated that though it is your decision to tithe or not to, it has a lot of benefits attached to it. Because if you sow a seed you must surely reap a harvest from that seed (Dickson, 2019).
According to the pastor, tithing is giving a tenth of your income to the work of God, or for the care of the needy, charity and other noble ventures that touches God’s heart. Christians who are also believing God to do something great in their lives also use this medium to approach God.
Immediately the donation exercise ended, the congregation settled down to their seats, then the sermon commenced. Pastor Dickson taking the sermon built his preaching over the theme he called, “Calling in the Harvest”. It centered on sowing and reaping of harvest as a result of your seeds. As he preached the word of God and making references to various bible portions, people were quietly listening and a few others taking notes. His teaching also presented practical examples in today’s world on how to sow and reap. With the level of attentiveness from the congregation, any pin that dropped on the floor could easily be heard. Regarding sermons, Hwang (2005) noted that “preaching is the event of God bringing to hearers a Bible-based, Christ-related, life-impacting message of instruction and direction from Himself through the words of a preacher (Parker, 1991)” (p. 48). Based on the days teaching, Pastor Dickson emphasized that if you sow bountifully to God’s work, He will reward you bountifully. He also added that “God is not really demanding money from us, but it is foolishness not to know where your source comes from” (Dickson, 2019).
The sermon was the high point of the day’s event, the following activities were the events to round-off the service for that day. The sermon, however, ended with people being called to pray and recommit their affairs to the hands of God.
Reaching out to the less privileged is also one activity carried out by this church. They budget some amount yearly for evangelism and blessing of those who cannot afford a good livelihood both foreign and within. Pastor Dickson said, “reaching out to the less privilege is so dear to my heart. I love giving to those going through a difficult situation and when I get feedback of an improved life, I feel happy” (personal interview, February 10, 2019)
Grace Mission Church is a Bible-believing friendly church where everybody is somebody. They run an open-door policy and welcome anybody who wants to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Everybody feels comfortable in this space to share and breathe. People here feel loved and cared for. Their belief that everybody is somebody in the house of God binds them together to the work as evidenced in the massive participation of all in the rituals of the service.
References:
Dailey, T.A. (1996). Someone to Care: An Ethnographic Study of Full Gospel Christian Church. Honors Project. Paper II. Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=socanth_honproj
Fowler, J.A. (1998). Christianity Is Not Religion. Retrieved from: http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Christiantynotrel.pdf
Hwang, J.S. (2005). Sermon Forms As A Dimension Of Communication In The Current Worship Context In The South Korean Churches (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/25286/Complete.pdf?sequence=5
The Boisi Center Papers On Religion In The United States. (n.d). An Introduction to Christian Theology (1-20). Retrieved from https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/boisi/pdf/bc_papers/BCP-Christianity.pdf
Interviews:
Eboh, Kennis. February 8, 2019. church member and Chorister
Ndubuka, Chigozie. February 4, 2019. Church member and Bible study teacher
Ojukwu, Dickson. February 10, 2019. Pastor
Life in His presence is amazing: An ethnography of a Pentecostal church - Rough draft
A lot of literature has gone into defining Christianity and what it entails. This article, however, will seek to do an ethnographic study on a Christian community from an insider’s perspective. It will explore their common beliefs – values – practices – and rituals that bind them together. I was born into a Roman Catholic Christian family. However, I attend a Pentecostal church close to me sometimes. For this study, I am using participant observation, interviews and field notes to study a Pentecostal Church situated close to me in Nigeria.
Christianity has loosely been defined as one of the religions of the world by many. However, according to Fowler (1998), “Kierkegaard complained that everyone in Denmark considers themselves to be Christians because they were born into the state church and baptized as infants, concluding that if everyone is a Christian, then no one is a Christian” (p. 142). Kennis while conversing with me said that a Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with God and is evidently living out that life for everyone to see. He added further that, Christianity is a mere connotation the world uses to classify those it perceives as Christians under one umbrella (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
For the purpose of this study, the Pentecostal church where the methodology for this study was applied is Grace Mission Church, Akure, Nigeria. I attended their 9 am service on Sunday, February 3, 2019, for the first observation and field note taking. However, a week later I repeated, to continue with the observation and try to get people to interview.
On getting to the church on February 3rd, I could see how the people were warmly greeting each other – smiling – and welcoming one another. You could literally see the sparkle of genuine love and concern in their eyes as they hugged and greeted each other. The atmosphere felt palpably peaceful and incredibly radiating with love, seeming as if there were no challenges or bills to pay out there in the outside world. It seemed like people felt differently, happy and were not worried about anything outside this gathering.
As people walked in exchanging warm pleasantries, the keyboardist at the corner was doing a beautiful job with soft tunes, turning the atmosphere metamorphically into a cocoon glowing with holiness and distinctly separated from the bustles and troubles of the outside world. From my observation, the number of women in attendance was more than men. This buttresses Chittister and Marty's findings (as cited in Dailey, 1996) that women more than men (83% to 76%) felt God to be an active role in their lives. Additionally, women more often than men (53% to 47%) were more inclined to rely on church as necessary to having a relationship with God. (p. 13)
The church service started with prayers which took about 40mins. In the course of the prayers, some people paced around with mouths moving hysterically in prayers. Others seemed to be crying and some others were speaking a language that was no longer English. The once calm scenario changed into a dense cobweb of discordant voices praying in different languages that may literally stun a first-time visitor. The faces of people that were once beaming with smiles turned so serious and concentrated, emotionally engaged in the prayers. It seemed like they were emptying their hearts and complaints to someone. It makes you wonder whether if these people were not the ones a couple of minutes ago who were seen smiling. How did we get here? kennis in his interview defined speaking in different tongues as a spiritual language used to communicate with God. And for you to get this gift given by the Holy Spirit, you have to be born again, for it is the Holy Spirit that teaches it (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
After the prayers, the Bible study/sharing started. Christians usually study the bible because “It is the word of God written by Holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Hence in it lies God’s word which has the potency to change any man’s life” (Kennis, 2019). In addition to being the inspired word of God, the Bible has also been viewed as a theological document of several ancient recordings written by men. Hence some Christian denominations believe it is not free from errors. The Boisi Center Papers on Religion in the United States (n.d.) wrote that, while all Christians understand the Bible as the authority for Christian life, they differ over the question of the Bible’s “inerrancy” (p.12). Nevertheless, against these contrary opinions, what fundamentally remains unshaken in this space and all Christian communities globally is the unanimous acceptance that this document which contains God’s words has the power to change any man’s life and still remains the authority for Christian life.
On this day the Bible study teacher was Chigozie and his topic was centered on love. Theme: Love, living the Christ example in the church. The congregation seated down, with their Bibles opened, listened and participated in the discussion throughout this session.
The Teacher spoke about how Christians are supposed to emulate Jesus Christ in their daily lives by showing selfless love for others. Chigozie in his interview on February 4, 2019, said, “Agape love is that Christlike kind of love which was first authored by God, by virtue of allowing his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. So, that we can be reconciled to Him”
Christians believe that Jesus Christ had to die for the sins of man, so that man’s sin may be forgiven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16 King James Version)
Immediately succeeding the bible sharing was the praise and worship session. As the drummers and keyboardist spurred their instruments to vocalize beautiful sounds, the choir sang spirit-moving songs of praises and worship. These made the congregation stand and dance with a heart full of joy. Some occasionally busted into speaking in tongues and waving their hands in the air. The powerful melodies generated by these percussion instruments and the harmony it lends to the voices of the choristers literally turned the air in the room into palpable protons of electrifying worship electrons that could amazingly melt any human’s heart of stone.
People out of excitement and joy sang along with the choir while looking at the lyrics of the songs displayed on the huge electronic television screens hanging at different corners of the room. As the various musical instruments even breathtakingly navigated through very difficult notes, the congregation were inspired more to sing louder and wholeheartedly. It was an incredible fascination to behold, as singing and praising is seen as an act of prayers. Hence, the congregation wholeheartedly immersed themselves in it in reverence to God. The bible says,” Praise the Lord, all people on earth, praise his glory and might” (1 Chronicles 16:28 King James Version).
As soon as the praise and worship ended, the head pastor, Pastor Dickson ascended the podium and headed towards the Altar where the lectern was centrally situated. He ran through a couple of announcements - welcomed first time visitors - encouraged people to go around and greet each other. Then, he ushered in the tithing and offering session. This session with the support of the songs rendered by the choir, people came out smiling and heading towards the altar to drop their offering (money put inside envelopes) inside a bowl placed in front of the altar. These offerings are voluntary donations by people for the sustenance of the work of the church. He stated that though it is your decision to tithe or not to, it has a lot of benefits attached to it. Because if you sow a seed you must surely reap a harvest from that seed (Dickson, 2019).
According to the pastor, tithing is giving a tenth of your income to the work of God, or for the care of the needy, charity and other noble ventures that touches God’s heart. Christians who are also believing God to do something great in their lives also use this medium to approach God.
Immediately the donation exercise ended, the congregation settled down to their seats, then the sermon commenced. Pastor Dickson taking the sermon built his preaching over the theme he called, “Calling in the Harvest”. It centered on sowing and reaping of harvest as a result of your seeds. As he preached the word of God and making references to various bible portions, people were quietly listening and a few others taking notes. His teaching also presented practical examples in today’s world on how to sow and reap. With the level of attentiveness from the congregation, any pin that dropped on the floor could easily be heard. Regarding sermons, Hwang (2005) noted that “preaching is the event of God bringing to hearers a Bible-based, Christ-related, life-impacting message of instruction and direction from Himself through the words of a preacher (Parker, 1991)” (p. 48). Based on the days teaching, Pastor Dickson emphasized that if you sow bountifully to God’s work, He will reward you bountifully. He also added that “God is not really demanding money from us, but it is foolishness not to know where your source comes from” (Dickson, 2019).
The sermon was the high point of the day’s event, the following activities were the events to round-off the service for that day. The sermon, however, ended with people being called to pray and recommit their affairs to the hands of God.
Reaching out to the less privileged is also one activity carried out by this church. They budget some amount yearly for evangelism and blessing of those who cannot afford a good livelihood both foreign and within. Pastor Dickson said, “reaching out to the less privilege is so dear to my heart. I love giving to those going through a difficult situation and when I get feedback of an improved life, I feel happy” (personal interview, February 10, 2019)
Grace Mission Church is a Bible-believing friendly church where everybody is somebody. They run an open-door policy and welcome anybody who wants to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Everybody feels comfortable in this space to share and breathe. People here feel loved and cared for. Their belief that everybody is somebody in the house of God binds them together to the work as evidenced in the massive participation of all in the rituals of the service.
References:
Dailey, T.A. (1996). Someone to Care: An Ethnographic Study of Full Gospel Christian Church. Honors Project. Paper II. Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=socanth_honproj
Fowler, J.A. (1998). Christianity Is Not Religion. Retrieved from: http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Christiantynotrel.pdf
Hwang, J.S. (2005). Sermon Forms As A Dimension Of Communication In The Current Worship Context In The South Korean Churches (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/25286/Complete.pdf?sequence=5
The Boisi Center Papers On Religion In The United States. (n.d). An Introduction to Christian Theology (1-20). Retrieved from https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/boisi/pdf/bc_papers/BCP-Christianity.pdf
Interviews:
Eboh, Kennis. February 8, 2019. church member and Chorister
Ndubuka, Chigozie. February 4, 2019. Church member and Bible study teacher
Ojukwu, Dickson. February 10, 2019. Pastor
Christianity has loosely been defined as one of the religions of the world by many. However, according to Fowler (1998), “Kierkegaard complained that everyone in Denmark considers themselves to be Christians because they were born into the state church and baptized as infants, concluding that if everyone is a Christian, then no one is a Christian” (p. 142). Kennis while conversing with me said that a Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with God and is evidently living out that life for everyone to see. He added further that, Christianity is a mere connotation the world uses to classify those it perceives as Christians under one umbrella (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
For the purpose of this study, the Pentecostal church where the methodology for this study was applied is Grace Mission Church, Akure, Nigeria. I attended their 9 am service on Sunday, February 3, 2019, for the first observation and field note taking. However, a week later I repeated, to continue with the observation and try to get people to interview.
On getting to the church on February 3rd, I could see how the people were warmly greeting each other – smiling – and welcoming one another. You could literally see the sparkle of genuine love and concern in their eyes as they hugged and greeted each other. The atmosphere felt palpably peaceful and incredibly radiating with love, seeming as if there were no challenges or bills to pay out there in the outside world. It seemed like people felt differently, happy and were not worried about anything outside this gathering.
As people walked in exchanging warm pleasantries, the keyboardist at the corner was doing a beautiful job with soft tunes, turning the atmosphere metamorphically into a cocoon glowing with holiness and distinctly separated from the bustles and troubles of the outside world. From my observation, the number of women in attendance was more than men. This buttresses Chittister and Marty's findings (as cited in Dailey, 1996) that women more than men (83% to 76%) felt God to be an active role in their lives. Additionally, women more often than men (53% to 47%) were more inclined to rely on church as necessary to having a relationship with God. (p. 13)
The church service started with prayers which took about 40mins. In the course of the prayers, some people paced around with mouths moving hysterically in prayers. Others seemed to be crying and some others were speaking a language that was no longer English. The once calm scenario changed into a dense cobweb of discordant voices praying in different languages that may literally stun a first-time visitor. The faces of people that were once beaming with smiles turned so serious and concentrated, emotionally engaged in the prayers. It seemed like they were emptying their hearts and complaints to someone. It makes you wonder whether if these people were not the ones a couple of minutes ago who were seen smiling. How did we get here? kennis in his interview defined speaking in different tongues as a spiritual language used to communicate with God. And for you to get this gift given by the Holy Spirit, you have to be born again, for it is the Holy Spirit that teaches it (personal interview, February 8, 2019)
After the prayers, the Bible study/sharing started. Christians usually study the bible because “It is the word of God written by Holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Hence in it lies God’s word which has the potency to change any man’s life” (Kennis, 2019). In addition to being the inspired word of God, the Bible has also been viewed as a theological document of several ancient recordings written by men. Hence some Christian denominations believe it is not free from errors. The Boisi Center Papers on Religion in the United States (n.d.) wrote that, while all Christians understand the Bible as the authority for Christian life, they differ over the question of the Bible’s “inerrancy” (p.12). Nevertheless, against these contrary opinions, what fundamentally remains unshaken in this space and all Christian communities globally is the unanimous acceptance that this document which contains God’s words has the power to change any man’s life and still remains the authority for Christian life.
On this day the Bible study teacher was Chigozie and his topic was centered on love. Theme: Love, living the Christ example in the church. The congregation seated down, with their Bibles opened, listened and participated in the discussion throughout this session.
The Teacher spoke about how Christians are supposed to emulate Jesus Christ in their daily lives by showing selfless love for others. Chigozie in his interview on February 4, 2019, said, “Agape love is that Christlike kind of love which was first authored by God, by virtue of allowing his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. So, that we can be reconciled to Him”
Christians believe that Jesus Christ had to die for the sins of man, so that man’s sin may be forgiven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16 King James Version)
Immediately succeeding the bible sharing was the praise and worship session. As the drummers and keyboardist spurred their instruments to vocalize beautiful sounds, the choir sang spirit-moving songs of praises and worship. These made the congregation stand and dance with a heart full of joy. Some occasionally busted into speaking in tongues and waving their hands in the air. The powerful melodies generated by these percussion instruments and the harmony it lends to the voices of the choristers literally turned the air in the room into palpable protons of electrifying worship electrons that could amazingly melt any human’s heart of stone.
People out of excitement and joy sang along with the choir while looking at the lyrics of the songs displayed on the huge electronic television screens hanging at different corners of the room. As the various musical instruments even breathtakingly navigated through very difficult notes, the congregation were inspired more to sing louder and wholeheartedly. It was an incredible fascination to behold, as singing and praising is seen as an act of prayers. Hence, the congregation wholeheartedly immersed themselves in it in reverence to God. The bible says,” Praise the Lord, all people on earth, praise his glory and might” (1 Chronicles 16:28 King James Version).
As soon as the praise and worship ended, the head pastor, Pastor Dickson ascended the podium and headed towards the Altar where the lectern was centrally situated. He ran through a couple of announcements - welcomed first time visitors - encouraged people to go around and greet each other. Then, he ushered in the tithing and offering session. This session with the support of the songs rendered by the choir, people came out smiling and heading towards the altar to drop their offering (money put inside envelopes) inside a bowl placed in front of the altar. These offerings are voluntary donations by people for the sustenance of the work of the church. He stated that though it is your decision to tithe or not to, it has a lot of benefits attached to it. Because if you sow a seed you must surely reap a harvest from that seed (Dickson, 2019).
According to the pastor, tithing is giving a tenth of your income to the work of God, or for the care of the needy, charity and other noble ventures that touches God’s heart. Christians who are also believing God to do something great in their lives also use this medium to approach God.
Immediately the donation exercise ended, the congregation settled down to their seats, then the sermon commenced. Pastor Dickson taking the sermon built his preaching over the theme he called, “Calling in the Harvest”. It centered on sowing and reaping of harvest as a result of your seeds. As he preached the word of God and making references to various bible portions, people were quietly listening and a few others taking notes. His teaching also presented practical examples in today’s world on how to sow and reap. With the level of attentiveness from the congregation, any pin that dropped on the floor could easily be heard. Regarding sermons, Hwang (2005) noted that “preaching is the event of God bringing to hearers a Bible-based, Christ-related, life-impacting message of instruction and direction from Himself through the words of a preacher (Parker, 1991)” (p. 48). Based on the days teaching, Pastor Dickson emphasized that if you sow bountifully to God’s work, He will reward you bountifully. He also added that “God is not really demanding money from us, but it is foolishness not to know where your source comes from” (Dickson, 2019).
The sermon was the high point of the day’s event, the following activities were the events to round-off the service for that day. The sermon, however, ended with people being called to pray and recommit their affairs to the hands of God.
Reaching out to the less privileged is also one activity carried out by this church. They budget some amount yearly for evangelism and blessing of those who cannot afford a good livelihood both foreign and within. Pastor Dickson said, “reaching out to the less privilege is so dear to my heart. I love giving to those going through a difficult situation and when I get feedback of an improved life, I feel happy” (personal interview, February 10, 2019)
Grace Mission Church is a Bible-believing friendly church where everybody is somebody. They run an open-door policy and welcome anybody who wants to give their lives to Jesus Christ. Everybody feels comfortable in this space to share and breathe. People here feel loved and cared for. Their belief that everybody is somebody in the house of God binds them together to the work as evidenced in the massive participation of all in the rituals of the service.
References:
Dailey, T.A. (1996). Someone to Care: An Ethnographic Study of Full Gospel Christian Church. Honors Project. Paper II. Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=socanth_honproj
Fowler, J.A. (1998). Christianity Is Not Religion. Retrieved from: http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Christiantynotrel.pdf
Hwang, J.S. (2005). Sermon Forms As A Dimension Of Communication In The Current Worship Context In The South Korean Churches (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/25286/Complete.pdf?sequence=5
The Boisi Center Papers On Religion In The United States. (n.d). An Introduction to Christian Theology (1-20). Retrieved from https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/boisi/pdf/bc_papers/BCP-Christianity.pdf
Interviews:
Eboh, Kennis. February 8, 2019. church member and Chorister
Ndubuka, Chigozie. February 4, 2019. Church member and Bible study teacher
Ojukwu, Dickson. February 10, 2019. Pastor
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