Introduction
I once attended a different church than my regular assembly and observed some unfamiliar practices from the entire congregation. The most noticeable one was the detailed glances indicating the evident discovery of a new person or visitor. The session was mainly a Thanksgiving service and much of the activities involved singing in worship and referencing the bible verses. One common notable scenario that was uniquely involved in the practice.
The fraternity considered the bible as sufficient regulation for basing devotion and practicing faith. Various churches related to the one I attended and have similar claims. One such similarity is the lack of denominational status, which contradicts a lack of belief over the separation between owning to ‘saved’ status in comparison to receiving the Holy Spirit. In considering my usual congregation, being ‘saved’ and receiving the Holy Spirit are two different occurrences. According to my church, the Holy Spirit exists within the inner being, when a person becomes ‘Saved’ (About, 2009).
From this new church, I could note a huge distinction between presentations of the Holy Spirit roles as opposed to the distinctive roles from my church. Some of these emphasized roles included the issue of followers’ speaking in tongues, lay hands on other followers who wanted to be ‘saved’, and the power of healing. The new church also emphasizes reading of the bible, fellowshipping, fasting, and praying. The church also had various strict rules such as maintaining total silence during preaching time as opposed to the background auditory confirmation responses that my congregation allowed, optimistically encouraged, and practically supported.
Multicultural experience
My church may have some diversifications from the single common style of devotion especially during worship, but the experience in the new church I attended affected my societal facilitation greatly. It was easy to note that majority of the dwellers noted I was a visitor. From my point of view; attendance is affected by social factors such as preconceived notions. The reaction also affected my engagement and behavior influence to find and accept change.
Although the experience was definitely, a revelation of the minor details I missed from my congregation, one of the things I noted during the next worship visit at my church involved the decorations and symbols. The name of the church was not haphazard or randomly placed. It appeared and remained at a specific location. The cross sculptures were also specially placed at each corner, with each towering high enough where everyone could spot easily from various locations in the church.
This was purposeful and strict arrangements that lacked in the church I had visited. I also noted that the program at my congregation had a consistent arrangement for undertakings of all services. The church service began with a prayer session followed by worship in form of songs and later the sermon and closing stages prayers. I was also able to notice that invited speakers preceded some of the sessions’ sermons. The activities were quite normal and everyone stayed next to or in their sits during the activities such as praise and worship singing. Most of the songs were familiar and everyone seemed comfortable regardless of the social-cultural differences.
One evident difference I could not miss was the confirmation responses that people from my congregation give. As the sermon is delivered, the congregation responds enthusiastically by shouting ‘Yes’ or ‘Amen’, as opposed to quietly listening to the message. The experience of attending a different congregation showed me the importance of the response style and placed a better understanding of my faith.
The strong reaction in agreement by the congregation at my church showed that people had an interactive way of expressing inner affirmation. The faith at my church indicates that renewal of the notional in the mind renews the spirit. The verbal interactive form of confirmation is also effective in keeping everyone in line with the proceedings.
When I had visited the new congregation, one of the critical measures I almost failed to achieve was to avoid verbal responses. I had responded with a verbally notable ‘Amen’, before remembering the conditions when some people glared at me. It feels suspicious when one is not able to shout a response in affirmation. Practicing silence during such an occasion was disheartening. According to Myers (2008), a group comprises two or more people and they ought to interact as long as they have spent few moments together and can engage contentious issues.
The church is a group of people and must be in a position of providing information, provide solutions to challenges, and assist each member to realize his/her goals. There is no influence if people are not able to engage in interaction (Shelton, 2007).
Conclusion
By attending a worship service in a different congregation, I was able to garner a positive learning experience. The ability to facilitate interaction socially is important and substantial for the worship service as well as other social gatherings. By lacking resistance to the verbal confirmations, I learned that the organizational culture puts forward the adjustment mechanisms for behavioral practice if people can have positive apprehensions overreactions.
For instance, if the verbal response to a sermon is beneficial, the organization ought to adjust and cater to the needs instead of posing ethical hindrance. Social facilitation of dominant responses is support by individual perspective and participation.
References:
About: What we believe. (2009). Web.
Myers, D. (2008). Social Psychology (ninth Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Shelton, J.E. (2007). Are we a melting pot? How religion and race differenceimpact beliefs about the American nationality. Conference Papers—American Sociological Association, 2007 Annual Meeting, 1-36.