The community I have chosen to discuss and research is my home church. The church I have grown up in is the first and only other community outside of my own family that I have been a part of since birth. I am not simply choosing my religion, but specifically the small group of people that have made up the specific community that I share in fellowship with. My parents have now attended this church for the past twenty two years and have raised my siblings and i within the congregation. I have attended Sunday schools classes. I went to GEMS, girls everywhere meeting the savior, on Tuesday nights. As well as attending youth group for junior and high school and i am now in a young adult group. Although during this paper I plan to dig deeper into my church congregation. I know it well after being part of it all these years, but my goal is to take a look into the minds and hearts of others within. So that I may see others perspectives as well as their own reasons for actively being a part of this community i have grown up in. I plan to conduct surveys as well as interviews. By the end of this paper i hope to have a better and more accurate understanding of my community as a whole.
I can’t say that I have ever googled my church before, but I decided to do it for the sake of research and for this paper. If you go to the website of my home church you will first find yourself on the welcome page. Within the first few sentences you will see a few important focuses for our congregation. The very first key focus that was mentioned is the importance of “growing together”. I stopped to think for a moment about this idea. A memory pops into my head of last weeks Sunday church service. I’m sitting on one of the stiff green chairs in a middle row close to the center aisle.The children of the church are invited up onto the stage for a short children's message that reviews what the adult sermon will be on. This short, but sweet event has been nicknamed kids of the kingdom. The kids waddle up to the front of the sanctuary and take their seats. Most of them have trouble staying still, but a few of them listen patiently. I was being extra attentive this Sunday because I want to catch notes for my paperer. Suddenly I begin to notice that a few of the children are missing and as I look out among the rows of chairs in the sanctuary I can spot a few of the young faces. However I sat there in utter disbelief as I can so vividly remember holding these kids, now soon to be teenagers, in the nursery. I observed them for a moment and I saw that they were all sitting still and listening with curiosity. One of the most beautiful parts of this community was being able to grow with one another. Not only physically, but mentally as well. After the service that day I went out to lunch with two girl friends of mine that I had grown up along side of in the church. I asked them how they felt about my observation and the conversation sparked. One of my friends mentioned how unique it was to have known each other all these years and have watched each other grow into the young women we are now. These two girls and I are not so alike, but after years of Sunday school classes, church events, girls group, and youth group we were there for one another regardless of who we were individually. Because we grew up in a community the spurs one another on through all stages of life.
Worshiping is an act that can be done in many ways and forms. In fact it can be done alone or in numbers. Worshiping was listed as one of the key focuses of my church. I found this interesting and decided to ask some of the people in my church how they felt about worshiping with one another and if it had a significant importance to them. The question I used to ask each congregation member was worded simply. “Do you feel there is an importance in worshiping with fellow believers and if so why? The results did not surprise me, but i have to admit that the consistency in each answer almost did. Rebekah Vidmar, a close friend of mine who I grew up, with responded by saying, “Yes! It creates a sense of community and encouragement”. The interesting thing about her response was how similar it was to the others I had asked. Almost all responses included the idea of encouragement. I reflected on this for a moment and went over the responses I had received. Of course people would find an important act in their life if they felt constantly encouraged and uplifted by it. In a separate part of my research I interviewed the Youth pastor of my church. One of the questions I asked him was, “Do you feel it is important to be a part of a community of believers?” to which he replied with a simple, “yes”. I then asked why it was specifically important to him and he elaborated stating, “So that I can encourage others and so that they can encourage me.” As I am accessing this information I quickly come to the conclusion that a huge part of my community is not only based on encouragement alone, but based on the effects encouragement has on other aspects of our lives. Encouragement isn't simply a high that makes you feel good in the moment. It plants seeds of strength that give us the ability to grow in all areas of our lives. Inside and outside of the church. To come full circle I would say to have the idea of worshiping together, in order to encourage one another, as a key focus makes complete sense and is a positive aspect of the community.
The third key focus of the church is to serve. While processing the meaning behind this focus I decided to do some more observing. I spent a lot of time contemplating what this truly meant and looked like the inside of my community. How we serve and where it is most necessary. A couple church services ago, they announced that they were looking for a new church cleaner. Someone to help clean up around the church once a week. I thought there it is yes, that is serving. I knew I was missing more though. I recognized and learned more about the way my community serves that Sunday then I ever had before. I comb back through my thoughts. As I step inside I am welcomed and handed a bulletin by a church greeter. That person was serving me. I walk down the hall and pass the nursery and I see a woman and a young girl taking care of the babies. Those women were serving the mothers and families of the congregation so that they may listen and sit in on the service. I Then pass the youth pastors and the main pastors' offices. Two men who have constantly served the community in more ways than I could count. During the service the offering bins are passed around and people are giving. The congregation is serving one another and giving back to the people serving them. The community is taking care of one another by serving.
The fourth and final key focus is reaching out to the world with life transforming truth. One of the most beautiful parts of this focus is how it takes place in so many areas of life. Our community does this every other Sunday when they host a homeless shelter and share the gospel. Our community, even does this while allowing a home school group to use our building. Simplifying by us showing our love we have the opportunity to reach out. One of the small ways we get to share our truth is through a project known as Operation Christmas Child. A project conducted each year by the organization Samaritans purse that is further explained on their site https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/the-journey-of-a-shoebox/ . However the project consists of children and adults preparing shoe boxes and filling them with necessities and treats that will be sent to children in need around the globe. This is not only a way for us to share our truth, but also for many others to show love to those across the globe. Another bigger we that we share our truth is by actually going to share it face to face. One of the ways we do this is with Missions trips. Our church goes to an organization known as spectrum ministries in Tijuana, Mexico almost every year in order to share our truth as well as serving the people in their communities. Spectrum ministries whose site can be found here, https://spectrumministries.org/ , focuses on both serving and sharing the gospel. I have been able to attend this specific missions trip a few times and can so easily say that this is certainley another way that we are able to grow our community and branch off. We are able to positively affect others because we come together. An act that would be much less productive if it were done alone. To grow, to worship, to serve, and to reach out to the world with life transforming truth. My community is unique, but much like others in the ways that it relies on its members. I believe while researching my community i learned a lot more about how it is designed than i had originally thought i would. I also learned a lot about how communities work in the more general sense. A community is built off of people. Some different and some the same, but all coming together for a purpose. The members rely on one other and prosper more with each other then they ever could do alone. My community thrives because it works to together for a purpose and this purpose fuels passion.
Rough draft
The community i have chosen to discuss and research is my church. The first and only other community outside of my family that I have been apart of since birth. I am not simply choosing my religion, but specifically the small group of people that have made up the specific community that I share in fellowship with. During this paper I will dig deeper into my religious group. I know it well after being part of it all these years, but my goal is to take a look into the minds and hearts of others within. So that I may see others perspectives as well as there reasons for actively being apart of the community. I can’t say that i have ever googled my church before, but i decided to do it for research. If you go to the website of my home church you will first find yourself on the welcome page. Within the first few sentences you will see a few important focuses for our community. The very first one mentioned is “growing together”. I stop and think for a moment about this idea. A memory pops into my head of last weeks Sunday church service. I’m sitting on one of the stiff greens chairs in a middle row close to the aisle. The children of the church are invited up onto the stage for a short children's message that reviews what the adult sermon will be on. This short, but sweet event has been nicknamed kids of the kingdom. The kids waddle up to the front and take their seats. Most of them have trouble staying still, but a few of them listen patiently. Suddenly i begin to notice that a few are missing and as i look out among the rows of chairs i can spot a few young faces. I was surprised. I remembered holding these kids, soon to be teenagers, in the nursery. I observed them a saw that they were all sitting still and listening with curiousity. One of the most beautiful parts of this community was being able to grow with one another. Not only as humans, but also in our common beliefs. We watched each other grow in faith.