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Christian Fellowship Church

by Susannah Joseph

A different experience
[an Eastern Orthodox Christian perspective on Non-Denominational worship]

For my encounter with a foreign religion, I did it with the Christian Fellowship Church. This church is a non-denomination church. I can honestly say that I've seen religion practiced in a way I never experienced by attending one of their services. Even though I am Christian there were so many ways the service I attended was different from what I am used to. Let me give a little history about my sect of Christianity.

I am a Syrian Orthodox Christian from India, its also called Eastern Orthodox. This sect of Christianity is very strict, even more so than the Roman Catholics. I say this because we practice "traditions" from times of the ancient middle-east. For example, every Sunday we do not just have a service we have a ceremony. A grand ceremony with the priest in robes and the alter boys holding bells, candles, and other apparatus' that symbolize God. The priest is not someone that just educates the congregation about Jesus Christ; he is someone that is so incredibly educated in the study of God and Jesus. The Bible that is read to the congregation does not consist of my language entirely. Most of it is in Syrian or an ancient form of Arabic. These priests must learn it to become a priest. We have two parts in the process of communion. First it is the prayer the priest recites while blessing you and put a cross on your forehead with holy oil. Second is the eating of the bread and wine, which symbolizes the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The services at my church are approximately four hours long. Anyhow, being used to all this formality while I'm worshiping is why I was so shocked at the difference I experienced when I went to Christian Fellowship Church. Let me explain my new encounter with Christianity.

I nervously stepped out of my car and started walking towards the huge, modernized multi-complex church. I noticed that there is no one in sight. I began to get even more nervous. I'm thinking "I've never been to church other than my Syrian Orthodox Indian Church, what am I suppose to act like? Is there certain rituals I need to take part in?" I was pondering on like that while I was walking towards the church. I walked in, I'm guessing I either looked really lost or god was really with me because there was two men passing by and one of them asked me if I needed help. I told them that I was there for the 8:30 service. Luckily, so were they and they directed me into the large almost auditorium looking worship room. One of the men, his name was Roger, he basically took me under his wing. He was so helpful by introducing me to everyone, even the head Pastor. The head pastor basically conducts the service.

Roger made sure he was with me through the whole service. He found seat for me next to him. The one thing that struck me while I was sitting there waiting for the service to start is that everything is so informal. I saw people that came in with informal clothes, which was something new to me. At my church the women are exquisitely dressed and adorned with beautiful jewelry. Also, we always wear a cloth over our heads whenever we are in the chapel. I was not so surprised that they did not cover their heads because I figured they are just modernized. Roger was explaining what usually happens at every service when the service finally started. It started out with a small prayer by one of the pastors then some hymns were sung by everyone, the page number where each hymn is found was usually announced before we began. I was really pleased with that act because at my church if we find the hymn in a songbook then we sing it and if we do not then we do not sing. It is like this because the priests never interrupt a ceremony to explain where something like a hymn is. I noticed that all the songs are about letting Jesus. Almost all the words seem to indicate that without putting your lives in Jesus hands you will not be saved. To be saved is to go to heaven. This is a bit awkward for me because I've always learned that just to walk with Jesus will get you to heaven. We sang hymns for about 30 minutes then the head pastor went up to the podium and gave a sermon. His sermon was about friendship and how friendship will fill the gap between God and us. I enjoyed his sermon because it made it seem that God was closer than I think he is. The pastors' sermon lasted for about thirty minutes. After that the congregation was allowed to leave.

In conclusion, many people are very rooted to their routines. Without realizing it our religion is almost a routine and it is hard for us to see any other religious perspective then what we learned all our lives. To go and be able to participate in a service that is so different from what I am used to was quite an experience. I know that there should not have been much differences between my sect of Christianity and other sects but there really is. There is such significant diversity from the way we view god to the way we pray to god. And all I have to say from this run into another part of Christianity is that I've learned that God is not as mystical and far away as I use to think so and I am glad of what I learned from this experience.

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