Oh 1 Ji Seok Oh Mrs.

Sarah Davis English 1101 November 20, 2013

Ethnography Text: How Do Some Communities See Themselves

Commented [JO1]: Notes: Commented [JO2R1]: Main Claim: How the community view itself as a their church and how they see Christianity in general. Commented [JO3R1]: -Member of community comprised of young Korean Americans in middle school and high school -Because most of the people who attend this church have been here for almost their whole life, everyone is very close to each other. I can tell if someone is an outsider by observing how they communicate with everyone else. -Overall belief is the teachings of the bible and how Jesus is the lord and savior, how they act mainly reflects how they should act according to the bible. -Everyone is close to each other and are very comfortable with everyone. -From the insiders point of view there would be no leader than God himself, but from an outsiders point of view the pastor may be seen as the leader. He is seen as the interpreter and delivers the message to the people in the congregation -

Ive been a part of more than one church, a small church, as well as a large church, and Ive realized how different each community can be such as how they communicate, practice services, and how they schedule their agenda. This is why I chose to base my research on how a specific community (my current church) see themselves as the community, and how they see the Christian community rather than base all the research on the Christian community in general as an ethnography text. So what exactly is ethnography? Ethnography is writing about a community or group of people and their way of life. With this research prepared, I find myself in a gym with a lot of chairs in rows filled with middle and high school kids, and a group of people in front of the stage, performing Christian music while the lights are off and spot lights on them to set the mood. The main thing that would be noticed by an outsider is the race. It is a Korean church comprised of mainly Koreans. There are a couple Caucasians and African American in the community but I would say more than 90% are Korean. But, because we are observing the youth group, most of the demographics is made up of middle school and high school Korean-Americans. Most the students who attend this church have been there since they were little kids. This makes them very close and comfortable with each other, while being indolent to approach new members until they get familiar around them. Because of this, it is easy to point out the outsiders/newcomers. Service starts at 10:50 AM with the praise band leading the congregation into worship. The praise band plays three Christian music ending their session around 11:20 AM with a prayer. The pastor then comes in and starts his sermons which last briefly an hour to an hour and a half; this is when the observations really come in. I notice a lot of people on their phones and distracted from the sermon. As clich as it seems, it is usually the people in the back distracted while the people in the front have their bible open and attention towards the pastor. Another thing that I have noticed from the seating arrangements is that the girls tend to sit on the left side while the guys sit on the right. Once the service had ended, it was time for offering. Because it is a youth service, made up of jobless teenagers, not much was given. Once the offerings were done being given, announcements were given by a spokesman, mainly pertaining to current events, changes, and upcoming events. After the service, everyone contributed by setting up the chairs and tables for lunch.

Oh 2 Bible study starts, approximately 1 oclock PM, when service ends. This is where the youth group splits into smaller groups. The class that I participated with was the junior and senior class, comprised of 16 to 17 year old teenage girls and guys. The bible study class is introduced with an opening prayer, usually partaken by a volunteer, but it was a special case this week because no one volunteered. Someone was chosen to pray and the class started after the Amen. Everyone is required to bring a physical bible, with a consequence of a punishment such as singing or doing something embarrassing in front of everyone after class. People share their week experiences and the teaching begins. The bible study teacher usually follows a curriculum from a book given by the church, and ends with sharing prayer request. This week only two people shared their prayer request. The class ended with a closing prayer, taking us to lunch time. For insiders, it is confirmed that we have no official leader other than God himself. But, to outsiders it may be seem as if the pastor is the leader because he is the one who goes up at the front and inspires the congregation with the word of the lord. To the insiders he is interpreting the word of the lord, while outsiders may seem as if hes just trying to convince people why God is good. This is what I think the biggest difference between the community leader looks like from an insiders and outsiders point of view. I was able to interview an insider, Jun Nawa, to get some of his background information and his point of view on Christianity. He had informed me that he had been attending this church all his life and the biggest difference that he has noticed from the setting at church and from school is that everyone is more friendly to each other. So I asked, what does he believe is the goal of the Christian community, and I got a response saying that the main goal is to bring people into Christ, to show people who he is and allow them to feel is love. Although Christianity may seem amazing there are some flaws he had mentioned. There are many people who are hypocritical Christians, or in other words church goers. These people are the ones who only come to church because they feel obligated to. They are mostly two-faced who acts polite and Christian like at church while having a different attitude in their everyday life. I asked Jun that if he could point out the 3 most important thing about Christianity, what it would be. As an insider myself I would have to agree with him: Jesus is savior, God is the father, and Faith is key. This means Jesus is the one who saved everyone, God is the ultimate creator, and father, and that Faith is important to have when it comes to ones relationship with God. To obtain that relationship with God, he and I both agreed there must be an initiation. Some people may find their own way to a church, or like many, be influenced by another individual. So I asked, How would you respond to someone who wants to become a Christian? and he said that the best way would be to invite them to church, make them feel comfortable and allow them to find their own way to gain faith and build a relationship with God, as well as understand that Jesus has died for our sins.