Yesterday my friends and I went to our friend, Pastor Lee's, church to their young adults service. It was good to see a number of students and young adults at the service praising God together. Here are some hallmarks that I have observed in Korean worship services and some lessons:
1. Passionate and heartfelt worship and prayer. When you can't understand what people are saying it is good to know that they at least they sound heartfelt.
2. Bible reading. When reading a bible passage the preacher will read one verse and the congregation will read the alternate verse. This means a couple of things: everyone has a Bible with them following the passage, people need to really pay attention because they are expected to join in, and it involves everyone in engaging with the text.
3. How important language is for us to really encounter God, and how this might effect people with language barriers. I think this is the same for us in Britain, but this has not been a problem for me as I know the language. When I don't have a translation I have to engage with the service on a different level, which for a short time is ok but long term it is unhealthy. It has made me think how we might be able to make services more accessible for people to engage who have poor English language comprehension, and conscious how wordy I can be in services.
4. How difficult and confusing it can be if you are not sure what is coming next or really what is going on. That is good to remember especially when folk come to the church for the first time, we presume quite a bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment