Personal Narrative: Hope Community Church

Growing up and going to church was never a question for my family or myself. Being raised in a very traditional and orthodox Lutheran church, my beliefs and practices are very customary and make me who I am today. While some may say my principles are very outdated and old fashion, I believe it is one of the most crucial ways of worshipping my God. My home church service consists of: standing and kneeling, singing hymns, offering, readings from the Bible, and communion. Each one of these things serves as a very important part of my worship. Recently I had attended a local North Carolina Church called, Hope Community Church. My first reaction to this church was “whoa this place is huge.” This project was definitely made to take a step back and

With many different campuses surrounding the area, Raleigh is the main branch. I had attended the Apex campus on Sunday, April 2, 2017 where the service was broadcasted to us. The first thing I had experienced going into the church was the immediate welcoming vibe. All the doors were open will greeters of all ages saying, welcome. Walking into the place of worship I noticed how different things had looked from what I was used to. Where I go to church there are pews and a large alter with kneeling benches, this church was completely opposite. With chairs everywhere and a large stage with drums, guitars and microphones in the front the building, I knew I was going to be for a change in comfort. Hope starts their worship service with a band singing and playing worship songs. While singing, hands of local members were being raised and the spirit of God was filling the room. While this is not my traditional way of singing hymns, I was truly blown away by the instant love I had for feeling God’s presences. Following the worship songs, a small video was played to summarize the theme of this week’s message. To my conventional practices this would be like the first and second readings that are read as a preview of the sermon’s meaning. Immediately following the video, the sermon was preached, I would say this would be the center of the meeting. The preacher was dressed very casual, and simply

This was very shocking to me because normally there is so much more to my service. While I found love for the service and the message that was said, I did not like not being able to take communion and continue on to saying the creed. Communion is a very important part of my beliefs and I cherish being able to take it every week at my home church. Taking communion is very essential, but also remembering the importance of the Last Supper by kneeling at the Lord’s alter is a key role in the Lutheran service. The significance it has on my beliefs and religion as a whole is very vital to me. The creed is something I take great pride in. Being able to make a statement of my beliefs and contently remind myself of these principles, makes me truly understand why I worship the God I do. While to some these may seem like unneeded parts of a church service, they hold an essential place in my