Church Visit Reflection

Introduction Churches form an important part of the human beings. This is because they offer the human beings with an opportunity to explore and exercise their faith . The church must look outward. It is not itself.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Church Visit Reflection specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The whole purpose of the internal organization of the Christian community is precisely to facilitate its outreach into the world, both to proclaim the message of the Gospel values of justice and peace. The church’s mission is to evangelize and to serve as an instrument for the coming and realization of the kingdom of God in our world. Thus the outward mission of the church, its serve to the kingdom, is to announce the good news, inviting individuals to receive it and to become members of the body of Christ. At the same time, this evangelization entails acting on behalf of the growth within the society of th e gospel values which Jesus taught and which lead to human fulfillment in dignity, communion and freedom. The Pentecostal church The term ‘Pentecostal’ is very loosely applied to all churches upholding reformist traditions that charismatic gifts experienced on the day of Pentecost are still operative . Basically, all Pentecostals believe that the Bible is God inspired scripture, simplicity in worship, the Christ will visibly return to earth, holiness of life and believer’s baptism. Individual believers as well as the church shall be filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. History of Pentecostalism Pentecostalism has become a major movement in the contemporary Protestant Christianity. In little more than a century, it grew from meager beginnings at Azuza Street in Los Angeles to nearly half a billion followers around the world.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Once thought attractive only to the poor, disenfranchasized, and disconnected, the modern movement has spread across class and ethnic lines and includes the educated world. Given its success, few would dare speculate that this institution shares a common descent with those who practice the handling of venomous serpents in their worship. However, a perceived direct encounter with God was what made the early Pentecostalism appealing to many observers, and such an encounter involved manifestations that were believed to be supernatural signs – all of which persist today as important markers in the serpent handling tradition. The doctrine The person responsible for introducing this practice as a formally stated doctrine was the Rev. Charles Fox Parham of Kansas. He was the first one who singled out â€Å"glossolalia† (speaking in tongues) as the only evidence of having received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and taught that it should be part of â€Å"normal† Chris tina worship rather than a curious by product of religious enthusiasm. The service It was my first time to attend a Pentecostal church service and I found it to be very interesting. This was because of the order of the service. I chose to attend a Pentecostal church because I am used to the Roman Catholic kind of service. The two services are quite different. For instance, the Pentecostal service is more inclined on creating a spiritual experience which is based on the Holy Ghost as compared to the catholic experience. The Pentecostal movement has got predominant traits that make it to stand out among many other denominations. The Pentecostal church has focused on several aspects which include evangelism, baptism of the Holy Ghost, faith and rich worship. Furthermore, this church has a heavy emphasis on fellowship and expectancy. In addition, I realized that the Pentecostal service was more inclined to singing loud praise songs and then followed by soft and cool, worship music.Adver tising We will write a custom essay sample on Church Visit Reflection specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Much emphasis is on the personal encounter with the Holy Ghost. It is a unique service in the sense that the majority of those got captured in this moment found themselves crying and pleading for mercy. The focus of this service is based on purity and holiness. This is in light of the sanctification process where every believer should seek to purify his or her life and live in accordance with the tenets of the Holy Scriptures. Essentially, the preacher has the liberty to decide how long a service can take. This is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In addition to this, the sermons are characterized with responses to the key points which are made by the preacher. In this case, if the preacher feels that the responses are not enough, he would urge the congregants to cheer him up and respond. The sermon is picked from the Bible and the preacher is the one who has the obligation of dissecting the meaning to the congregants and letting them apply it in their lives. Most of the sermons in these churches are geared towards repentance, purity and holiness without which nobody will see the Kingdom of Heaven. The emphasis of the Pentecostal movement is based on individual hope for the future. Believers in this church seek God for a deeper and higher life. This is based on personal faith and the willingness to transform a person’s life. In this movement, a person plays a major role towards transformation which ensures that change is seen and experienced in a very personal manner. Reflections The analysis of the Pentecostal experience per se is not enough. If traditioning is to be effective, it has to be carried out in the ecclesial community . The Pentecostal church must become the traditioning community for Pentecostal faith and practice.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More But here, the Pentecostal church faces two formidable challenges. First, Pentecostalism thus far has been too individualistic in its conception of the spiritual life. The church is usually seen as a ‘fellowship’ to meet ‘my needs’. It needs to move to a more communal understanding of the Christian life. In fact, Pentecostalism’s central experience makes better sense when it is interpreted within its own communal – liturgical context. The Pentecostal Christian needs a Pentecostal community to make sense of his or her own spiritual experience. The second challenge that is faced is that we are living in times when the general drift of many ecclesiastical traditions is towards the ‘free church’, non – hierarchical type. However, one understands why a movement that cherishes the freedom of the spirit would find the free type more congenial. But if the Pentecostal movement is to bequeath its heritage to the next generation withou t diluting the core it needs to have an adequate tradition structure. Works Cited Chan, Simon. Pentecostal theology and the Christian spiritual tradition, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001. Print. Henn, William. Church:The People of God, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Menzies, William W. and Robert P. Menzies. Spirit and Power:Foundations of Pentecostal Experience, New Jersey: Zondervan, 2000. Print. Varghese, Alexander P. India : History, Religion, Vision And Contribution To The World, Atlanta: Atlantic Publishers Dist, 2008. Print. 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W.E.B. Du Boisâ€His Greatest Contributions to Sociology

W.E.B. Du Bois- His Greatest Contributions to Sociology Renowned sociologist, race scholar, and activist William Edward Burghardt du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on February 23, 1868. He lived to be 95 years old, and during the course of his long life authored multiple books that are still deeply important to the study of sociology- in particular, how sociologists study  race and racism. Du Bois is regarded as one of the founders of the discipline, along with Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Harriet Martineau. Du Bois was the first Black man to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He was also one of the founders of the NAACP, and a leader at the forefront of the movement for Black civil rights in the U.S. Later in his life he was an activist for peace and opposed nuclear weapons, which made him a target of FBI harassment. Also a leader of the Pan-African movement, he moved to Ghana and renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1961. His body of work  inspired the creation of a critical journal of black politics, culture, and society called  Souls. His legacy is honored annually by  the American Sociological Association  with an award for a career of distinguished scholarship given in his name. Illustrating Structural Racism and Its Effects The Philadelphia Negro, published in  1896, is Du Boiss first major work. The study, considered one of the first examples of scientifically framed and conducted sociology, was based on over 2,500 in-person interviews systematically conducted with African American households in the seventh ward of Philadelphia from August 1896 through December 1897. In a first for sociology, Du Bois combined his research with census data to create visual illustrations of his findings in bar graphs. Through this combination of methods, he clearly illustrated the realities of racism and how it impacted the lives and opportunities of this community, providing much-needed evidence in the fight to disprove the supposed cultural and intellectual inferiority of black people. "Double-Consciousness" and "The Veil" The  Souls of Black Folk, published in  1903, is a widely-taught collection of essays that draws on Du Boiss own experience of growing up Black in a white nation to poignantly illustrate the psycho-socio affects of racism. In chapter 1 of this book, Du Bois put forth two concepts that have become staples of sociology and race theory: double-consciousness and the veil. Du Bois used the metaphor of the veil to describe how Black people see the world differently from whites, given how race and racism shape their experiences and interactions with others. Physically speaking, the veil can be understood as dark skin, which, in our society marks Black people as different from whites. Du Bois recounts first realizing the veils existence when a young white girl refused his greeting card in elementary school:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"It dawned upon me with certain suddenness that I was different from the others†¦ shut out from their world by a vast veil.† Du Bois asserted that the veil prevents Black people from having true self-consciousness, and instead forces them to have double-consciousness, wherein they have an understanding of themselves within their families and community, but also must view themselves through the eyes of others who see them as different and inferior. He wrote: It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at ones self through the eyes of others, of measuring ones soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.   The full book, which addresses the need for reforms against racism and suggests how they might be achieved, is a short and readable 171 pages, and well worth a close read.   How Racism Prevents Critical Class Consciousness Among Workers Published in 1935,  Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880  uses historical evidence to illustrate how race and racism served the economic interests of capitalists in the Reconstruction-era southern U.S. By dividing workers by race  and fueling racism, the economic and political elite ensured that a unified class of laborers would not develop, which allowed for extreme economic exploitation of both Black and white workers. Importantly, this work is also an illustration of the economic struggle of newly freed slaves, and the roles they played in reconstructing the post-war south.