Murphys Landings Community Church - Essay Example

Murphy’s Landing’s Community Church In this particular paper I will focus on The Community Church that is located in Murphy’s Landing (CCML). My decision to focus on this particular church was informed by my neighbor who is a member at the aforementioned church and also because it is a church centered on family values and stresses the importance of the family unit in society. Also the church is the perfect area to conduct my assignment as the community here is welcoming and open hence readily willing to provide me with the information that I will require. The openness and welcoming nature of the church is captured in their website that acknowledges that visiting a new church can be quite an intimidating experience, and, therefore, it is the objective to make any visitor to feel welcomed and at home as much as possible. I had previously visited this church in 2013 and had gathered quite a considerable amount of information from those two visits. The members of the church participate in intense praise and worship sessions. The worship takes various different forms in the church and include hymns of praise, prayers sessions, conduction of praise sessions together with the accompaniment of instruments such as the guitar, tambourine. This also includes the creation of a warm and welcoming environment as done by the welcoming committee at the door that welcome the worshippers with a handshake and a warm smile. Their services start at 9.30 am each Sunday morning which are also available as podcasts for downloading and online listening. There are different types of services to serve the different age groups that exist in the church. Therefore they have different services for the adults as in the parents, the young adults and for the smaller children. The atmosphere at CCML is a very friendly one and I was constantly getting introductions to individuals that were ready to welcome me and offer their assistance in incorporating me into the church community. I had the chance of meeting a senior member of the church who has a son that works with one of the biggest firms in Saudi Arabia. We exchanged our contact information promising to assist each other if the need to do so ever arose. I started to get to know the operation of the church and its core mission within the society. The mission of the organization is phrased as knowing, growing and loving. The church’s mission is to worship together as a community made up of a group of closely knit members, who grow and obtain spiritual maturity through discipleship, and education. The mission of the Church is to also communicate the love of Christ to the world through local outreaches and global missions. The church itself is located at 7401S. Harding Street Indianapolis, IN 4621 and is surrounded by a largely middle class community. CCML is an independent community church that was started as a subsidiary church of Community Church of Greenwood in 1996.Memebership is not necessary for one to attend their events. Most of the members of the church seem to come from the upper class community as was evident from their clothing, automobiles and their general presentation. Most of the attendants of the church are whites of different ages. The appearance of the church is quite a modern one. At the entrance of the church one is greeted by a large table that has some reading materials placed on it. There are portraits of Jesus that have been placed on the walls all over the church. Inside the church there is a specific room that has been described as the sacred space where members gather in order to perform rituals. Inside this very room there are chairs that face towards the direction of a stage that has an assortment of instruments on it including drums, pianos, and electric guitars among others. The room also had a large cross at the back and had two large screens on each side of the room for the displaying of lyrics during the praise and worship sessions. In my opinion the most holy place in the church was located in between the stage and the audience as this is where the holy water and sacrament was located in the church. Ronnie Reiss is the worship director at the church and leads the worship sessions every Sunday. The worship sessions comprises of a mixture of contemporary and traditional songs. The bases of the sermons are derived from the Bible with the speakers trying to impart practical and relevant lessons to the audience. The church is run under the guidance of the senior pastor Paul Erny in coordination with the worship director. Pastor Paul has served in the church for over thirty years. He started out as a pastor in Pennsylvania for eight years, and then he became a missionary for thirteen years before landing his current stint as the senior pastor at CCML since April 2003.Ronnie Reiss has been serving as worship director from the winter of 2003 to present. CCML has a system of small groups that are known as Life groups made up of four or more members. The hierarchy structure of the church comprises the senior pastor, the worship director and the youth director, Mr. Brandon Awrey. The church operates under the Biblical leadership system of Eldership. The pastoral staff handles the day to day operations of the church. Apart from the weekly services the church organizes various activities throughout the year such as Easter egg extravaganzas, guest speakers, mission trips, worship team practice, community friendship Sunday, among many others. An hour before the service starts members of the congregation gather around and chat about day to day activities such as school, work business among other topics. The service was organized with some help from some of the youths and adults in the congregation. The church service is usually led by the worship director who usually leads the congregation in two songs each being around 10 minutes long. After this the senior pastor leads the church in prayer with the members of the congregation repeating after him. After this the members of the congregation went forward one by one in order to receive the piece of biscuit that represents the body of Christ. I noticed the emotional aspect of the worship and prayer in the church. The prayer sessions are highly emotional with individuals holding hands and hugging during the prayer sessions. The main narrative in the church centers on the story of Jesus. People share their experiences on how they came to know about salvation and relate this to the story about Jesus. The church also places grate emphasis on the Ten Commandments. It forms a basis of their legal and ethical practices. The senior pastor talks about the Ten Commandments and how it is essential in the lives of the congregation. It also forms the basis of the doctrinal and philosophical dimensions of the church. The church believes that Jesus is the Son of God who was crucified for the sins of the world. They also believe in the resurrection of Jesus as the assurance of eternal life for a Christian. In general I have learnt a lot with regard to being a Christian and Christianity in general from the community at CCML.I was greatly surprised at how they treated me especially with me being a Muslim. As a Muslim also there are aspects of their worship that I found to be quite strange such as the praying and their singing. As a Muslim I had never before been a participant of any ritual activity and in this aspect this church was different from any other church that I had visited before. Most of the individuals in the congregation are relatives and maybe this helped to foster the strong emotional connection that I felt within the church especially during the times of prayers. I am quite glad that I had this experience as I made strong connections with individuals from the church and we still communicate to this very day through mails, cards and the email. Before I left they gave me a copy of the New Testament and The Story of Jesus to further help me in my research. They made me feel as if I was one of them and that my presence was not only welcomed but that I was an important guest in their midst. Clearly by them facilitating this experience for me their goal of knowing God through Faith in Christ, growing in faith and spiritual maturity through the provision of opportunities for spiritual growth and serving of others unselfishly as Christ did was achieved. The church is equipping and preparing for service by offering various opportunities to serve within the church and in the community in general. Works Cited Read More