THESIS
Oftentimes the church is considered to be a sanctuary-- a place of worship for those of like minded people. Originally, the purpose of the church was used as a gathering place for people to escape persecution and to find people who accept their beliefs in order for them to continue to be strong in their faith. Rather than going out and reaching others as the main purpose of a church, they remained available for others to come to them willingly. In this way, the Open Door Christian Fellowship participates in this manner, rather than going out and seeking others.
DESCRIPTION
Open Door Christian Fellowship, with its main location at 51586 County Road 5 N, Elkhart, Indiana, is a church located out in the middle of nowhere. Many of the off-roads do not have signs, and unless coming directly off the interstate or state highway, it is quite difficult to find it unless one is familiar with the area. There are a lot of farms and not a lot of residential areas. In fact, the only residential area that I noticed was the one that my friend lived in and the apartments located next door. If coming by Elkhart Memorial High School, there are a number of misleading signs that say "church" and street signs that lead to nowhere. There are also forks in the road where there are no street signs. When a person is about two minutes away from the church, there is a questionable looking gas station to act as a landmark.
Considering that each time I visited the church I had a different reception based on I was accompanied by, I cannot give a description of a typical Sunday service. I can, however, give a number of details on the basic layout and schedule of the church itself as I understand it. If a person is asked to babysit the youth leader's children, they must arrive at around 8:45 AM. Because there are people already there setting up the stage for the musicians, I would assume that the pastor opens the doors no later than 8:15 AM because there is a lot of equipment, in addition to the fact that the door needs to be open for the youth leader to get in. Though the youth leader is the pastor's daughter, she is at least 25 years of age, so I am assuming that she has her own home and lives some distance away from the church. People pour into the church around 9:15 and casually communicate with one another before walking into the sanctuary at 9:30. There's a bit of time for praise and worship with a live band before moving onto prayer, communion, and then the sermon. After the first song, the children are excused from the sanctuary and moved to various areas of the church for their own services. Communion is done by people breaking off their own pieces of bread and dunking them into chalices filled with wine. The youth leader generally announces when the pastor is ready to begin service. Church always ends no later than 11:00, as dictated by the pastor, in order to ensure that people are able to use the rest of their day in a productive manner.
The type of people that attend the church are essentially all middle class Caucasian people. In order to be more specific, most of the people there are related, according to my inside source. The pastor, his wife, and their relatives are all ministry leaders. The pastor's children, as well as his in-laws, also have positions as spiritual guidance counselors or teachers. Branching from the in-laws and siblings are all aunts, uncles, grandparents, and adopted children. According to a program from the last service I attended (St. Patrick's Day), there were about 90 in total. The church is slowly growing as it begins to expand its ministry to outside its own walls, but for the most part, the population is about the same. The only cultural diversity include an African American boy who was adopted, an African American woman who works with another member of the church, and a Latino family whose matriarch acts as a nanny for an additional member of the church. No names were included.
STRUCTURE, MISSION, AND VISION
The pastor of the church is Dennis Chaput, and sometimes his wife, Sharon, stands in for him. The associate pastors are Matt & Julie as well as Matthew & Kate. Matt and Kate are Dennis's children. A woman named Jillian Melnick, who was born in England and immigrated to Indiana, has the title of "prophetic life minister." She stands in when the pastors and associate pastors are unavailable to preach and handles some of the outside ministry programs.
As part of a non-denominational church, it does not belong to part of a specific structure. That being said, the founding pastor was able to create his own mission statement that does not have to correlate to any of the other Evangelical Protestant churches that might be located around the area. The mission statement of the church, which can be found on any publications made by the establishment as well as on the website, says: "Cultivating a supernatural Jesus-culture that values God's Presence, honors His people, and advances His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven." Interests of the church include ministering to hundreds as soon as it has enough money and people; ministering to married couples, children, families, and adult singles; extending its ministry by "being Jesus in the Michiana region"; and helping people to enter a loving and interactive relationship with Jesus.
The outreach portion of the church focuses a lot on the participants already attending Open Door, and includes programs such as the ministry team, classes (Bible study / book club), children's ministry, youth ministry, "The Well" and prayer chain. The part of outreach that focuses on reaching the community and contacting them personally to bring people the Word of God relies on a program the church calls "blessing teams," in which businesses can call the church if they would like a group of people to visit them and to pray over them.
CONCLUSION
Because the church is so focused on maintaining the religion and worship within its own walls, I think outreach and missionary deeds are a little difficult for them. In addition, with everyone in the church being connected to one another in some way or another, they all have a similar mindset, and so it is difficult for the church to look outside the box and find out other ways of how it can act as a contact zone. In addition, with such an obscure location, how can people find them? Rather than drawing people in with the Light of God, they simply act as an Open Door-- letting the light seep through and hope someone from the darkness sees it and is curious enough to come inside. But I guess the biggest success is that whenever they are ready to go out and spread their wings to act as a contact zone, they'll have a large number of people that are well prepared for their mission of helping others.
Really great take on a church that is probably often portrayed positively. Your criticisms seemed reasonable and based on facts, but it would have been nice to hear some of the positive things the church is doing. I am not arguing with your facts, but I am sure that they are doing something right (i hope.) I did find their mission statement to be extraordinarily puzzling though, considering it made no direct mention of outreach. My own church, however, claims to stress outreach but does little. At least Open Door is not being hypocritical in that sense.
ReplyDeleteKiernan,
DeleteI totally agree that my post does seem a little grim...but at the same time, it's hard for me to write things about them if they aren't willing to share with me their successes, you know?
And in regards to your home church, I agree. My church has the word "missionary" in its title, yet with such a specific word, we aren't really living up to that name or expectation. At least with Open Door, it's kind of telling you up front that the door is open and if you're interested what's going on, you'll need to step inside and grow with the people there. It's an interesting approach.
Clever titling, Marlie, you are certainly making efforts towards giving your creative writing skills a work-out.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Do you think that this Open Door organization would be MORE or LESS of an effective contact zone if it was not nondenominational?
I think that it is catering to the community in a way by not being a denomination, since that is the most prevalent religious affiliation. But, if it wasn't in that category, I think it might draw in others...I did notice that there were signs to churches nearby, but considering that they were in similar locations and had similar appearances, I'm assuming that they are from the same faith. Um... so to answer your question, I think it could possibly be a contact zone if it was a specific type of church because it would draw in others looking to be like minded. In the same way, though, because Open Door is located in a kind of rural area, I worry if people would be able to find this church in the first place, thus it wouldn't necessarily be effective. I think, too, that a reason why a lot of new people aren't joining. In my original draft of this blog post, I mentioned how my contact said, "This way, only the good people find it." With that sort of mindset, I think the church purposely picked this location and perhaps isn't even looking to be a contact zone. However, for the sake of trying to make the church look much more optimistic, I decided to omit such a quotation.
DeleteMarlie, I feel as though you are very negative about this church. Somehow, it doesn't fit what you portray as the perfect church (whatever that is). Your opinion intersects in a lot of places. This first begins in your thesis when the church is downsized for having open arms and welcoming people. From experience, I know that some people feel as though Jesus is pushed down their throats, Christians are too excited and loud, and so fourth. From what I can tell, I think that this church is excellent at understanding that being evangelical may not be the approach that is best for them.
ReplyDeleteOlivia,
DeleteIt's not that I'm purposely trying to be negative. I also agree with your statement on how people are hesitant on going to church. However, the church is very evangelical and is very much the type that "Jesus runs your life and you better accept it." They are Bible-thumpers, in every sense of the phrase. If you were looking to avoid that, this is not the church to go to. This is also a loud church with a live band. My main problem is that, as Sam says, it's really hard to be accepted there if you don't know the right people. In fact, if you don't have a connection, you will not be noticed, and you will be put in "the fire room" without being guided to any of the services. I was refused interviews because the church is very private, and they felt that they didn't really know me until the fifth or sixth time I visited. Going again off of what Sam said, in ordered to be welcomed into the church, a person would have to really work at it and be dedicated and show up to all the events. By joining this church, you enter into a new culture. And like a lot of cultures, they are wary of outsiders. That's why I think that their "open door" approach rather than a more "available contact zone" one is so interesting, and that's why I continued to visit.
I remember when you were talking about how when visiting this church, if you weren't with you particular friend you didnt feel very welcome into the church. I understand where you are coming from because my church is the same way. I feel this church is very puzzling because they have an open door policy, but are not open to everyone who comes into the church. I feel if you wanted to become part of this church you would have to work your way into joining and be apart of the church on a daily basis to be welcomed, instead of being welcomed when you first walk in.
ReplyDeleteMarlie: Your church experience sounds… interesting, to say the least. I, personally, have never encountered a church with such a disinterest in attracting new members or serving in the community. It seems odd that they have a program where businesses are free to call and ask to be blessed by a “blessing team,” when they have no other real form of outreach. Judging by your experience at the church, although it may be an “open door,” it seems like they will judge to see if you are fit to become a part of their contact zone. So, in that sense, people are free to come in, but it is not a guarantee that they will be accepted.
ReplyDelete