Ethnic Church Observation
Go to a church service that serves a specific ethnicity other than your own and, if possible, one that uses another language. Spend at least an hour, more if possible, observing the setting. What do you notice about the way the members communicate? How close do they stand when they are talking? Do they touch each other? What does what they wear communicate about them? If you get a chance to eat with them, how are the foods and other items presented in ways that seem unusual or different to you? Watch and listen to the people. What gestures do they use? Do they seem to know when and how to do things that you do not know? Write an essay of 500-750 words about the experience. Where did you go? Who went with you? How long did you stay? What did you notice, especially about the way the people interacted? To what do you attribute the differences you saw? Reflect on how much this experience stretched your comfort zone and how this observation could affect your intercultural communication. Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines, an abstract is not required.
Ethnic Church Observation
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I went to a Korean Church at Calvin Theological Seminary in Michigan with a Korean friend. I attended 3 weekday services at six o’clock in the morning each lasting for one hour and one Sunday service. Male and female members stream into the auditorium together and choose to sit far apart from each other in a scattered manner across the venue. The weekday services were held at the seminary auditorium and I noticed that only one seminarian would take to the podium on the three days. He would lead a song and a Bible reading session followed by a sermon in Korean. At some point in the service, a man would walk and switch off the lights to my astonishment on the first day. I realized that Koreans prefer praying in dimmed light for privacy because they adopt varying postures while praying. I also noticed that as soon the lights went off all the members begin to pray aloud. They took different positions while praying with some standing, lying on the floor or kneeling. Some groan, cry, sing, whisper and speak while praying. Members then begin leaving at their own pleasure after 20-30 minutes of prayer.
During the Sunday church service, they sat close to each other but children had their separate service. The would stand close to each other when conversing and culture and would refer to each other as brother, sister, uncle, aunts, grandfather and grandmother depending on the age and gender which suggested their strong collectivist culture. They would also hold and touch each other when communicating as their non-verbal cues play a...