So, this past week, I went to a Korean church. Originally, I went for the purposes of a school assignment, however, after attending it, I wish I had thought of going before a professor assigned it. Because of this experience, I strongly recommend being intentional about doing activities outside of your ethnic group.

I was super nervous at first as I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I will say that I went with the expectation that the church service was going to be just like most American services that I have attended in my life.

At the beginning, I was afraid that they would notice an outsider and wonder why I was there, however, that was not the case. The people did notice my presence, however, they were very kind and immediately asked if I would be needing a translator. As I had never been to a service that was spoken in a different language, that was definitely a new experience for me.

The songs they sang were mostly ones I had never heard of before, though they were sung in Korean, there were English words on the screen to follow along. Though I was challenging to sing along, it still was a beautiful sight. During the second song, Heart of Worship, the second verse and chorus was sung in English. Of course this was not something that I had expected, and since there were a few other individuals there who were not Korean, I know it was a surprise to hear the singer singing in English and all of us being able to join along with the congregation.

When it came time for the sermon, one of the individuals who was helping with the slides for the songs stepped out into the lobby and acted as the translator for that portion of the evening. As I mentioned, this is an experience that I had never been through before, and I found it humbling to be having to rely on another to understand what was going on.

It was during this portion of the service that things deviated from what I would consider to be a normal church service. In almost every service I have been to, after the service, a song is sung and there is a time for an alter call. At this church, they did not do that. The service simply concluded after the pastor finished praying at the end of his sermon.

At the end of the service, all the individuals there, including the pastor, came up the all of us to say hi. They were all so warm and friendly. They asked about what we thought of the service. The gentleman who lead the praise and worship invited us to a college ministry they hold each week. In addition to that the pastor invited us to a party that the church was having in a couple of weeks. They even included us in a photo that they took of the congregation after someone had returned from a trip of some kind.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. Everyone there truly was so warm, friendly, and helpful. They were very open to people of different ethnic groups being there, and didn't stop them from including us in there evening as if we had been there for a lifetime. If anyone were to ask me if they should attend a church service of a different ethnic group. It was a wonderful experience and allowed me to see how different ethnic groups hold a church service.