Ethnic Church Observation

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...