Archive

For class, we were to bring in an "archive" related to our project topic. Being a very electronic-based society, most of the history of the Axis Church is archived online. I mentioned in an earlier post that the Axis sends out a weekly newsletter with announcements about what's going on in the community. Personally, I save every email that I get, and so I pulled up an archive of emails sent to me by the Axis over the year and a half that I've been attending. There are 140 emails saved in the folder.

So what does this tell me about my culture? For one, it tells me how the Axis has progressed. You can see changes in newsletter layout, changes in the content, changes in church structure, all made known in these emails. You can see trends of worship songs being played, trends of what our pastors use to encourage people in the emails, etc. It brings me a lot of joy actually see where the Axis has come; to connect different periods of history in the church with different periods of email activity.

Response to Interview

In conducting this first interview, I feel more confident about where I want my project to go. As I was planning what questions to ask the Axis congregation and what questions to ask the Axis pastor, I chose a few general prompts of conversation to share between both parties. So, during the interview, it came to mind that it would be interesting to compare responses between the congregation and the pastor and see what things line up with each other.

One of these general questions involved the relationship between pastor and role model. When I asked my interviewee if he thought a pastor should be a role, he replied, "Definitely, they're supposed to be a role model, 100%. Paul in Corinthians says, 'Be imitators of me,' and then also later in another book, it says, 'Be imitators of God.' So really, being a pastor, you're a huge role model because you are someone who people are looking at as a Christian, and as someone who knows what they're talking about; you hold a lot of responsibility in being an image-bearer of God."

This is a great response. I now plan on taking this answer and comparing it with what the Axis pastor believes to be the answer. I'll be looking for similar words being used, similar philosophies, similar references to Scripture, etc. I'm eager to see what relates in a positive way.

My interviewee used a bit of insider language during our time together. Some words/phrases that were used: "sermon," "disciple," "the Great Commission," and "gospel."

First Interview

Click here for audio of the interview

I had my first project-related interview today with a regular Axis church attender. He has been going to the Axis for over a year and feels very at home in the body. I'm keeping him anonymous.

My field notes are pretty illegible, so instead of taking a picture and uploading it, I'll paraphrase and type my notes in here. The audio clip above is the complete interview, so all of this information is taken from our 10-minute conversation.

WHAT IS A PASTOR? | oversees, looks out for church, over spiritual wellbeing of church
QUALITIES? | deeply in love with Jesus, leader, organized, run things
ROLES/DUTIES? | Preparing sermons, building disciples (see leaders in people - Great Commission), delegate duties, structure of church

EXPERIENCE WITH PASTORS? | 18 years old, pastor was behind-the-scenes, only on stage, only on Sunday, next church: pastor way more personal, engaging

ROLE MODEL? | 100% supposed to be role model, Paul says, "Be imitators of me" and God, strong person, strong Christian

AXIS PASTOR - QUALITIES? | personal, talking, loves community and neighborhood, coaches basketball in neighborhood, great guy
ROLES? | living out what he preaches, sharing gospel, spend time with people

HOW HAS HE INFLUENCED YOU? | every week - sermons influence me, truth in Bible, makes me wanna go out into community, can see the benefits of this
AND IN THE CHRISTIAN WALK? | appreciation for journaling, note-taking, underlining, engaging more

So there it is in a nutshell - I'm looking forward to interviewing more people from the Axis and especially the pastor himself.

Mapping Exercise

Since for my project I'm researching the influence of a pastor on his congregation, I decided to create and map out a "chart of influence" within the church.

(I noted at the top, "this map doesn't necessarily reflect what ACTUALLY exists, because the church is so differing, diverse, and vast, but rather, what I think it SHOULD look like.)

Firstly, the three inner rings: the ring on the top left represents the things a pastor can teach; it doesn't represent the pastor himself, but his influence upon people. The ring on the top right represents what a public or published theologian can teach. The ring below those two represents what a congregation or other members of the body-of-Christ can teach. The way the rings connect shows that all three can teach each other and learn from each other. If I put an X in the space where the upper-left and lower ring hook together, it means that a pastor influences his congregation while at the same time the congregation influences their pastor.

Finally, the outer ring. Even though all three of these entities are teaching each other and learning from each other, they all are included in the outer ring of the Holy Bible, meaning that the Bible solely teaches and those who read it learn from it. When the other three entities learn from it, then they too can go out and teach, but not to the extent that the Bible can, for the Bible is a living, breathing Word.

So, it's a kind of confusing sketch, but it makes a little sense to me and can help me in my research.

Church Culture Glossary

There are two sections of "insider language" that define the Axis Church. One is text from the Bible, a universal language known by all Christians, no matter where they live and worship. The other is made up of terms specific to the Axis Church, an evangelical church.

BIBLE GLOSSARY:

- New Testament: books about or centered on the ministry of Jesus Christ, comprised of narratives and letters.
- Old Testament: the collection of biblical books highlighting the involvement of God in the Israelites before the birth of Christ.
- Gospel: the "good news," God sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins and bring us eternal salvation.
- atonement: Jesus as a substitute, to clean us from our sins.
- church: the body of Christ, all Christians are bound together by Christ and are thus members of a universal church.
- prayer: communication with God through Jesus Christ, verbal, silent, in groups, etc.

AXIS GLOSSARY:

- Acts 29: the network under which the Axis operates. It trained and financially aided its pastor.
- Church-planting: the act of encouraging people to form local church communities.
- missionary: the Axis believes that all Christians are missionaries for Christ, and entrusted with sharing the gospel to their communities.

(to be continued)

Interview Exercise - Cohesion/Coherence Revision

For our in-class interview exercise, I chose not to ask questions related to my topic. I was not prepared to do so, nor did I think that my topic-related questions would pertain to my interviewee, Alex, who doesn't attend the church that I'm studying. This being the case, I decided to ask a few questions about something we had talked about in my Christian Ethics class: the surrounding areas/neighborhoods around Belmont.

(I switched the paragraph so that Alex, the interviewee, was not in the main sentence.)

My main question was "What do you think about Belmont's position/influence in the surrounding communities of Edgehill/Melrose/Hillsboro?" In addition, I prepared a few smaller questions to support the main one. Some of them I used, some of them I did not. They were, "How would you describe the area around Belmont?", "Do you feel safe/enjoy it/know it well?", "Are you aware of the things Belmont is doing in the community?", and "Are you aware of the racial/economic makeup of surrounding communities?" All of these questions, I thought, built up to the main question.

(I added a concluding sentence.)

Firstly, Alex told me that he doesn't spend a lot of time around Belmont when not on campus for class/soccer (with the exception of the Belmont Blvd area near campus). When I asked him about the Edgehill neighborhood, one of the first things he mentioned was the "blidget" (a crude combination of black and midget), a well-known resident of the area who is commonly seen at the intersection of 12th and Wedgewood. Alex also knew that Edgehill was a "ghetto" area, primarily African-American. When I asked Alex the main question, he said to his knowledge, Belmont is doing good things in the area. He did mention that he thought it was wrong forcing local houseowners out of their houses, but he also said it was less devastating if Belmont compensated for moving costs to the owners. Alex alluded to Belmont as a growing university and said, "We need the property."

It was a good interview - I don't think Belmont has been as accommodating with the surrounding neighborhoods as they've made out to be, or as students understand it to be, but I think it's important that we do know what surrounds us and get to know what that is.

Interview Exercise

I paired up with Alex for the interview exercise we did in class. I decided not to ask questions related to my topic, because I wasn't really prepared to do so, nor did I think it would relate too much to someone who doesn't attend the church that I'm studying. So I asked a few questions about something we had talked about in my Christian Ethics class - the surrounding areas/neighborhoods around Belmont.

My main question was, "What do you think about Belmont's position/influence in the surrounding communities of Edgehill/Melrose/Hillsboro?" I had a few smaller questions that I prepared beneath that one - some I asked, some I didn't. Those were, "How would you describe the area around Belmont?", "Do you feel safe/enjoy it/know it well?", "Are you aware of the things Belmont is doing in the community?", and "Are you aware of the racial/economic makeup of surrounding communities?"

First off, Alex told me that he doesn't spend a lot of time around Belmont when not on campus for class/soccer (with the exception of the Belmont Blvd area near campus). When I asked him about Edgehill, one of the first things he mentioned was the "blidget" (a crude combination of black and midget), a well-known resident of the area who is commonly seen at the intersection of 12th and Wedgewood. Alex also knew that Edgehill was a "ghetto" area, primarily African-American. When I asked Alex the main question, he said to his knowledge, Belmont is doing good in the area. He did mention that he thought it was wrong forcing local houseowners out of their houses, but he also said it was more acceptable if Belmont compensated for moving costs to the owners. Alex alluded to Belmont as a growing university and said, "We need the property."

It was a good interview - I don't think Belmont has been as accommodating with the surrounding neighborhoods as they've made out to be, or as students understand it to be, but I think it's important that we do know what surrounds us and get to know what that is.