Firstunited

From The Peopling of New York City

First United Christian Church

The First United Christian Church is an African immigrant church, consisting of 80% Liberians. It is located on Staten Island, and visiting it helped us, Regina, Isabella, and Peter, in our mission of exploring African immigrants through churches and cultural centers in this particular area.

This church, although small in size, does a great deal for its people. It serves as a community, a stronghold, and a sanctuary for many. By observing an actual church service on Sunday, March 9th 2008, the unity of the church and its people became apparent. After each motivating statement made by the reverend, congregation members would exclaim, “amen!” and “hallelujah!” The call and response methods being demonstrated by the parishioners and the reverend emphasized the unity of the church. As we compared our impressions of The First United Christian Church to our fellow peers’ observations of other churches on Staten Island, primarily serving African immigrants, we found many similarities. Many of the parishioners from the different churches wore traditional African garments, most particularly the gele, a women's headwrap. Church service gives an occasion for its members to dress in their finest traditional attire. This apparel is very important to African Immigrant culture. Traditional African attire is full of colors and interesting, eye-catching designs.

The upbeat music was also common ground for all the churches; they all had a wide range of instruments from piano to bongos, along with a choir who sang along joyfully and enthusiastically. The music was very catchy and sounded similar to music you would hear if you went on a Caribbean Vacation. Members of the church encouraged us to "get into it" and dance along with everyone else which we began to do. The traditional music heard gives yet another aspect of African culture to the service, which adds to the comfort level the immigrants feel in church.

As the parishioners encouraged us to sing and dance, their genuine spirits became apparent. We didn’t receive any odd looks at First United; on the contrary, everyone seemed to make it a point to smile and welcome us to their place of worship. The reverend even included us in her sermon!

Serving as a means of keeping culture and tradition alive, the church is vital to its members. Not only do parishioners go to church to worship, but they can also find people of their own background to share their experience with. For African immigrants, the church serves as a way to keep in touch with their roots, while experiencing a new way of life. The church can also serve as a support system for its members, which is undoubtedly something most immigrants are in search of when arriving at an unknown location.

Reflecting upon our church visits

The duration of the mass was very upbeat and positive, and it was easy to see that the members of the church really enjoyed being there...Most members of the church greeted us very very warmly and told us how happy they were that we were attending the mass. The church was full with people of all ages and many small children. The people attending the service were dressed in native dress and also some in suits and dresses. Bright colors was the theme for what most wore... The entire visit was a very positive experience. -Peter

Everyone there looked so prim and proper, it was a beautiful sight..The pastor spoke many insightful words as the sermon continued. He blessed us, and everyone clapped. I was very grateful that they blessed us and included us in their prayers, without even knowing as much as our names. -Regina

Before the service began, lively music played. This music resonated in the basement and had a great effect on the church members. Every single person in the church was dancing. Even the toddlers were swaying their little heads to the rich rhythm being heard...My classmates and I were able to observe the African culture and their methods of worship first hand. Everyone welcomed us with open arms, even going as far as including us in their prayers. I would definitely embark on this journey again and am so happy I was able to partake in it! I hope everyone’s church visits were as successful as mine. -Isabella