Trinity
From The Peopling of New York City
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Trinity Baptist Church
As a part of our efforts to build a website based on the African Immigrants in Staten Island, we, as a class broke up into separate groups and visited several immigrant churches. Three of us (Alexa, Kalpita, and Steve) visited the Trinity Baptist Church on Henderson Ave. in northern Staten Island, and here is our story:
The People
The members of Trinity Baptist Church come from several different places and walks of life. As a part of our observations we watched as people arrived at the church. Many seemed to walk from nearby streets, others took buses from other areas of Staten Island, while still others arrived in cars, both from New York and New Jersey.
The clothing that the congregants wore was just as diverse as where they came from. They come to church dressed in everything from jeans and sweatshirts, to traditional African attire. Primarily the older members of the congregation tended to wear the more traditional African clothing; whereas, the younger crowd tended to dress in a more "Americanized" fashion.
The Church Community
Trinity Baptist Church is made up of about forty to fifty African Immigrant members. Beyond their efforts to hold onto their roots, they also face hardships in allowing themselves to be assimilated into American culture, as it is a necessary ingredient to making their living here more comfortable. The church serves as a reassuring continuity in its members' lives. It brings those with similar ideals and ethnic backgrounds together to share ideas and cultural practices that gives their new environment a more homey feeling.
It seems these themes are not limited to just Trinity Baptist Church though. Upon class discussion and comparison of each group's church visit, we found an astounding amount of similarities between the different churches, despite their varying backgrounds. These commonalities include: The mix of either formal, casual or traditional attire found in all congregations. The proportionality of having much more woman and children present over men who are all their wives rather than individually. Perhaps the most obvious similarity between them was that each church was centered around interactive and participatory music playing, singing, and in some cases dancing. Each group discussed how the pastor was very loud, inspirational, passionate and instructive in their sermons. The parishioners all gave off a strong sense of community, they were like a close-knit supporting family to each other. On top of that they were very friendly and welcoming in having us all as visitors, and were more than eager to share their cultures, faith, and traditions with us. Yet another bond these churches shared was their youth, they were all for the most part relatively young and newly founded organizations, and they were all located in non-traditional buildings; proving a church doesn't have to look like a massive brick building with stained glass windows and an over-looking steeple. Conclusively, though the people came from different areas, each with a different story and grouped themselves according to their beliefs, they are still extremely similar, and our field visits only helped us to further understand how important a role the churches play in giving them a better sense of community, which is the main goal/mission among all of them.
Church Journals - What we thought!
After our visit to this extremely culture-centered gathering, here are a few of the opinions of us, students on what we saw, heard, and our overall experience, having had a peak into an unfamiliar world:
Going to Trinity Baptist Church was a different experience altogether. It was different than a Hindu temple, and this was expected since they are two different practices. The African church was definitely a unifying factor for Africans outside of their homeland. The families that come to the church form a larger family with those of the other members of the church.
The service started with singing prayers and it was surprising to see that there were traditional African drums, as well as a drum set and keyboard. The music was loud and engaging as the people were standing up and singing along. The choir sang and engaged the worshippers by making them clap their hands and tap their feet. It was different because they had managed to accommodate keeping some of the traditions from Africa with the traditional drum as well as dressing in the traditional attire. Even the pastor was dressed in the African garb. This was strong evidence that they tried had to maintain their roots.
During the service, the reverend spoke with much passion while talking to the people. There was a distinct pattern that was mentioned after every couple of lines of the sermon. The variable lines of “Praise the Lord” and “Hallelujah” was said which would often initiate a response from the audience as “Amen.” The message of this sermon was to set an example for others to follow. The sermon ended with prayer and announcements. At the end, it was nice to meet the people that attend the church and shaking hands with the pastor. - Kalpita
This past Sunday, we each made a trip out to our respective churches,in an effort to learn more about African immigrant communities. I came out with a greater respect and understanding of their culture and what they believe in. When we arrived, an usher standing at the door escorted us down to the second row to have a seat. They were in the middle of a song, which we would soon learn is what their time in church is primarily based on. There was a presentation of about 5 songs while we were there. One of the church-goers was kind enough to give us her book so we could read on with everyone else. There was the reading of selected text from the holy bible by both the reverend and a church-goer.
The reverend, I felt, focused his service on the topic of healthy human interaction, and leading by example. What I got from it was that he kept emphasizing how we should all act the way we expect others to act and how you cant expect people to be good if you are not good. Common phrases such as, "Praise the Lord" and "Hallelujah" were expressed throughout the whole service. There were people of all various ages, and socioeconomic classes. Some wore traditional wear while others wore business attire and even others wore casual jeans and sneakers type of clothing. The chorus included a significant portion of the church members. The pastor as well as church members all expressed their appreciation for our visit as we exited. - Alexa
When I arrived at the church I didn’t know I was there. It took me a while to realize the store on the corner was actually the church. On the outside it resembled a storefront – it was just a brick building with an awning hanging over it. The parishioners were dressed in everything from traditional African garments, to jeans and a hoodie, to a suit and tie. Old and young, I watched the people file into their church until finally we joined them. Walking in, a few people stared at us, possibly thinking we walked into the wrong place. Once we were ushered to our seats in the front the priest explained to the congregation who we were and welcomed us. When the service began it was mostly singing. One of the ladies in the next row noticed and handed me her book and pointed to where the song was up to. It was at this point that I felt so welcomed, and Alexa and myself started singing along.
Although I’m not a church person I know that the spirit that these people had was nothing like any church I had ever been to before. It seemed fun. The congregation was engaged in everything that was happening, whether singing or being preached to. ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Amen’ were shouted along with sometimes just generally noises of agreement. There was this feeling of an inside joke that seemed to exist throughout the entire service. I’m sure it stemmed from how close these people had become to each other while attending Sunday mass.
At the end of the service the priest thanked us again for coming, and welcomed us back whenever we would like. The church as a whole told us that, “Everyone is someone inside Trinity Baptist Church". - Steve