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Christine Sorensen Mr. Borrero ENGL 1101 26 November 2012 Ethnography on the Southern Baptist Church: University Hills Baptist Church Literacy can be interpreted in many different ways among a cultures subculture. For example the Christian church has many different subcultures with in it, including the Southern Baptist church, whom would interpret parts of the Bible differently than another sector of the Christian faith. This assignment has brought me to research specifically the community of the University Hills Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. I have been conducting this research for the past month and it has consisted of my own experiences, interviews of the members, and my observations. The purpose of this ethnography is to illustrate the variety of ways that the Southern Baptist church engages in literacy by communicating to the community, and their own community through different texts. Through the experiences, interviews and observations I will illustrate the pastors, and congregations specific way of captivating and interpreting literacy in their church. Through discussing the literacy acts of the University Hills Baptist Church I intend to deeply inform a person searching for faith about the Southern Baptist church but more specifically University Hills Baptist Church and understand what they can offer. Essentially, I will explain the Southern Baptist churchs history because it is crucial to fully comprehending the process of the church as a community and their day to day operations. The Baptist church is believed by some of its members to trace their history back to New Testament times and their beliefs were among the apostles, they just did not refer to themselves as Baptists. Some of the churchs members do not agree with this and believe that around the

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17th century was when corner stone of the church was laid. In the United Sates it was Roger Williams who was critical to the establishment of the Baptist Church. He founded Providence, Rhode Island when he was looking for a place to create a safe enviroment for religious freedom. After many years Baptist churches are regulated locally and are mostly organized into unions or associations. The specific sector of the Baptist church has had differences causing them to become separated or united over different issues. In the United States the Baptist Churchs biggest issue was slavery. In 1845 the Southern Baptist Church was formed for the people whose beliefs coincide and those were the ones that were in favor of slavery (Baptist). The Baptists beliefs consist of seeing Jesus Christ as their Savior and supreme authority. A Baptist Minister in Kentucky, Tom Riner, who also serves as a Kentucky Legislature is a religious solider for this fundamental belief of the Baptist Church. Mr. Riner says, The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God (Urbina). He believes that without the Grace of God the progression of the United States would not have taken place and without the teachings of Christ the country could fail. They use the Bible to learn from the teachings of Jesus. His beliefs also come from the Baptists and that they do not believe that a church or governmental body has an authority higher than this and each congregation is sovereign of this. Their form of worship is central to the Bible. They mostly use the King James Version and the New International Version of the Bible. Some more traditional congregations use a hymnals during times of worship but their isnt a collection of prayers in a book or specific plans of worship for each Church (Baptist). However, there is a specific message for the Southern Baptist community that the Northern, or American Baptist community does not necessarily abide by. That message is posted on their website the Southern Baptist Convention. That message reads,

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"Baptists cherish and defend religious liberty, and deny the right of any secular or religious authority to impose a confession of faith upon a church or body of churches. We the principles of soul competency and the priesthood of believers, affirming our liberty in Christ and our accountability to each other under the Word of tist Faith). This message indicates that the Southern Baptist Church sees the Word of God or the Bible as their primary resource for the way that they develop their relationship with God and the way that Southern Baptists as a church develop a strong community. This message has helped the Southern Baptist Church to grow in to the largest Baptist organization and the Baptist Church into the second largest Christian sector in the United States. Only following the Roman Catholic sector of the Christian faith. Although, the church was growing rapidly before that. An article states that, The centralized organization of the Southern Baptists has been credited with aiding the amazing growth of the convention following a period of recovery after the devastation of the American Civil War (186165). After the Civil War the Southern Baptist church grew to large numbers including many minorities. However the Southern Baptist Convention did not officially denounce slavery until 1995 (Southern). None the less, people saw relief and hope in an optimistic sense that the community of a church could provide. The process of a Southern Baptist church service differs from church to church, however it always includes some kind of song worship whether it be from a hymnal or a contemporary band, and a message or sermon given by the Preacher, Pastor or Minister. Today the Southern Baptist Convention is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee (Baptist). The site that I have researched is located in Charlotte, North Carolina across the street from the University of North Carolina of Charlotte. It was originally located in a rougher part of town in Charlotte and then moved to the University area. Its location has created an abundance honor

together both God... (Bap-

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of new members especially within the college age community due to their advertisements for their program, Charlotte Reach. A week at the University Hills Baptist Church is filled with many activities that are listed on the church bulletin that is a trifold pamphlet. This pamphlet is distributed to the congregation on Sunday mornings as they enter the sanctuary. The pamphlet has the songs that the congregation will sing during the service and an agenda of the service. The back of the pamphlet says the weeks activities and as well as the more important months activities. A good amount of these activities include the pastor. The current pastor is Dr. Coye Still III and has been the Pastor there since 2004. He has been preaching since 1987 and has served as a missionary in several places including India with his family. Still grew up as a Pastors child and was really inspired by his father and his legacy as a Pastor. That was not the only factor that brought him to his profession. He had a Christian renewal when he was 18 years of age and devoted his life to Christ. He asked himself, How do I serve God in my life? He found that his purpose in serving God was to preach and help people comprehend the Word of God by sharing his compassion for Christ. In order to do this a community of Christians must communicate orally and read the scriptures of the Bible (Still, Coye). These are all acts of literacy that are pivotal to comprehending what it really is to be a Christian in his eyes. The concept of preaching in the sense of Christianity is helping an assembled group of people understand the Bible. The Pastor at University Hills Baptist Church uses many different ways to convey literacy to a wide range of people to try and reach everyone with the Word of God. Still explains that it is a process to develop an effective way to deliver the sermon or message to the congregation each Sunday morning. The essential step is picking a topic in the scrip-

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ture that connects to the people of the congregation. Not by connecting the scripture to the peoples daily life, but the central purpose of connecting the peoples life to the scripture. He begins by going over and making sure he understands the scripture completely. He is able to understand scripture completely because he is able to use other resources. These resources include study Bibles and commentaries and the general ideas of hearing other sermons. He does not use their sermons directly but their sermons sometimes help him gain a better understanding of the Word for himself. Still also has an understanding of the Greek and Hebrew language and that helps him comprehend the Old and New Testament as a primary source before the Bible. Then he plans an example to convey to the congregation. This can be a variety of things. For example, if the passage is a story he will use a story that will connect with someone in the audience, such as a college student, a professor, or a mother. If the passage is a set of instructions then he will stay consistent with the passage on that as well and will give examples of a set of instructions. This is vital to reaching even the most illiterate person of the Christian faith. He stresses that he is not a preacher that is there to entertain, but there to help the congregation understand the passage. Stills tone is often energetic and serious but never intentionally humorous. He hopes that when he delivers the sermon that the passage guides the energy he delivers. His seriousness is a joyful seriousness always stressing in the rejoice sense that the Bible delivers. Still wants to convey a tone that he is on your side. He does not view him self as any better than someone else in the congregation but as a fellow traveler and he is not afraid to tell someone the truth of the scripture even if it will bother someone (Still, Coye). My observations of the Sunday services support this when he walks around the sanctuary greeting the members with a smile on his face and never looking down on a member. This is an example of something that Still does that supports the mission statement of the Southern Baptist Convention (Baptist Faith). Still emphasizes that the

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Word of God is the Word of God and nothing else, it is not meant to be implied or applied to fit someones life. The texts of the Bible are the way someone should live and not the text to fit your life. As a community the congregation engages in literacy in a variety of ways. For example, with music. Despite the fact that Pastor Still is not there to entertain, the music during the service does a good job at that. The music that is sung during the service is almost always connected to Stills sermons. He gives the Pastor of Worship at University Hills Baptist Church a short summary of what his sermon is going to be for that coming Sunday. The music starts at a broad focus mostly focusing on salvation in general and then it becomes very focused on the sermon at the end of the service. Outside of the service there are many things that the congregation does to entertain in an evangelical way. University Hills Baptist Church holds a Global Cafe that invites international students from UNCC and their families to dinner where they help work on their English and develop a better understanding of being a Christian. They currently have about 80 people that are recurring members of the Global Cafe and they are mostly of Asian decent. Due to their location in the University area of Charlotte, University Hills Baptist Church is a prime location for this type evangelism. This is an example of the oral communication that made the Christian faith as strong as it is today. In the first century oral communication was the sole way that people learned about Jesus and the Christian faith (Baptist General). As a result communicating with the international community in Charlotte creates a deep commitment to the text of the Bible for the international community because of the relationships they build. There is also the knowledge they gain from the oral communication and the aid they were given with understanding English. This also supports the Southern Baptist mission statement of spreading the Word of God (Baptist Faith).

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Within the community of the congregation at University Hills Baptist Church their are many ways that the members use literacy to comprehend the Gospel in their daily lives. On Sunday morning, prior to the formal church service, most people of the congregation attend Sunday school. This includes a type of socratic seminar of the a scripture in the Bible. Regular members of Sunday school are able to obtain a work book. There are a variety work books that are distributed to people according their level of knowledge of the Bible. Some members have picture books, and some books have thick deep concepts with in them. The members literary knowledge of the Word of God is a measurement in deciding what work book they will work with during their Sunday school (Still, Coye). During the service a strong majority of the members participate in the musical part of worshiping. After about three to four songs that slowly reach the focus of the days sermon the Pastor comes to the podium and begins to preach. Some of the middle aged to elderly members of the congregation break out their notebooks to take notes. A wide age range of members have their Bibles out to follow along with the Pastor. During his sermon their is a wide range of reaction to what he is saying. Some people are saying Amen. Some members are yawning. Nevertheless, the sermon is clearly reaching a majority of people because they are engaged in resources to help understand the Word of God and increase their literary knowledge of Jesus. During an interview with the Pastors son Seth Still, I asked if he, a college aged student, brings his Bible to church and why. He answers that he does, so that he can follow along with the reading because it helps him connect to what the sermon is conveying. He is most engaged with the message of the pastor when he is able to visualize the message with examples and sees how they connect to every day life. Seth looks to the Bible for encouragement on a daily basis. One of the challenges he expresses of community in church is the gossip that is created among the mem-

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bers. However he recognizes that the church is a family and he can ask even a nosy member to pray for him in times of despair (Still, Seth). The church also helps others in times of despair providing shelters and food for people in need. Not only does the community of University Hills Baptist Church provide physical things for peoples needs but also the textual evidence in the Bible for encouragement to help expand the literacy of the Christian faith throughout their community. The Southern Baptist faith believes that the Bible is the primary source to gaining the best understanding of what it really means to be a Christian. This literary act is what has made the Southern Baptist faith the strong and powerful force it is today in the United States. Through my experiences, interviews, and observations the University Hills Baptist Church has proven to be a great example of the Southern Baptist Church according to the Southern Baptist Conventions website. My research has also expressed the importance of literacy in a church and how without a clear understanding of it the church would not be able to move smoothly. I expect that the audience of this ethnography has gained a clearer and deeper understanding of the Southern Baptist Church and what it really means to be a Christian to a Baptist. Finally, I also hope that if the reader is searching for faith that they try out the site, The University Hills Baptist Church.

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Works Cited "BAPTIST." Religions of the World. 2004. eLibrary. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. Baptist Faith and Message (Southern Baptist Convention). eLibrary. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. "Baptist General Conference." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. "Southern Baptist Convention." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. Still, Coye. Personal Interview. 25 Nov. 2012 Still, Seth. Personal Interview. 16 Nov. 2012 Urbina, Ian. "Lawmaker in Kentucky Mixes Piety and Politics." New York Times (New York, NY). 04 Jan 2009: A12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 05 Nov 2012.

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