2nd Field Paper by Rumin Zhang

I am reporting on two of the three local churches that I visited on the first two Sundays of Advent. The first is the Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi, Metuchen, NJ. The second is Abundant Life Christian Center, Edison, NJ. The former, a Roman Catholic Church, is of high grid and high group, thus hierarchical in cosmology, whereas the latter, a charismatic church, is of low grid and low group, thus individualistic. The diagram below depicts their approximate relative gird/group locations in their cosmology space.

(diagram omitted due to technical problem)

(1) The Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi
The very high grid dynamics was palpably evident as I twice checked myself in the 45-year old cathedral (of 125-year history) to be a notes-taking, semi-participant observer. Throughout the Mass, I clearly sensed the high orderliness of ceremonial, scri-pted formal liturgy, hierarchical organization and role-differentiated structure. For example, I was impressed by the rich display of symbols (including painted glass windows, statues, crucifix), the signs of cross and peace, the penitential rite, the lighting of Advent candles, the kneeling down, the rituals of holy sacraments such as baptism and Eucharist, and the scri-pted formal liturgy read word for word. The exact order of Mass was printed on the bulletin book, prominently featuring on top of the cover the names and titles in the exact order of the diocese Bishop, the Rector, the Vicars and deacons. The front stage or pulpit platform was seated according to these titles. The Bishop’s seat in the Cathedral to the left is reserved for none other than the Bishop. The Bishop oversees the diocese of Metuchen, comprising 108 parishes in four counties. The role play in the Mass (who did what and when and where) was orchestrated precisely, orderly and seamlessly. The roles of clergy cannot be mixed up with each other or laity. I was told by a long-time parishioner (43 years and counting) that the liturgical contents of all 52 weeks Mass services of any year were carefully scri-pted in advance, word by word, by the Vatican. This is said to reflect the global oneness of the organizationally hierarchical Roman Catholic Church. All matters of religious import are decided and transmitted top down from the Pope and Vatican. Local affairs, such as recently completed renovation of the Cathedral, were decided by the leadership of the local dioceses.
The Cathedral is high in group dynamics. Despite the parishioners’ ethnic diversity, largely informal dresses (except the clergy, choir, altar boys/girls, ushers) and age/vocational differences, they exhibited highly coordinated responses during scri-tural reading or prayers (e.g., stand up or sit down or kneel down, Amen, sign of cross, May the Lord bless His words, May the Lord bless you too, etc). The group’s cohesiveness and allegiance is maintained, first and foremost, by the Catholic faith and traditional liturgical practices. Parochial Catholic schools (K-12 and colleges) and age-inclusive (infants to octogenarians) Mass services also help to foster the Catholic group identity. The clearest sign for strictly protected group boundary line was during the Eucharist. Guidelines for receiving communion are clearly printed in the bulletin, cautioning Catholics with unresolved grave sin and inadequate (one hour) fast not to take communion. Neither should “fellow Christians” (including Protestants, and members of the Orthodox Church, the Assyrian church of the East and the Polish National Catholic church) or any non-Christians. Another boundary line is set by Roman Catholic Church’s openly outspoken anti-abortion and anti-gay social stance. While American Catholicism has been beset by recent priest abuse storm and gay priests’ activism and may vary in their adherence to Vatican’s official social stance, this Cathedral appears to go along with this stance as judged by the clearly listed social ministry group of Pro Life. New parishioners are welcome to join the local church by written registration. Non-Catholics will have to convert to Catholicism before accepted into parishioner membership. My visits did not result in any form of warm and personal invitation by ushers or otherwise, suggesting that the communication within the group is indirect (through writing first) and outsiders have an invisible but clear boundary line to cross with self-initiation. Various parish groups and support ministries have been in place to maintain the internal group bonding by tailoring to life’s multidimensional needs and crises. The list is impressively long, including Bingo, choirs, Greeters, Youth, Singles, widows/widowers, men’s or women’s group, Marriage encounter, Mothers’ Enrichment Program, Charismatic Mass, Filipino/American Association, K-12 parishioner school, Home School Association, Job Search Work Team, Knights of Columbus, Legions of Mary, Parish Historical Guild, Rosary Altar Society, Scouting, and various support groups.
Taken together, the observational data support the conclusion that the Cathedral belongs to the hierarchical (high grid and high group) cosmology. This is affirmed by the formal, indirect communication style, the hierarchical leadership structure, the highly institutionalized and ritualistic worship style, and ample use of rituals and symbols. Furthermore, it is consistent with the high group orientation aspect of expected hierarchical leadership style in its power delegation, accountability to Catholic institution, group interest above individuals, generally slow decision making through correct channels in dioceses. The top down decision making from Vatican on vital religious matters, however, reflects authoritarian (low group/high grid) leadership style. It is also consistent with the high grid aspect of expected hierarchical leadership style in having centralized power (to the clergy elite) and well-defined leadership roles through the hierarchical clerical titles. The hierarchical cosmology is finally supported by the hierarchical theme for salvation. For example, through institutional membership in the Catholic Church a sinner can get right with God and become a catholic in good standing through regular Mass service, good work and priest/saints-mediated intercession.
My visit to the Cathedral represents my first significant experience with Catholicism. I am pleasantly surprised at how well this Cathedral has shepherded its large flock of 4500 families in the parish. While the liturgy abounds with old traditions (except that English has largely replaced the outdated Latin homily), the numerous parish groups and support ministries for this large parish are testimonies for remarkable progress made to sustain and even revive Catholic faith. Personally I feel that the Cathedral can improve by moving to a somewhat lower grid and lower group dynamics within hierarchical cosmology. Disbursing the centralized clergy leadership a little with greater empowering of the laity in non-liturgical roles can be one area of improvement. The rigid Mass service based on a Catholic calendar and Vatican foresight needs to loosen up a little to accommodate timely and local needs of the parish. The Cathedral apparently has begun doing this, given the annual Blue, Red, and White Mass, respectively, for law enforcement, judicial and healthcare professionals. But the White Mass that I attended did not strike me as too different from regular Mass even though a MD turned Father was the homilist that cracked a few healthcare-related jokes. I propose that a weekly or monthly Mass which is not prescribed by Vatican be tailored to the expedient needs of local parishes. Perhaps the formal and indirect communication style in Mass can also be relaxed to be less formal and more direct, more in line with the prevailing communication style. The high group dynamics needs to be lower. The strict group boundary can be relaxed a bit, for example, by allowing baptized “fellow Christians” to receive communion. The required written registration of new comers should be more personally handled with human touch. Save for a sign of peace and a handshake, no one approached me in a personal and warm way to welcome me into the family during my two consecutive Sunday visits. I felt that I was an unwelcome outsider. It left me wondering how persistent and proactive a new parishioner should be in order to blend in and grow together.
(2) Abundant Life Christian Center
This Charismatic church clearly has a low grid dynamics. For 23 years of its existence spun out of a Baptist church, the church of 300 plus members has a fairly flat leadership structure, currently consisting one pastor and two elders together supervising 23 cell leaders, no board of deacons. Only about five years ago, the church joined the association of Dove International Christian Fellowship headquartered in Lancaster, PA, for regional protective spiritual covering and greater leadership accountability. The decision making appeared to involve all members. A case in point is their recent fund drive to purchase a new church home. Members would pray and donate to the building fund. They believed that only until the faith pledge reached the target level did God approve them of their relocation. The communication style is largely informal (low grid) and direct (low group). Pastor Scott followed a simple sermon outline notes (an insert in the bulletin) and spoke directly and passionately to a lively and Amen-responsive audience, often raising his arms and fist, stomping his feet, hunching his body, making a grimace, or occasionally jumping down from the pulpit. The worship service order was just four short phrases printed in a small box in the bulletin: Praise & Worship, Offering/Communion, Lighting of the Advent Candle, Sermon (The fifth Key of a Life that God Blesses: Holiness). Therein were two common western rituals (communion and candle-lighting). The only apparent symbols were a cross, a Christmas wreath, four Advent candles and a number of wall posters with the theme of “Christ is (Savior, Lord, I Am, Bread of Life, etc)”. During communion, the pastor impromptu asked two members in the congregation to pray over the elements of the sacrament. Thus, certain roles did not appear to be fixed. Ushers did not wear uniform either. The praise and worship portion took up half of the two-hour service. It was unstructured and highly spontaneous. One of the band members hummed solo by smoothly mixing up lyrics from more than one hymnal.
This Charismatic church has a low group orientation. The cell-based congregation that came to Sunday’s church celebration was casually dressed and ethnically diverse, consisting of whites, Latinos, blacks and Asians. During worship hour, the ecstatic expression in the Holy Spirit was pervasive to almost all adult members (children were more reserved). While the worship response was lively and responsive, everyone was doing something different with their bodies, bending left to right, stomping feet, waving a flag, shaking a tambourine, clapping hands, outstretching arms with eyes closed, joyfully indulging in the Holy Spirit. Due to this kind of highly individualistic expressions, some people simply came out of their seats and went forward to the open space in the front. As mentioned earlier, the informal communication of Pastor Scott was straightforward and direct. He addressed the spiritual holiness by directly, without mincing any word, pointing out the lawlessness and sinfulness and our grave need for repentance. I observed that a young man who was in front of me and had little body movement got encouraging hug and words from an usher. Apparently, the group boundary was fuzzy, not tightly protected and outsiders could easily blend in. To my pleasant expectation, quite a few members of the church greeted and welcomed me to their church service. One cell group leader sitting near me introduced me to the Pastor after the service and warmly invited me to visit their weeknight cell fellowship. He courteously asked me to fill out a visitor’s form.
Taken together, the above data (informal and direct communication style, fairly flat leadership structure, charismatic worship style, few ritual and symbol) suggest an individualistic (low grid and low group) cosmology for the Abundant Life Christian Center. It is also consistent with the expected individualistic leadership style: a single pastor with charisma, low accountability to the group (other than two elders, albeit with slightly greater accountability to a recently joined umbrella association), disbursing of power to local cell leaders to which group members are accountable. The individualist cosmology was less apparent in the theme for salvation, even though feeling happy and joyful did seem to be greatly valued, if not more than working out the salvation. What was preached was biblically sound, without a clear bent to a particular cosmology.
It is gratifying to see that the century old Pentecostal movement and its midlife child, the Charismatic movement, together claim more than a quarter of the worldwide Christian membership. This church’s vision is “win the lost and disciple the found”. It has more than 300 members in over 20 groups, even though a snowy Sunday appeared to have deterred many from coming to church celebration, again indicating a low group allegiance to the big church family. I would recommend that the cell-based charismatic church move from individualist cosmology space to a higher group orientation and slightly higher grid toward the egalitarian cosmology space. A greater group identity cultivates the sense of belonging in the big family of God and the common allegiance to Christ. A greater grid assures better accountability and smoother leadership succession for church’s long-term health. I noticed that young children were with the parents all along during the Sunday worship service. While this may be good to cultivate an age-inclusive group bonding and allegiance, it suffers from lack of accommodating the different capacities and special needs of children. It should be helpful to establish children’s Sunday school. More elaborated and systematic adult Sunday school program than just one Abundant Living Course can also be tailored to different spiritual maturity. This may provide a better forum for the togetherness on Sunday. It calls for expanded specialized roles of seasoned teachers in addition to more classroom space in a future building. The cell-based charismatic model is without a typical cell church hierarchy. This simplifies the leadership layers but suffers from lower mutual accountability. The Dove umbrella association in Lancaster, PA, is a bit too far away, making accountability less practical. I suggest gradually adding several regional cell shepherds between pastor/elder and cell leaders. This assures a smoother leadership succession once the pastor or elders retire.