20SP_RE201A-CI-Christianity

I found it interesting that even the Catholic Church, which has the reputation of being quiet and controlled in services, adapted to the African culture and has the praising, singing, and dancing that are from the African culture. The beliefs make up the Church, not the way that people necessarily pray or praise. The people were able to adapt it to their culture and thus relate to it more so. All the forms of religion in this video had part of the deliverance message. In some way they were healed by Christ's message.

I think we all had a reaction to watching this documentary that the portrayal of Christianity was different than what we're used to. This was my initial reaction, and then I found my mind wandering to think about what I was comparing this Christianity against. I thought about the church services I've been to where families file in and out of the church with little to no socialization, or times when people leave after communion. I thought about why there's many Christians that only attend church on holidays. Surely these followers would appear equally strange to Christians in Akropong? The film made me reflect on how cultures that are linguistically and physically reserved or expressive would worship differently.

The film was interesting, but some parts were confusing. I feel like a lot wasn't translated, thus making it difficult to understand some of the cultural aspects by verbal expression. It is clear though that African Christianity, as the film stated, that the people take it everywhere with them, like their skin. It was a real passionate and eye-opening video of how culture and traditions are infused into their religion, by actions and body language. 

This film made me think about how passionate African Worship is and how much they believe in deliverance and spirit-led worship/services. The way that they worship, pray, and celebrate God is beautiful and something that I think American Christians could learn from or enjoy incorporating into American worship. It also made me think more about the importance of cultural differences in Christian worship. I really like how Bishop Peter said that it was important to incorporate African tradition into their version of Christianity to make it their own. He understood the importance of individuality of culture in worship. I think that for them to lose their culture in trying to assimilate to the version of Christianity that was brought over by Europe would be a tragedy.  I really enjoyed this film. It opened my eyes to the beauty and importance of African culture in their religion.

While watching this video, I did not realize how big and how important African American Christianity was. They bring it everywhere with them, describing Christianity like their skin, taking it everywhere they go. They seem to be all about culture, like bringing and incorporating their music into Christianity, like they have always known. Deliverance is also a very big part in their religion, pointing out demons being inside of people. I did not realize how many people take part in this religion as well, no matter who they are, saying that it was like a letter. It did not matter what was on the outside, it just mattered what was on the inside that really mattered. 

Throughout the film music was playing in the background. The music that I heard sounded very soothing and beautiful. About thirty minutes in they showed how deliverance was I guess you would say dealt with. In my opinion, deliverance is a very different way of cleansing a person. It was an interesting film and showed me a lot of new things I did not know about. 

I liked watching this film because it showed the hope of the people attending the services. In one part of the film it says “Without hope, all is lost”, this is an important quote because it tells the viewer how much everyone in the church believe in God and how he will come through for them. Dedication is another big part of the people because they want to worship to God in their own traditional way. By practicing Christianity in their own way, it shows how much people have faith in their religion and want it to spread and succeed.

I found it beautiful to listen to common worship songs that have been made contemporary in the states sang in another language. It really was moving to listen to something so familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. This film really gave me a better depiction of deliverance than the reading although watching the deliverance of Oye, the sewing woman, was unsettling. Deliverance also served as counseling in a sense. I felt that during the scene in which the film showed the questionnaire process and the reasons some of the people sought deliverance sounded like what in the states would be reasons to see what we in the states call a counselor or therapist.  The African culture has found overall deliverance in God through Jesus Christ due to their current day to day situations. I found it interesting at the end of the film that Oye still sewed  from home even after having her deliverance scene debut. 

Mainly was how different the style of worship is in Africa, the church followers would walk through the town playing drums and sing or pray. Some people were shaking and yelling while members would cast out the evil spirits in them, which I’ve never seen before.  

I personally enjoyed this film thoroughly. It provided a deep insight into the typical interactions of various types of churches with the people of Ghana. Both the Christ Presbyterian Church and other charismatic churches had distinct histories and ways of influencing and helping local people. The analogy that bishop Peter Sarpong made about the letter and envelope was fantastic in terms of describing. It doesn't matter what the envelope looks like, what's important is the letter. Bishop Sarpong described Christianity as, "A religion of love, passion, and unity." This is clearly displayed by the compassion that priests have on their congregations, and the individual care and attention that individuals get. It was fascinating to hear church leaders of Ghana talk about bringing Christianity back to America and the global north, when they were the ones who originally received it from those very people. 

The differences between African Christianity and Western Christianity are greater than I previously thought. The film highlighted many things that I was not aware of such as no pay for ministerial work, the popularity of Deliverance theology, and the encouragement of Church and State partnership. African Christians have a distinct way of practicing and preaching Christianity, but that is due to their culture and traditions. Cultural blinkers are definitely applied in African Christianity, but they see Western Christianity as different, which is why their missions are to North America in New York City. 

This was a very interesting film. Pastor Fred and Bishop Sarpong both seem very pious men with a strong faith in God. I felt that their words contained wisdom and a strong sense of purpose in what they are doing. Many of the things in this film were similar to past lectures regarding such things as Reverse Evangelism, the Global North, and the Global South. I distinctly recall the scene where the theologian displayed an outdated map of the world. The map showed the Global North regions colored in pink as the most christian, and today it is in the Global South where Christianity is most prevalent. The scenes showing deliverances were interesting. I have never seen such a religious act in person and thought it was enlightening to see in a film what I had read about in past class lectures. Thinking of past readings, I recall the part in the film where Pastor Fred spoke of how human beings can be "occupied" by spirits. Overall I enjoyed the film and it gave me stronger insight on what I have read in past class assignments. 

There was a lot of theology springing from practical situations in this film.  One scene in particular I am thinking about was what looked like a bible study where a woman read Scripture out of the Bible so she could explain where the evil sorcerer and spirits fit into the story.  We in America would never read the scripture and our minds automatically go to that explanation.  The African churches definently explain the texts through what they know best: evil spirits and deliverance, and not only do they preach it, but they act it out.  Another thing I cannot fathom is how the evil spirit just takes them over into to what looks like a seizure while the other church members carry their body off to pray over them.  I respect their way of worshipping Jesus 100%, but it kind of reminded me of a horror film exorcism.