Further Observations
The majority of the people in attendance were sitting next to someone of the opposite gender, possibly a spouse. Most people who took notes brought their own Bibles, as the church did not provide any at the door or under the seats (as many Protestant churches tend to do), and congregants followed along and flipped to the verses referenced by Pastor Mac. These Bibles ranged in appearance from the well-worn and tattered to the contemporary, duct-tape bound, to those Bibles that were kept in leather or velvet casing. One of the men sitting near me was using a Bible that had been checked out from the library. Many attendees also brought notepads and pencils and wrote down comments throughout the sermon, which made my own note-taking quite undetectable as fieldwork. One of the women with whom I spoke mentioned the strong element of education that she finds enriching and important at LWCC, and the Pastor certainly emphasized textual bases for his sermon, referencing eight different Biblical passages and several New Testament parables.
Demographics: What does LWCC look like?
The church membership present on January 16, 2011, could largely be described in the broadest of terms as middle class, casual but well-dressed, clean-cut, all-American, and often stylish in apparel. Women wore outfits that were both modest and stylish, with older women in anything from dark jeans and an elegant sweater to a classy suit jacket-and-skirt combination with appropriately matching jewelry. Younger women, between the ages of twenty and thirty, dressed both more casually and more “fashionably,” donning trendy-looking skirts and boots. Most women’s hair seemed to be styled and well-kept, many sporting highlights or coifs of some variety. Men tended to look slightly more casual, but most were wearing at least a collared shirt and jeans or a sweater. Nearly all of the men were well-groomed in terms of hair and beards, and shorter hair seemed most popular. Demographically, at least three-quarters of the congregation was white and most of the remaining quarter was black, with a few Asian attendees. Since childcare and Sunday school is provided for every age, infant through high school, the service was comprised almost entirely of adults (a few mothers kept their young babies with them). I estimated that 60% of the congregation was between the ages of thirty and fifty, 20% were older than fifty, and 10% were between the ages of twenty and thirty.
