"Food Fights on Friday, Salvation on Sunday" By Katherine Bindley

This article had some good points and bad points. It was about an entertaining topic, which made it more fun to read. However, as I read it, I found I had many questions left unanswered, which is never a good thing when reading a newspaper article.

First of all, why doesn't the community have a permanent home? This is a pretty basic question, and yet, it wasn't answered. The reporter talks about how the pastor isn't trying to be a traditional church and how the church goes about renting other spaces but never answers the question of "why?" Is it just because the pastor doesn't care about having a building? Is it because this is a new church community? Is it because they just can't afford one? Your guess is as good as mine.

Also, I thought the lead was a good scene-setter, but it put me under the initial impression that the church used the school as rehearsal space. It wasn't until I kept reading that I learned they actually use the school for their services and everything. While the lead was good, the reporter could have set the scene using an actual service, which would have made a bigger impact than just talking about the choir rehearsing.

I think the reporter could have talked to more parishioners. She talked to the pastor, a band member and one parishioner. I would have liked to hear more from parishioners about why they are a part of the church and what they think about not having an actual church building. Do they want the pastor to look into getting them one? Or does the fact that this church is different make them want to be a part of it?

When Mr. Cunningham, the pastor, talks about how "the focus is not on the building...but on confronting social injustice through advocacy and crossing boundaries of class, race, sexual orientation and age," I was left wondering how the church does that. I'm sorry, but that comment was just too vague. He doesn't go into details, and apparently, the reporter didn't push. So, basically, by not having an actual building, this church is accomplishing all of this? Because, to be perfectly honest, that's pretty much the only thing the church seems to be doing, according to this article. The only other things mentioned are how the congregation sings "I Believe I Can Fly" and listens to the pastor's daughter read poetry. Once again, nothing that sounds like it's fixing social injustice. While R. Kelly might have been someone who "crossed boundaries" when it came to age, I don't think this is what the pastor meant when he said that.

I liked that the second to last paragraph talked about the future of the church. The pastor is looking into other areas where the congregation can meet. This gave me the impression that they don't have a church because they don't want one, but I would have liked an explanation that just came right out and said it instead of leaving it open. After all, there could be more to the story.

The article ended with a good kicker. I thought it was a cute quote that reflected the feelings of not caring about where the congregation meets as long as it does.

Overall, I felt the article could have gone into more depth about the actual church rather than basically stating that it had no building to call its own.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/nyregion/thecity/30chur.html