Discourse Community Paper

Linnea Skoog

ZuZu Feder

10-31-14

Writ. 101

Discourse Communities

Whether we realize it or not, there are discourse communities all around us. Whether it be in a class, the local police force and even the high school football coaches. They have their own way of communicating throughout the community and amongst their group. They're organized in certain ways, and they all have one common goal within their group.

I chose my church as a discourse community. Being apart of this community not only provides me with the opportunity to have a common interest and goal with others, but it also allows us to reach out to our community. Not only is our goal to further the Kingdom of God, but to support, uplift and encourage each other and those in the community we serve.

Throughout the church there are several things that can be identified to show that it is in fact a church. Being apart of a Baptist church the word “potluck” is always thrown around. The old ladies love cooking up their favorite dishes to woo everyone as best they can. Along with those potlucks, comes the word “jello-salad.” It's just inevitable that every time my church does a potluck, there will be jello-salad. It's just a stereo-type we live up to. Being Baptist, the word “baptism” is huge. Every Sunday there's an alter call and that's the time when the pastor usually puts a huge emphasis on Baptism. Baptism is so important and emphasized because it's seen as a symbol to the world that your life belongs to God.It shows that you're apart of something bigger than the world and that your faith is in Jesus. Hymns are used regularly in our church as well. At least once every sunday, a member of the worship team will say, “open your book to hymn number...” Pray and blessings are also words that are said all the time in my church. Someone, it seems, is always saying “let's pray,” “I'll pray for you,” or something about “prayer requests.” Along with all the prayer, people are always talking about how blessed they are, or what a blessing it is that “such and such” happened.

Types of writing are often done on little things. From the children scribbling on a notepad, to the pastor writing up his message for the next week. There are newsletters that are handed out monthly about what the church has been apart of and what missionaries the church has been helping out. There are also calendars handed out monthly, these usually have anniversaries and birthdays of people within the congregation, as well as events happening within the church during that month. For example, in December, the time of the Christmas Eve service is put on December 24^th. The dates and times of bible studies and leadership/stewardship classes are also put on these calendars. There are new bulletins typed up and printed out every week. These bulletins have the program for that Sunday's service, as well as a place for notes, church info (phone number/address), announcements, upcoming events, and prayer requests. There are also semi-annual business meetings, in which case the voting members of the congregation get together and vote on different things that could prosper our church, along with the community. During this business meeting, every voting member is given a copy of the church “income/receiving donations” and their donations. There's also a list of expenses and the minutes from the last meeting preceded by the agenda for the current meeting. There's a tithe, so if somebody writes a check, then they are writing as part of this discourse community. Sunday school lessons are also a type of the writing that's used within our church. The teachers not only type up their lessons, but also worksheets for their students. Along with the hymnals, we also have the worship music as a writing used within the church, too. The most obvious written device that we have would be the Bible and scripture references. The Bible, for quite obvious reasons, is used all the time in our church. Being apart of a Baptist church means that my church roots are Southern Baptist. Southern Baptists are very traditional, and follow closely the the King James Version (KJV) Bible. This isn't a bad thing. In fact, more often than not, the KJV Bible is often referenced more than a New International Version (NIV). In my church, we have six to eight Bibles for every pew. These Bibles are NIV, not to confuse people when the Pastor uses a different version, but because it is the most commonly used, and much easier to understand. The NIV doesn't throw around “thees” and “thous,” which really helps to lessen confusion. My church also has signs that it uses to communicate. We have one of those signs that have the weird letters that a lot of restaurants have. That sign usually has some kind of encouraging message for passer by’s. My church is on a very busy street, so the sign is seen by very many people. Along with this sign, we have a large plastic-like sign hanging near the front entrance of our church. This signs indicates to passer by’s that they are always welcome and what time service starts, as well as a number to call with any questions or concerns.

Just coming to church you're a part of the congregation. This shows that you are a member. However, to be a voting member of the congregation, one must get baptized. It doesn't usually matter if you're baptized in another church, because you can get your membership transferred. Though it does matter if you baptized within the denomination. If you were baptized Catholic, but started going to a Baptist church, and wanted to be an active voting member of that community, you would have to get baptized in a Baptist church. Another way to show that you are a member is to partake in communion. Our church does communion on the first Sunday of every month, and on Christmas eve and Easter. Communion is a huge gesture for our church. It shows people that you understand the meaning of “the body and the blood” The body, or the breaking of the bread, signifies the breaking of Jesus' body. The blood, or the drinking of wine/grape juice, signifies the blood that was shed for us and all the bad we've done and will continue to do. When we partake in communion, we first take the bread/wafer and the pastor usually blesses it, then when we as individuals receive are piece, we pray. After everyone has gotten their piece, are pastor will then recite, “this is my body. Take, eat. Do so in remembrance of Me.” This phrase is to show that we're doing this to remember the sacrifice Jesus gave us. The process is done with the grape juice. After everyone has their juice, the pastor will recite, “This is my blood. Take, drink. Do so in remembrance of Me.”

There are several goals within the church. First and foremost would be to follow Jesus and believe that He died for us. Following that would be about being able to be close to the others within the community. Being apart of a church, makes you apart of a family. Everyone is able to be open with each other, because we are family and it's a safe zone. Another goal would be to contribute to the community. Part of that would be opening the church up to anyone, as well as helping through out the community. Our church is just about three blocks form our rescue mission, so we interact with them a lot. Part of reaching out to the community, is so that people know it's alright to talk about your problems, that there are people out there willing to listen. So often, we are stereotyped as being “Bible thumpers, throwing our religion in everybody else's face.” There are some like that, but there are many who are not. Another part of contributing to the community is to be open minded. It doesn't help anyone when you’re always close minded about everything. We must be accepting about many things. Our church has also recently started “Family Promise.” Family Promise is a program in which we open up our services and church building for those who have nowhere to stay. Usually, these people are families that are trying to provide. Each family is supplied with an adequate sleeping arrangement, a certain amount of nights to stay, and meals provided by the people of our congregation. Our church is not the only one within our community, and congregation, participating in Family Promise.

 Many people may, or may not, think of their church as a discourse community. On many different levels, though, churches are very much discourse communities. In the way they interact within their congregations, the communities and their end goals. Yes, there are many types of churches, and no they are not all the same; but I'm sure within that church they are very much a discourse community. It's obvious that discourse communities also have a lexis. Different places, including churches, have their own expanse of words that's used on a very regular basis. If we really think about it, we're all part of at least one discourse community. Almost everything that we're apart of is a discourse community, even our families are discourse communities.