Fieldwork Essay

For the semester research project, I decided to do topic number 6, which was the field work assignment. I grew up as a Catholic, but my parents always taught me to be open to other cultures and religions. It always fascinated me learning about different cultures and religions and how there is some overlaps on rituals, in which they all lead to the stem of Christianity. Taking this class has taught me where the religion that I grew up with started. For this project, I wanted to do a Asian and African-American church. Reasons for choosing both of these cultures, is due to growing up near San Francisco in which there is a heavy Asian population. This got me curious about their practice as Baptists. For the African-American Pentecostal church, I have always dreamt of going to Africa. Ever since I was 5, my dream was to one day go to Africa, the older I get, the more I learn that to get the most of a trip is to truly dive into the culture. What better way than to attend some religious practices. Let’s first touch on the Pentecostal religion in Africa. Christianity started becoming a world religion, due to it shifting to various continents. Christianity continued to grow, especially in Africa, in which it is the fastest continent with growing Christian churches(“The role of the theology of retribution in the growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic churches in Africa,”2016). Due to this, many scholars predict that Africa will be the largest Christian populations by 2050(“The role of the theology of

However, the main belief of these Pentecostal churches is the Jesus is the savior. Jesus, whom is the Holy Spirit, is whom bring the prosperous life. The holy spirit/ghost brings: healing and the power to speak in tongues (“Evangelical Revival, Modern Protestant Missionaries,” C.Daily). This background was helpful prior to attending the service, especially who and what the holy ghost