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From many, one common faith

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Photo by Al Hoch

Christal Williams, left, Associate Regional Minister, takes her turn during the fellowship worship at the Janesville Christian Church.

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Photo by Al Hoch

Arina Menard, right, a parishioner of Janesville's First Christian Church, greets members of the Rockford Disciples churches during the "Fifth Sunday" Fellowship.

Photo

Photo by Al Hoch

The First Christian Church in Janesville hosted the "Fifth Sunday" Fellowship with three African-American Disciples churches on Sunday. The experience has been happening for 18 years.

JANESVILLE — “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”

Lorraine Dixson, Rockford, Ill., drew nods, applause and “amens” from the congregation as she read those words from Psalm 133 on Sunday night.

Because the people gathered at First Christian Church, 1909 Highland Ave., Janesville, were doing just that, as worshipers of all ages, races and backgrounds gathered to celebrate the differences in their worship styles and the similarity of their faith.

Members of the First Christian Church of Janesville and the First Christian Church, Second Christian Church and Washington Park Church, all of Rockford, have been meeting together four times a year for the last 15 years.

They call it the “Fifth Sunday” program because they meet every time a month has five Sundays. This Sunday, it was the Janesville church’s turn to host its fellow worshipers.

The services are far different from what the Janesville worshipers are used to. The three Rockford churches are predominately black, and the services take on the spontaneous, energetic style of the black church.

“There’s no structure,” the Rev. Dee Ann Woods, pastor of the Janesville church, said before the service. “At some point we’ll have a word of Scripture; at some point we’ll have a prayer…

“I always get nervous. I’m a planned-out kind of person.”

The pastors invited choirs from each church to perform. At one point, a group of steppers from Second Christian Church performed a routine, citing Scripture, stomping their feet and clapping their hands.

“Soldiers, what are you gonna do?” their leader asked.

“We gonna praise, and we gonna dance,” the young “soldiers” replied.

The energy grew throughout the service. With every song, the applause and cries of “amen,” “yes” and “hallelujah” grew louder.

The audience participated in every aspect of the service. They responded to each line in the prayers and sermon as the speaker’s voice rose and fell to emphasize his or her words.

“This is very different from what we do normally,” said Arina Menard, who has been coming to the Janesville church six months and was attending her first Fifth Sunday program.

“I love it,” she said. “They’re not afraid to dance and sing.”

Christal Williams, associate regional minister of the Disciples of Christ churches in Wisconsin and Illinois, said she’s inspired every time she comes to a Fifth Sunday gathering by the congregants’ commitment to God and unity.

“It transcends color; it transcends economic status; it transcends class and gender,” she said.

Or, as Woods told the congregation: “We gather for what we have in common, which is our faith in Jesus Christ.”