Formal Paper 1

The most profound and inspirational educational experience comes from my church and learning about the culture of our church.  Emmanuel Apostolic Church is an organization that is striving to build a healthy church culture in the Bremerton community.  As the church begins to examine all their church systems and values, identify and make changes in leadership roles, and bridge the generation gaps, through on-going communication, educational trainings and programs with fellowship they will be able to develop leaders that can make a difference in the Kitsap County.

Emmanuel Apostolic Church was founded by Bishop Lawrence Ray Robertson and the late First Lady Opal Robertson over 35 years ago.   Our church is presently located at 1023 6th Street which is near downtown Bremerton.   Emmanuel is a very vibrant and passionate church that is committed to serving people from all walks of life.  Our focus is to create positive leaders, become role models, and to fulfill our purpose in life.  Through growth over the past 35 year we have been able to employ over 20 workers and anyone who attends usually become a volunteer for life. We value the Men and Women who volunteers at Emmanuel Apostolic Church!  Our church organization is made of 85% African-Americans, 10% Caucasian and about 5% Hispanic.  We are considered a military church culture because our church is less than a mile near the Puget Sound Navy Base.  Our membership consists of people from all over the world who made the decision to live in the Washington area.  As we strive to build a healthy church in the Bremerton community, we have learned that many people stay because they have felt the genuine love; it’s a place where they could raise their families with the EAC values.   One of our church values is to inspire everyone who is part of the organization.  As a healthy church, we do a great job at identifying and connecting with the needs and interest of the people who attends.  Our Church Mission Statement is: Accepting the will of God to make disciples of all ethnicities, through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing that this Gospel requires excellence in every area of one’s life, therefore we focus on Worship, Biblical Education and Fellowship to achieve the Excellence!

        Our church has over 250 members and the 20 employed workers.  Our EAC workers, works in the areas of our Child Care which has a Director, a cook, and five classrooms with two teachers in each room.  Our Maintenance crew consists of two people that are paid staff that are our grounds keepers; they take care of the outdoors plants, tree, clean up any debris around the church, and fix any maintenance problems that might occur. We also have a Housekeeping staff person that makes sure the inside of our church is clean and sanitized daily.  Our Administrative Assistance makes sure that our Bishop needs are met and keeps up with his calendar.  She also filters any information that goes out or comes in to ensure that the people know what is going on or if any changes are made to our church calendar.  She also helps with the flow of the services each week.  In our music department we have one paid musician that provides weekly practice and plays for all of our services.  We have just recently hired a Youth Coordinator that has one paid staff the helps keep our youth building clean daily.  The Youth Coordinator writes community grants for youth activities, and opens the youth center daily as she carries out youth programs.  As a new employer, my job will be Emmanuel’s new Communication and Planning Director.  I will create and provide an on-going communications system within every department, as well as monitor the services each sub-groups are providing services for.  My job will focus on ensuring that proper planning and to assist in any conflict resolution that may occur in each department. I will meet with each department head monthly so that I will know that it is running as smoothly as possible.  My goals will be to make sure everyone has been given an opportunity to share their skills, ideas, and stay connected so the church can continue to grow as leaders.  I have learn the skills of my job just by grow and studying the things at my church.  Now I am furthering my educational experience by getting my degree with Olympic College.

          As new members join our church family, they are encouraged to attend a new member’s class for an eight weeks course on how our church operates and understands our mission statement.  If they are not aware of their gifts or talents that they have, then one of the ministers will help them to define or identify their gift or talents so they can begin working or volunteer in a particular area of ministry.

          The culture of Emmanuel Apostolic Church organization is best described as a culture that is creating community leaders.  Every church leader must understand that every church has a culture either by design or by defaults.  Our church culture is defined by our Bishop, Lawrence Ray Robertson and the EAC family.  One of the major focuses was to cultivate a church culture that listens to everyone’s ideas, rather than ignore or put them down.  Emmanuel Apostolic Church also creates a culture that values the work that the men and women do within the organization.  We have built stronger families, community and church because of these value systems.  Our cultural values and beliefs reflect our teachings and in the community, we are respected by many because of this family lifestyle. In our church, we have created a cultural of “team approach” in order to become effective leaders.

In our church, we have developed various ministries which are the children’s ministry, youth ministry, and young adults; now called the 360 group.  We also have a Senior Citizen ministry.  Within all of these ministries there are sub-ministries or sub-cultures that consist of smaller groups working on the usher board, participating in the music ministry or drama, doing the work of a Deacon or Minster, working in the Audio Visual Department, or you can be a member of the Sisterhood or Brotherhood Department.  We are mixed with various ages which at times can become very difficult or challenging as we are bridging the generation’s gap.  We also have different families that have been a member for a long time, and then a new member comes with their set of cultural values that have either been passed down from their previous church or their family.  The generation gaps which are the age difference or new members verses the old members could have a breakdown in communication or began to create their own cultural environment if they are not having on-going communicating or not understanding the different styles of communication.

In conclusion, our church will continue to make changes in order to develop leaders in the culture.  I do feel as long as we keep growing and learning as a church and a business then more people will learn and our younger kids will be educated.  This will be a growing and ongoing learning experience.  Learning can happen anywhere and in my church is where I found a great educational experience.