Going to Youth Group [Fieldwork Portfolio]

I am not a religious person. I have gone to church a couple times in my life with some friends, but never really began to immerse myself in it and participate in all of the activities. For this ethnographic fieldwork portfolio assignment I went to a youth group session with my friend Christine. I felt very out of place, yet I was welcomed with open arms the entire time. The youth group was composed of kids from 14-18 some of the people a little older, but they were considered councilors. My friend Christine is a councilor, she has attended the church for most of her life, she knew everyone there and helped anyone in need. Going into this fieldwork study I was skeptical if I was going to enjoy it, and I actually had a lot of fun.
At the youth group everyone was dropped off by their parents outside. The kids went inside while the adults discussed their lives and new events in the church outside. As the kids went in they had about a half an hour to socialize before the service. During this socialization the kids were separated mainly by gender, the girls and the boys said hello to each other, but they didn’t seem to have full conversations with them. Everyone their knew each other and they were all happy to see each other, Christine told me “most of us go to different schools and live in different towns, we have made some of our best friends here, so this is where we get to see each other.” I felt very out of place while everybody socialized, people were very nice to me and seemed happy to see I was there, but I felt as though I wasn’t part of the group, it was a very tight knit community in the youth group.
After everyone socialized they went into the chapel to listen to their service. Christine and I sat down close to the front and all of her friends sat around her. She turned to me and said “we generally always sit in the same spot” I asked her why but she didn’t really have a clear answer, she was considering it more habit than anything. Everyone was still chatting until the pastor came in and everyone bowed their heads and prayed. I didn’t know the prayer but I bowed my head with them until it was finished. Christine turned to me and said “its ok Ill teach it to you later.” I think she thought that she was going to make this a regular thing for me.
I felt that from a lot of the people there. The first question the pastor asked after the prayer and the announcements was “Do we have any new guests today?” He asked us to stand up, I was the only one, and he said “Welcome”. He began to preach about trust and the need to praise Jesus wherever you go, and to not be ashamed of Christianity. I thought it was going to be like this the whole time, but through out the sermon there were activities that people went up and participated in. My friend Christine and I participated in an example of the importance of praising Jesus even when others weren’t. We had to stage a High School situation where no one else prayed but us before a basket ball game, we made this up because Christine had experienced this. We pretended to run into the bathroom and pray with each other, and then go play the game. It emphasized the importance of Jesus in every aspect of your life. Everyone was laughing and having fun, it made me enjoy it as well.
After the sermon we all began to socialize again and discuss the events of the church coming up. Christine knew all of them and had every intent of participating, all of her friends did too. Everyone kept telling me to come back, the pastor had a long conversation with me about religion and how I should accept Jesus into my life, and how Christine “has to bring me back every Wednesday.” I felt very included yet out of place at the same time because they all knew I didn’t believe the same thing they did. After socializing everyone hugged each other goodbye, parents had discussions with the pastor, and they got in their cars and went home.

1. What understanding was gained from participation compared to just observing?
I was able to understand why they thought youth group was so much fun. When participating in the example I was able to connect with the members of the church because I felt included. No one made fun of me everyone was very supportive and it was good clean fun. I was also able to experience the emotion aspect tying us together. Even though I am not a religious person as I was singing the songs with them, people were crying and getting very emotional, and there was this emotional feeling through out the whole church that connected us.

2. What did having a key informant add to your understanding?
A key informant helped me understand what was going on. It was helpful to have her introduce me to people and people acted normal around me because they thought I was just a new member, or a friend of Christine’s spending time with her. It was also cool because she was there to give me the confidence to participate. I am a very shy person, I probably wouldn’t have done that if she wasn’t there.

3. What was learned from participant-observation at this event that a questionnaire or interview might miss?
I believe the main thing a survey might miss is the truly emotional moments in the church that really tied people together. Their sense of community is so strong and they all want to help each other, because they are going through these strong spiritual experiences together that a simple circle of an answer can explain.

4. For what purposes might a questionnaire or interview be better than participant-observation?
I think an interview would be better to get a broader sense of the structure of the church. You would get other people’s opinions that might be completely different, they might not go as much and have a different feeling while they are there. A questionnaire would be good to see what they might change about the church, no one complained about anything when I was there because I think they felt as though they weren’t supposed to, I think with a questionnaire you would get a more honest feeling about the structure of the church.