Frequently Asked Questions
Are you affiliated to any denomination?
Yes, we are affiliated to the United Church of Christ.
What service order does your Church follow?
As UCC gives us the freedom to set our order of service, our worship style is a
mixture of the Church of South India's and Assembly of God's. As there is no one
perfect way to conduct a service we do often vary the order as needed and appropriate
to make the experience more effective and fruitful.
What is the main goal of your church?
To provide an opportunity for Tamil Christians to gather to worship Him in our mother
tongue, grow in His knowledge and spirit, to proclaim His name and spread His word
and to provide brotherly Christian fellowship for Tamils far from home.
Will you try to impose you belief on me?
We believe in the Bible. We also know that people interpret the Bible based on their
own experiences which are influenced by their background. We believe that God speaks
to anyone truly willing to understand the Bible. Come with an open mind, you won't
regret it.
Who is your pastor?
Our pastor is Rev. Godwin Kanakaraj. He is mission-oriented. He has graduate degrees
from Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI and McCormick Theological Seminary,
Chicago, IL. He has been involved in pastoral, child welfare, youth, counseling,
outreach, widow's welfare ministries during his twenty plus years of mission work.
He is also a staff chaplain in a local hospital.
How can I be involved if I come?
If you are interested in singing or playing any musical instrument we have an excellent
worship team. If your specialty is staying in the background and praying you'll
love our prayer team. If you love working with kids check out our Sunday school.
If you want to learn more about the Bible our Bible study is for you. If outreach
is you forte our outreach team needs you. If you have people or technical skills
we have a communications team too. If you just like to hang out with great people
you are more than welcome. In short, whoever you are you'll feel at home with us.
You have an odd timing, why?
At this time we are using the facility of Westchester Community Church after their
morning service. Since we meet close to lunch time we have a fellowship lunch following
worship, every week.
I'm interested in coming, but I don't have transportation
No problem, we'll try our best to give you a ride.
Can you send me your regular mails? I will join
whenever I can.
Sure, just e-mail us your mailing address and you will be added to our list.
My kids don't know Tamil, they won't understand
anything.
All activities for the children are in English. Our Sunday school teachers, God
bless them, are professionals. They enjoy teaching in English and our kids love
them.
Will you bug me with calls if I come once and
don't come again?
You will love it here and we'd love to have you join us. However, we do understand
that this could not be achieved by coercion. We'll respect your decision.
I can't support financially, will you force
me?
We do want to promote stewardship and encourage our members to share the burdens
of the Church to the best of their ability by sharing their time, talent and financial
blessings. However, we leave it up to God to lead such calling. Our collections
are completely voluntary. We use the money collected to meet the Church expenses
and further His Kingdom by supporting missions and people in need here and back
in India.
I don't believe in God, but I want a good Tamil
fellowship.
We welcome you and invite you to join us and share our fellowship and love. Our
actions will speak to your heart louder than our words.
I stay far away I can manage to come only once
a month.
We have a Tamil monthly gathering especially for people like you. It's every second
Saturday. Check our activities for the latest information.