Introduction
My chosen discourse community for this particular ethnographic research project is the religious group known as the Members, Church of God International . The reason I selected this group of people is the fact that it met the following criteria:
- The group shares a common language / vocabulary;
- The group shares common behaviors, practices, and/or procedures for doing things;
- The group shares common goals, beliefs, attitudes, and/or assumptions;
- The group shares common ways of communicating with one another; and,
- The group has a threshold for membership, or a means of recognizing who does and does not belong to the community.
I conducted a fieldwork, personal interview, and research of written artifacts about this particular group. Below is what I found:
Field Work
I previously, incidentally met some of the members of this group years ago. Most of the members were mostly Filipinos and there are also many foreign members worldwide. The group has locales in various parts of the world. It is easily to mingle with the members of this group especially so whenever they gather for various religious practices (e.g., prayer meeting, worship service, weekly and quarterly international thanksgiving). They also have 24/7 community prayer, worldwide bible expositions, and mass indoctrination sessions .
The group, who is mostly composed of Filipinos, started in 1950s as a small religious community. From then on until now, members can be seen in other many parts of the world. Some of the Filipino members, who work just like any overseas workers, see, hear or communicate with one another regularly either personally and/or online (i.e., teleconferences).
The MCGI members shares a common language/vocabulary as they are bounded not by ethnicity, but by Christ’s doctrines. This group is different from all the other groups that I have known and encountered in my life because they were taught precisely about the biblical truth. Female members can easily be identified even among a large crowd because of their long hair, modest attire, no jewelries and no cosmetics (I Timothy 2:9).
The group shares common behaviors/practices in the sense that they regularly attend their Church gatherings and do volunteer, charitable works. The group members do the things they do because they were taught that everything they already know is written in the bible. At a deeper level, the practices of this group reveal/reflect their attitudes/beliefs concerning their ephemeral existence here on earth. Part of the Church’s belief is that members are only sojourners (temporary residents) here considering that their permanent citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).
Personal Interview
I interviewed Eilvu Gimatria, one of the members of this group. The goal of the group, according to Eilvu, is concerning spreading the untarnished Word of God. Everything that the members learned from their religious gatherings is based on the bible. According to my interviewee, members are taught to follow all of God and Christ’s commandments (Deuteronomy 12:11). For example, women have long hair, men have short hair (I Corinthians 11:14), women wear modest apparels at all time, men do not have any vice, etc. The beliefs of the group are all grounded upon biblical precepts and it all makes sense to them. Members can easily spot whether a specific teaching is against the teachings of Christ (Galatians 1:8; I John 4:1; Ephesians 5:17).
Because the gatherings of this group are centralized, according to Gimatria, regular schedules for all activities are decided in advance and disseminated to all members regularly. Regarding the rules that govern behavior within this community, even as a visitor, I observe how members entertain guests in their locales (such that they are very accommodating). The group starts its activities with congregational singing. Then, they face the east direction as members pray in unison. Reading of biblical verses ensues before the presiding minister (or his duly authorized representatives) delivers the biblical topic. After they heard the teachings from the bible, members voluntary give their contributions (II Corinthians 9:7). However, non-members are never allowed to give contributions even if they want to (III John 1:7). This is how rules are implemented because they strategically posted inside their Church locales and enjoined / enforced / carried out by all the members.
According to Gimatria, anyone can be a member of this religious group. However, a person has to subject him-/herself first to hearing several of the Church doctrines (Romans 10:17; Galatians 3:2). While undergoing indoctrination, the same person can freely investigate the group by asking questions to the presiding minister (or even to members), attending bible expositions/debates, and so on. When the same individual finished listening to all the doctrines as an aspirant-member, it is still entirely dependent on him whether he/she will allow him-/herself to get baptized. If he/she opted to get baptized, he/she will be an official member. He/She will fill up a form to be issued a Church ID. Then, as a member, he/she has to abide all the Church / biblical doctrines – or else, he/she will get him-/herself suspended (worse, ex-communicated) after conducting undergone the Church “due process.” Grave sins (“taboos”) against the Church are eating of meats offered to idols, eating of blood, eating meat from strangled animals, and fornication (Acts 15:29; 21:25). All other prohibitions are clearly written in the bible for members not to do (I Thessalonians 5:22). (Concerning a new member, if he/she would like to gain power/authority within the group, he/she has to prove him-/herself by following all the doctrines of the Church).
The power and authority is expressed within the group through their presiding minister and its authorized representatives. Specifically, the presiding minister is the leader of the Church. His authority is evidently shown whenever he speaks to Church members. He based his authority only from the bible (Soriano, 2007). Because the presiding minister quotes only from the bible whenever he preaches, millions of its low-class and professional members are rest assured that he is the messenger of God in this dispensation. The presiding minister has never declined to anyone who would challenged him to debates concerning the Truth about God. Because his detractors cannot refute everything that he quotes from the bible, they keep on maligning him using the Internet and other types of media.
Additional Researches: Written Artifacts
The presiding minister, named Eliseo Soriano, has its own blogs aside from the Church’s official website. In his blog, Soriano posts topics related to his lifelong belief about God, Christian life, and so forth. There are also video channels about his countless debates against all the other religious ministers, pastors and preachers who challenged him (Soriano, n.d.; Soriano, 2007). There are also videos of his religious program, “Ask Soriano and the Bible will Answer.”
In the MCGI website, there are news (updates) about the Church activities. A site visitor can even ask a copy of the bible and religious songs all free. If someone would like to observe or attend one of the Church religious activities in a locale or via the internet (especially for members abroad), a person can post a message in the site’s Contact/Reach Us webpage .
What I found very interesting are the presiding minister’s blog posts (Soriano, 2007). There he shares his views about the bible such as regarding false preachers, bogus prophets, and erroneous doctrines of most, if not all, other religious groups. This is the primary reason why this particular group has many members and disparagers.
References
Members, Church of God International. (2013, April 9). Members, Church of God International. Retrieved from The Official Website of the Members, Church of God International (MCGI) : http://www.mcgi.org
Soriano, E. F. (2007). Brother Eli Soriano: Steward of the Mysteries of God. Retrieved from Brother Eli Soriano: Steward of the Mysteries of God: http://esoriano.wordpress.com
Soriano, E. F. (n.d.). ESoriano: The Blog of the Presiding Minister of the Church of God International. Retrieved from ESoriano: The Blog of the Presiding Minister of the Church of God International: http://www.elisoriano.com
Swales, J. (1987). Approaching the Concept of Discourse Community [monograph on the Internet]. ERIC, EBSCOhost.
