Quick Verses In Songs And Scripture

Grew up in a IFB-KJVP church. Also attended my mom's when visiting before she passed. Never experienced this. There's not a lot of Scripture reading compared to my own church, and the reading that is there seems to take less precedence. But it is not rushed through. Neither are the hymns, which are usually slow - not fast. Lastly, never seen an "hurried" invitation at an IFB church.

 

My experience in a IFBC, as a youth, most hymns were sung briskly, uplifting, many with relationship/testimony type themes of praise.... and many glorifying Jesus, God, holiness, faithfulness. Our pastor 'preached' almost always a gospel message of grace, faith and repentance.... but also was heavy on presenting scriptures from many places, some at length to give context (which he also encouraged us to consider in individual Bible study), and would tie scripture together with other supporting scripture. Often the message was a combination of doctrine and foundations, application, and culminated into an invitation to respond. There was never the hurry to read through the scriptures, and since we were encouraged to bring our Bibles and follow along silently in reverence to the reading of the passages, he would give us enough time to find the passage before starting to read... sometimes giving prompts as to where one book is found.... 'in the NT, after 3rd John and before Revelations at the back' for example, and pause before reading. Prayers were usually assigned to the congregants or deacons, with one by the pastor.... and brief. Most songs were sung 1st, 2nd, and 4th verse..... but rarely all verses, and rarely the chorus only. Being located in the South, it is to be expected the speach, prayers, and readings were moderately paced.

When I attended the wedding of my nephew to the pastor's daughter at a church in NJ, a IFBC, the speed was a little faster and northern, but no problem. However, I think what you may be experiencing is the tuning of the ear both to speed and the training of the brain and the engagement of the tongue reflected in the Eastern languages related to Japanese and Chinese culture. My niece, having taught English in Japan as a missionary, and married to a Japanese gentleman, has a faster speech than I am accustomed to hearing..... but is distinctly enough in her soft spoken diction that I find no problem following her. My own reading is so slow, she can just about read faster than I can follow by sight.... so I can chose to listen, which is easier for me, or try to follow with my eyes.

I think it is a combination of both our culture and how we've trained our mind....

lol, once one is in their 60's, just about everything wants to slow down.... and anything that speeds faster than one is accustomed to, is easily missed.

Just my thoughts.... but I bet 'the natives' who you don't think speak much English, may actually hear and retain more in the listening... even at expressed speeds, even if they don't speak it well. They are more accustomed to decifering the rapid complexity of symbolic sounds from their own culture than are we taught by ours.