A quick report on the church service that I spoke at this Sunday at a local African church along with Lois who works on the Joshua base here, teaching at the pastors college. She and her husband have established quite a few relationships with pastors here and often get invitations to share.
The service was very long and it amazed me that children sat without complaint for 3 hours thru 4 sermons and long long worship. One little guy aged around one and a half, squirmed and cried after 2 and a half hours of sitting on his mothers lap. He was promptly disciplined and remained quiet for the next 40 mins????!!!! Can you believe it? Even I wanted to squirm and cry.....
The church was a tin shed with no windows, however there are large gaps btw the walls and roof that let in light and air.. The worship is long and lovely with dancing and spontaneous leading by different individuals and the congregation follows in song and dance. So someone sings "Welcome to the house of the Lord" in swahili and the rest repeat that in harmonies and dancing that can make you cry....
Unfortunately, the sermon by the african pastor was a little condemning but apparently that is typical here. The teaching was on the 4 categories of sheep. They are: busy sheep ( too busy to come to church and listen to the pastor); unsatisfied sheep (never happy - jumping from church to church); rebellious sheep (not agreeing with the pastor) and blessed sheep ( following the pastor and always in church)..... !!! This is apparently quite common and we learned recently of one of the workers here whose mother is quite poor. She lives in a mud house and has very little except a lounge chair and a few other small items. The church sent a message home to all of its flock that they were to give a certain amount to the building program. When the old woman did not give that amount the elders showed up and took the chair to sell for her contribution to the church!!!! So much for God loving a cheerful giver....there are no options here... gulp!
The message of grace and the lovingkindness of God is missing in a lot of the churches here. This is where David and I feel the strongest need to teach, encourage and impart and this is what I shared on. I am not sure how it went down but know that I was obeying God's leading. Next time I will share longer and not feel so sorry for the people sitting for so long..... I think I should outpreach the "mean/ stick to the rules/ you are in trouble/ God is mad at you" preaching....with a message on grace and lots of examples of how much God loves and forgives and cleanses and heals.....and it doesnt depend on how good we are..... otherwise, none of us would qualify. ... What did Jesus die for if it wasnt to pay for all of this...
sorry, I am preaching.....
Anyway, you get the picture.
I am including a photo of a church very similar to the one I visited on Sunday except that this one had a window! I didnt take my camera wanting to be respectful and sensitive.
Check out the out house.
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