Church has looked different in every place we have visited so far. In Thailand, it was personal and traditional. In Cambodia, it was held in a circle in our host’s home, sitting on plastic chairs, and singing worship led by music played through an iPod. In Vietnam, it was hidden with curtains closed for protection. And in South Africa… it is wild!
We attended our host’s church the first Sunday that we were in South Africa. Before we arrived, we asked our host what time the service would end and he said, “Whenever the Holy Spirit is ready for it to be over.”
It took no time at all to see that the church is a lively to say the least. The vivid picture that I will always remember about this service is a beautiful elderly woman in a long, vibrant red skirt, dancing and leaping and leading around many people in the congregation in what can only be described as a conga line while we all shouted with joy, over and over again, “Jabulani, Jabulani Africa!” … Jabulani is a Zulu word meaning rejoice.
The people around us in the service could not contain their love for the Lord. And their pure excitement to be praising Him was remarkably contagious. Many times it felt as though the whole room was jumping so much that the floor was shaking. Throughout worship you could hear typical African shouts… “Arrrikikikikikiiii”… or a woman blowing a ram’s horn just to add to the excitement of the celebration.
We worshipped the Lord for over an hour before the pastor could begin his message. And at least the first three times that he tried to start his message, the church body would get so excited by the truth he was sharing that we would all jump out of our seats and start shouting songs of worship again… The band even stays on stage during the whole service, always on the ready to break into worship, knowing the energy that blows through the congregation each Sunday.
I’ve never felt how electrifying the presence of the Holy Spirit could be like I did in that church service. I’ve felt His personal touch in my heart. I’ve felt His whispers of encouragement. I’ve been moved to tears by the simple warmth of His love. But that joy… that exploding energy that was displayed in worship that Sunday was unlike anything I had experienced before.
And to add to the crazy, beautiful experience, people were praising God aloud in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa and spiritual tongues. Hearing people pray to the Lord in tongues is pretty new to me. To this day, I have never done it and have never really been around people that do it before the World Race. To be honest, it has always kind of scared me. But this was the first time God blessed me to hear the shouts of tongues as beautiful worship rather than strange noises. I don’t know if it was because I am in Africa and I don’t understand any of the languages we hear anyways… but I really feel like God revealed to me that speaking in spiritual tongues to pray to Him is real and raw and beautiful. It’s not something to be feared, its something to be thankful for because it is a gift bestowed upon people from God.
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” – Acts 2:1-4
God is answering a huge prayer this month by re-introducing me to the Holy Spirit and His power. And going back to God revealing that I need to believe in all of Him… if I believe that God was powerful and loving enough to perform miracle healings or give people the gift of speaking in tongues in the bible… then I should believe He is the same true God and has the same loving power to do that today.
Jabulani, Jabulani… Amen.
