We walk out our front door towards the makeshift tent set-up in the middle of a field for Sunday service. As we venture towards the tent, cattle, donkey’s and roosters graze.
Black plastic chairs are set-up in the sand and a simple folding table sits at the front as an alter. Church is set to start at 10 am but people slowly trickle in from the nearby huts until 11:30. The youth pastor arrives and informs us that we are teaching Sunday school.
There is no fancy Sunday school classroom filled with toys and games, instead a circle of chairs surround a large tree outside the tent. With only 5 minutes of preparation, we decide to teach the story of Noah. Kids slowly join our circle as we teach them new songs and bible stories. Big sisters hold little sisters and the big boys excitedly answer all of our questions. After a short teaching we are told that it is time for a bathroom break. The kids run across the field to squat by a tree and a fence, the boys and girls restrooms.
We all gathered back inside the now full tent and begin worship. There is no detailed plan for worship, instead women simply stand and begin singing their favorite songs, the kids add their own renditions from the back, the small ones yell I LOVE JESUS at their sought after spots up front.
No highly skilled band plays instead hands and feet are used as drums to keep the beat. Beautiful voices fill the tent, worshiping in the language of Saswali. Some of the best worship music was sung that day and I began to wonder how much is really needed to worship God.
Here this group of believers stood, singing with majestic voices to God in the middle of a field in Africa. They didn’t need a large worship band, instruments, the best sound equipment or meticulously planned out song sets, all they needed was a heart to worship and their God-given voices.
