Sunday in Greece. We do not have a host this month and therefore no specific church to attend. (Usually our host is the pastor of a church). We did some research and found an international church that looked promising.
Over the course of the Race, I have only been to one English speaking church – and that was only one Sunday way back in India. Besides that, every service has been in the language of the country we are in or led by us and translated into that language. It has been an incredible privilege to see what the body of Christ looks like in so many different countries. It’s amazing to see how God works and moves uniquely in each country. However, even when we have someone translating the service for us into English, it is hard to get filled up from the sermon and worship. You take much less away when you have someone translating for you because many things are often missed. Worshiping in different languages to the same song is something I will cherish forever. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss hearing my favorite worship songs being sung in English on a Sunday morning.
With all that said, we had no idea what to expect from this international church. My assumption was that the service would be spoken in Greek and then translated into English for us. Usually they give us little headphone sets while someone sits in the back with a microphone and translates the service into English so we hear it from them. But before any of this could happen, we had to find the church.
We set off pretty early on Sunday morning to give us plenty of time to catch the metro and search for the church. We discovered the church online but the address that was given on the website only listed the street name and not the exact address. So we would be winging it (as we so often have done this month). Armed with offline google maps and a prayer we set off to find the church with no luck. We were on the correct street but couldn’t find the church. It didn’t exactly help since we knew it was on the 7th floor of some building.
After wandering for a bit we decided to get coffee and wifi near where the church should be to ask some locals if they could point us in the right direction. As we sat down to try google again, our waitress came over to take our coffee order. We asked if she had ever heard of the international church or knew if it was nearby. She said she did not.
But then a different young woman approached our table. “Are you looking for the international church? ICF?” Yes we are! “Oh well that is my church! Let me take you there!”
Praise the Lord! The woman who found us was named Ethel and had been attending the church for the past 8 years. She was originally from Belgium and working as a translator. She also was on the worship team at the church. We had been very close to the church but it was down an alley that we never would have found and in a building that we never would have guessed was a church. Once you got to the church it looked like a normal church, but the outside was very deceiving.
She later told someone on my team that she had already had a cup of coffee that morning. She had to get to church a bit early to get ready to lead worship but for some reason she felt God telling her to get another cup of coffee from that coffee shop. She went there and that is where she found us. God knew we would need someone to lead us to the church, and He dropped someone right in our laps. I’m so grateful that Ethel listened to God to get that second cup of coffee (Jesus, always feel free to tell me to get a second cup of coffee because I’ll never say no).
It’s crazy how little acts of obedience can have such a huge impact. Because Ethel listened to God and met us, we were able to come to church. Through many of the people we met at the church, we have been able to make many connections with different organizations who are helping refugees here in Athens. And we have spent the past week working with them! We even got to experience a second church service at one of the organizations that was all in Arabic for the refugees (someone was translating it into English also).
All the people at the international church were incredible and very welcoming. We felt right at home. And the service was in English! Both the worship and the sermon! I even knew the songs and the pastor was American so it was not hard to understand his accent. It was truly a blessing from God to be able to attend this church and meet all of these amazing people from around the world. And to finally worship in my native tongue once again. People from Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Brazil, America, Belgium, Philippines etc. all coming to together to worship the same God. How beautiful.
And all of it was possible because someone listened to God when He told them to get a second cup of coffee.
