Church in Africa was everything I expected and more!
From the rambunctious worship, to the energetic congregation and fiery preaching, church in Lesotho was an experience. We had three Sunday services during our time in Lesotho, one of which I was able to preach during, but the final Sunday was by far the most memorable church service I have ever experienced.
Church was supposed to start at 10 and go till noon. As anyone who has ever been to a church in Africa can tell you, they will never stick to this schedule. On this particular Sunday, Church started at 10:15 after they wrapped up the “Bible Study” which was really a pre-church sermon. Church began immediately following the Bible Study with worship. The worship in the past had been loud and boisterous, but that last Sunday, they were really feeling it. Each song featured what we came to call a “Holy Conga Line” in the front of the sanctuary and the worship team dancing in unison. The front row ladies were playing their tambourines in beat with the music and the congregation was either singing loudly in the native tongue, or hooping and hollering in exultation. Not being able to understand any of the songs, us little group of Americans in the front of the church danced awkwardly and tried to not stand out (impossible). On this particular Sunday, this outpouring of worship persisted for well over an hour and a half. Today they were really feeling it.
It was only after worship that things began to get really interesting. My teammate Mark was preaching on Colossians 3, teaching on the new man. He spoke passionately for about 25 minutes with the help of a translator, preaching with real conviction. Suddenly Mark stops, holds one finger up to the translator, then to us, puts the microphone down, and calmly, yet quickly walks to the back of the sanctuary and out the door. The two hundred or so people in attendance looked around the room confusedly as my team exchanged astonished looks. Was he doing an impromptu illustration, or changing clothes? After about two minutes, the awkward began to set in and a member of the congregation began singing as the worship team quickly went back to the front. I and several other teammates disappeared out the back of the church to look for Mark who had yet to make an appearance. After several minutes of looking, we discovered that he had become sick while preaching and left in a hurry. My team quickly discussed a strategy for continuing and chose that Nathan would finish the sermon in Mark’s place.
Nathan wrapped up the sermon very well and we were ready for the service to end, but it was far from over.
At the end of the service came a time for announcements, this was normally led by a man named Oliver who was one of the main people at the church and was also in charge of our day to day care. He began by thanking us for all our work the past month for the church and specifically in building the church orphanage. He then told the story of Nehemiah, talking about how the men of Israel were so passionate about rebuilding the wall that they forsook everything else, choosing to sleep, eat, and live at the build site. Oliver began to rebuke the members of the church for not helping with the construction of the orphanage, telling them that they were the ones that voted on the construction and that now is the time to take ownership of that decision.
First, he said he needed three more team leaders and that he wanted volunteers. If no one would volunteer, he would nominate men from the church and they couldn’t say no. He had two volunteers and one begrudging nomination. Oliver then told the church that they would all be a part of one of the four teams with each team being responsible for construction on one Saturday each month until the orphanage was completed. Then began the process of going around the church, row by row, person by person, numbering them off just like you did in gym during grade school. “1, 2, 3, 4…” and so on. Our team hooped and hollered, amazed with the boldness of Oliver and we commented that this would never be done in an American church, even though it needed to be done in many cases. After each member was put in a group, their names and cell phone numbers were taken. They were told that if they failed to show up for their Saturday shift, they would face church discipline and that they were all responsible.
Church ended at 1:30, an entire hour and a half later, and I was amazed. I kept thinking of all the church functions that had too few volunteers such as the nurseries which always seemed to need more help and I wondered what would happen if we just got sick of it, and numbered off our congregations just like Oliver.
Would members leave the church, would the elder board fire the pastor, would people not show up out of protest?
Oliver’s words and actions that morning have me thinking a lot lately. We are all responsible for the Kingdom of God, not just our pastors. We are all a part of the same body, and that body must work in harmony in order to fully succeed. The race has pushed me out of my comfort zone and into new territories and activities that I really did not want to do. It took time and effort, yet each endeavor was worthy of the sacrifice because of Kingdom implications. It may be difficult to give up a Saturday to go and make bricks to build an orphanage, but it is a worthy cause for Kingdom that God is bringing to Earth. This experienced has pushed me to try and volunteer more in the future and I hope it will inspire you as well!
