My team made it to Dar Es Salaam a couple of weeks ago where we’ve been doing basically the exact same thing from the past few months: door to door and leading church services, but for only about an hour or two a day. With things being pretty slow, I’ve found myself wondering,
‘Why are we even here?’
Our pastor really hasn’t had much for us to do, so this past weekend we helped out our pastor’s friend at his church, which was literally like going over the river and through the woods: we took a bajage (tuk-tuk), 3 dala-dalas (buses), a ferry, and then a matatu (van) to get there. This first day, as part of a three day seminar, I was supposed to lead a children’s service while Angie preached during an adult service. When we first arrived, we walked around and did some worship to attract people to the seminar.
When it was time for the seminar to begin, all we had was about 20 children. At this point we decided to go ahead and do the children’s service early to give the adults time to show up. About 20 minutes later, when that was finished, the only adults there were still the Pastor and his church elder, Mary. We decided to go ahead with the service and as we were doing worship, I was hit with the fact that even if no one came, we were still doing this for an Audience of One… that everything we do is supposed to be for the glory of God.
As Angie preached (one adult did end up showing up towards the end), the sun was starting to set. At one point, the sunlight hit the hole in the wall at the right time, exposing the dust particles moving around, that were once unseen. At this point I was reminded how God’s presence is living and active around us, even when we don’t see or feel it. It was then that I realized this was exactly what we were here for… even if ministry seems slow or unsubstantial to us, we’re not doing any of this for anyone except for God. And as He moves us, His glory is moving through us, doing something that we can’t even begin to comprehend or fathom.
