Last week I was in a huge international church in Beijing; this week I was in a small church in Swaziland, where our team of twenty-six literally doubled the attendance. Neither is what I am used to in the states. At the church in Beijing our passports were checked before entering to make sure there are no Chinese nationals. The service was great—current worship music, international members, welcoming staff. Something was missing, though. After I thought about it for a while, I realized that it was the culture of the place. It didn’t seem right to me to be in a church in a Chinese nation and not have any Chinese there. Not only that, but once inside the church, you’d never guess we were even in China. There were no flags, banners, or decorations to distinguish it from any western church. As much as I appreciated the music and message, I was disappointed that the Chinese culture was completely omitted.
On the flip side, Shining Stars Fellowship in Swaziland was alive with culture. We sang one or two western a capella worship songs, but then we sang song after song from their world. We clapped our hands to keep the beat, and toward the end of the service there was even some traditional dancing to the music. It was beautiful! On top of that, there was no electricity for the first hour and a half of the service. The pastor repeatedly apologized for it. We were sweating, there was no overhead to read the music, and no lights on in the small room. None of that mattered, though.
I can’t imagine that going over well in the states. This is no bash on the churches there, but I just can’t see it happening. I feel like if something like that happened church would automatically be canceled. It just made me see how important fellowship and teaching is to these people. They don’t come to church out of obligation, like I have many times in the states. They come because they genuinely want to know more and be with other Christians. What if I treated church that sacredly back home?
