visit to a student's church (1)

During this year I've decided to write blog posts about our visits to different churches in the area to try to share this glimpse of our lives with you.  So this post will be about our 1st visit to a student's church this year, which occurred last week.

Visiting the churches which our students are involved in is a very important aspect of David's role here at the College.  It is one of the ways in which we mentor a student (because of the personal aspect of a visit to their church and home and spending time with them outside of the College campus) but it also is vital for maintaining the College's relationships with these varied churches which are sending and supporting our students.  It is also a valuable experience for our family because each visit is a chance to learn - we learn something new, we see new aspects of the culture, and we develop our relationship with our student even further.

So last Lord's Day we visited the church of Wilson, a student from the local area who lives in the 'boma' (the colloquial term for the town - Petauke).  He is the pastor of a Pentecostal congregation which meets in one of the classrooms in a large school complex in Petauke.  Our family, joined by Marjanne who often likes to join us for visits to students' churches, left home a few minutes after 9am and arrived in time for the beginning of the Bible study period which began at 9:30am.  This is quite a common thing you will find in churches here - they generally have 30 minutes to an hour of Bible study immediately preceding the service.

I didn't notice how long the Bible study lasted because I was rather distracted by the form of the Bible study itself.  Unfortunately it was led by a man who was acting as assistant to the pastor and who had no Bible training himself.  All he knows about preaching and teaching is what he sees on the television - televangelists and all sorts of nonsense.  That is such a harmful influence on the churches here!  He was posturing and prancing (David described him later 'like a peacock') and literally SCREAMING at the top of his lungs.  The Bible study was supposed to be about the beginning verses of John 14, but really he was screaming things about the gifts of the Spirit, and other things that didn't have anything to do with the text.  Every phrase - not just every sentence- was punctuated with shouts of 'Amen!'  'Hallelujah!'  Sometimes it was rather amusing, like when he started a story... 'I was trying to get a lift from a lorry driver, AMEN!'  But overall it was just saddening.  He was using the words 'Amen' and 'Hallelujah' the way a lot of unbelievers use swear words - to punctuate and add emphasis to his sentences.  The screaming was so intense that I fairly quickly had to 'tune him out' - I just couldn't focus because of the raucousness of his speech.  Elijah was really disturbed by all the shouting, so I was busy trying to keep him from getting upset.

kids sitting on the floor during the service

Eventually the screaming ended and the service began. It was a typical service, with singing, prayer, and preaching.  They had an AMPLIFIER, but thankfully it wasn't cranked up as loud as it could have been!  The only element of anything 'Pentecostal' in the service was simply the 'chaos prayer' as we have nicknamed it - the whole congregation praying out loud simultaneously, in a cacophony of noise (again, some people screaming and repeating names of Christ over and over again at the end of every phrase).  I noticed with amusement that Ketzia, when she heard 'Let us pray' obediently folded her hands and bowed her head as we do in family worship.... and then stared around her in shock as this great hubbub arose.  Strange that a 1-year-old knows about reverence in prayer than those around her...

Then David preached on the first verse of Jude.  It seemed to be well received.  I was a bit distracted during the service because Elijah manged to sneak away from my restraining grasp while I was helping Ketzia with something, and was wandering on the other side of the congregation. Most churches have a 'women's side' and a 'men's side' and that was the case here, so he was wandering around on the men's side.  As usual, when faced with a dilemma like this (which is fairly often when David's preaching) I always have to weigh whether Elijah is causing enough disruption to warrant the disruption of me getting out of my seat and crossing the church to collect him.  At one point he strolled to the front of the church where there was a flower arrangement bedecked with fake apples and oranges, and before I could move a muscle he had yanked one of the oranges right off!  I grabbed him and smacked his hand while making him sit down next to me, but one of the ladies grabbed my hand to stop me from smacking him and smiled 'It's all right!'  Sigh.  So much for parental authority.  It's good to know that they're not bothered by misbehaving children, but...  :)  Part of David's sermon, Elijah was sitting with Wilson, our student, at the front of the church next to the pulpit.  He got a bit bored and Wilson didn't restrain him in any way, so the next thing I knew Elijah was walking back and forth next to the wall behind the pulpit where they had hung up decorative cloths to form a nice backing.  He was between the cloth and the wall walking up and down shrouded in lacy sheets.  Thankfully he was behind David's back so David couldn't see what was happening and get distracted!!  Now you know what my Lord's Days are like when David is preaching...

Elijah sitting with Wilson

After the service we drove a short way into the nearby neighborhood to Wilson's house to join his family for lunch.  This is very traditional for them to invite their special guest to share a meal with them afterwards.  Wilson and his family live in a very simple tiny 2-room house in a triplex of 3 houses stuck together.  They have a front room which is a living room, and a back room which is a bedroom.  There is no bathroom or running water.  There is electricity, which allows them to use the crowning feature of their living room - the massive flat screen TV complete with DVD player, etc.  It is so funny to see how Zambians prioritize their money!  The ladies were cooking outside over charcoal braziers on the front step. (The meal was delayed a bit because when we arrived it was pouring rain and they couldn't start cooking until the storm had passed!) Elijah was fascinated with the TV (of course) so they obligingly turned on a DVD for him which unfortunately was left playing throughout our meal, making it very difficult to concentrate on conversation!

Wilson and his wife Miriam have 7 children and when we arrived at their house we immediately realized that Miriam was heavily pregnant with #8.  Zambians do not talk about pregnancy or expecting babies, and Miriam had not been at church (Wilson said 'she was sick' - again another very Zambian way of describing the situation - when a Zambian woman goes into labor 'she is very, very sick, a matter of life and death!').  It was obvious that she was imminently due!  We found out on Wednesday that she gave birth that night!  :)  What a fun story.

Wilson is not originally from this area -he was born in the Copperbelt province of Zambia and raised in Lusaka, so in our conversation over dinner he was sharing that living in Eastern Province has been a learning experience for him, too.  Just like us, he has faced cultural differences and even challenges with the language (a different language is spoken in Copperbelt and Lusaka than in Eastern Province).

Three of Wilson and Miriam's children are living in Lusaka, and the rest are still at home where we were introduced to them one by one during the meal.  The ladies brought in bowls of nshima, chicken, and vegetables which we shared together.  It was a very tasty meal.  One of the interesting things that Wilson shared with us during the meal was that during the afternoon service at his church they often have 'deliverance' services to cast out ancestral spirits and heal diseases.  This is a poignant reminder to us of why the College is here and why it is SO important to train these men in the Scriptures, so that they will have the discernment to turn away from these unbiblical practices.

It was all in all a lovely visit with a student and his wife, and enjoyable fellowship with their congregation. Apart from the Bible study, the service was quite normal and we pray that it was edifying to all.  And it is always a privilege to get to see a little bit of how Zambians live their daily lives in their tiny little homes without many of the comforts that we take for granted.  And of course, sharing a meal of tasty nshima and chicken is always a nice thing to fellowship over!  :)

with a portion of the congregation after the service