Alex goes to a Pentecostal church called the 'Redeemed Christian Church of God,' which we were told stems from a Danish Pentecostal group. They meet on the outskirts of town, about a 20-minute drive from us. The pastor of the congregation (who was out of town when we visited) is also the principal of a local Trades School, so the congregation meets in one of the rooms in the Trades School complex (which is a very, very nice complex).
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| Alex is translating for David, student Bartholomew is in the foreground |
In terms of physical comfort, this was the nicest church we've visited yet! The room which they were meeting in was airy, with a clean tile floor, and rows of seating. As usual, there was special seating at the front designated for us as the visitors (our family plus Rev. Allan who was visiting from Scotland at the time, plus another student, Bartholomew). But this was unusually special seating - actual sofas, three totally comfy over-stuffed sofas, making it look like a living room instead of a church! :) It was so amusing, but we sure were comfortable!
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| Rev. Allan is on Bartholomew's right, the pastor's wife is in pink behind him, Alex's wife Edith is next to her |
We were told the service would begin at 9:30am, and when we arrived we found that the pre-service Bible study was just beginning. And it was led by the pastor's wife, as her husband was out of town! I believe that the Bible teaches very clearly that a woman should not lead or teach in church (1 Cor. 14:34-35) so I will share honestly that I find it very difficult to sit under the teaching of a woman in churches which do not honor this Scriptural mandate. In this situation, she was reading from notes (not her own) which were teaching from Romans 6 about a 'victorious life' - but what that was, exactly, was never defined.
After the Bible study, which lasted about 30 minutes, they began a time of 'praise and worship,' which I would unfortunately have to describe more as 'fun and games'! The congregation danced and they pranced and they sang, while giving high-fives to each other, and marching around the room (singing 'we are marching, we are marching, for Jesus') and oddly enough balancing chairs, baby bottles, Bibles and any other random objects on their HEADS during another song! No idea why... there was no explanation given. :) It was very odd.
And it was VERY LOUD. They had an amplifier and huge speakers in this room which was not exactly a LARGE room.... and it was just BLARING. It was making the floor vibrate! We were seated at the front of the room with a speaker just in front of us, poor David had it booming into his left ear from about 3 feet away for more than an hour. It is sad to see churches which are using technological gadgets which are entirely unnecessary in their particular surroundings. This room had excellent acoustics so the use of the mics and amplifiers was totally unnecessary and indeed made it impossible for those who didn't know the songs to participate, because you couldn't hear the words that the congregation was singing. It was so loud that I actually took the children out after more than 30 minutes of continuous blaring noise, because I was concerned for their hearing.
The 'fun and games' went on and on, for just under a full hour. And then they called David up to preach. He gracefully declined the offer of a mic, saying that it would be like David trying to fight in Saul's armor. :) He told me afterwards that it took more than 10 minutes of speaking before his head cleared from all the cacophony, as he had been left half-deafened. He felt like the audience also was struggling to concentrate at the very beginning of his sermon because of the drastic change between the overwhelming noise of a few minutes prior and the comparative silence of the room during his sermon. David's voice, un-amplified, was entirely sufficient for everyone in the room to hear his message clearly, so I was very glad that he had refused to use the mic as I felt like it gave a good example to the congregation that such implements are not always necessary. :)
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| Elijah got to sit in 'Daddy's chair' while David was preaching - note the proximity to the speaker! |
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| The view from the front door |
So we were welcomed into the house by the pastor's wife (she later told us she has 3 little girls, one of whom came into the living room with us, and one of whom was an infant of 6 months who was napping in a crib in the dining room) and we all took a seat in their living room, which was very nicely furnished. It was ourselves, Rev. Allan, Bartholomew the other student, Alex the student we were visiting, and an elder from the congregation. The women - the pastor's wife, Alex's wife Edith, and the elder's wife - were busy in the kitchen and we barely saw them except when they served the food to us. So I was the only woman in the group visiting in the living room. :) We just visited for a while, chatting about this and that related to our life at the College, what we do there, Rev. Allan asking questions of the students about their families, and the elder sharing his testimony of how the Lord had saved him out of a life of drunkenness.
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| hungry little girl waiting patiently for her lunch |
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| Alex |
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| Rev. Allan and Bartholomew |
At some point the pastor's wife sent her little girl into the room to switch on the big flat-screen TV which was mounted on the wall, I think she was thinking that we'd like it to amuse Elijah and Ketzia. We don't ever watch TV, and don't allow movies on the Lord's Day, so we would have preferred that it stay off. :) Surprisingly, this happens a lot when we are visiting people's homes on the Lord's Day. They often have the TV switched on and keep it on even when they have visitors in the room trying to hold a conversation! So the rest of the time as we waited for lunch was spent trying to have conversation while distracted by really rather horrid cartoons (modern-day cartoons are so obnoxious and sickening - full of witchcraft, lying, hatred, and all sorts of evil behavior!).
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| not a good photo - but Edith serving us drinks |
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| visiting |
We were served drinks while we waited, and meanwhile we could smell good smells coming from the kitchen. :) In the end we waited for an hour and then dinner was served, right around 1pm. It was very tasty -- nshima served with different 'relishes' of chicken, greens, potatoes & onions, and sauce. Ketzia and Elijah did really well waiting patiently for their late lunch and then ate well when it arrived. We didn't stay too long after lunch, though, because the kids were desperately needing a nap. Rev. Allan took a group photo and then we said goodbye to everyone, leaving a bit after 1;30 and getting home right around 2pm. (Sorry I don't have a copy of the photo he took!)
We were favorably impressed with the friendliness and Christian love shown by this congregation, who were very warm and welcoming. We would like to see them learn more how to worship 'in spirit and in truth' but we trust that as they continue to open the Scriptures, the Lord will teach them these things in his time. It was an enjoyable visit and it was also nice to hear from our student, Alex, about the church's plans to ordain him as a minister and send him to plant a church in the northern province after he graduates in October this year. We pray that he will continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord so that his pastorate will be an edification to many.
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