visit to a student's church (6)

Bartholomew, his wife Aneli, and their children in front of their home

 On Sunday the 28th of April we visited the church of our student named Bartholomew.  Bartholomew is a very smiley, very cheerful and very dedicated student whose very short stature has earned him the affectionate nickname 'Zaccheus.'  He serves as one of the elders in a 'section' of the Reformed Church of Zambia (RCZ) in the Sinda area, which is about a half-hour's drive east of us.  The larger RCZ congregations are divided into smaller 'sections', small congregations which meet separately but are under the shepherding oversight of the larger. 

The RCZ is a Dutch Reformed church planted from South Africa years ago.  Unfortunately it is no longer as 'Reformed' as it once was, as evidenced by some larger more liberal congregations which are welcoming women ministers, and the worship is becoming very modern and unsound.  However we have really enjoyed visiting several of our students who come from RCZ churches, and Bartholomew was no exception.

Bartholomew told us that we should leave at 9:30am for the service which would start at 10am, so we did so.  He rode along with us, and we were also joined by fellow students Alex (whose Pentecostal congregation we visited 2 weeks ago) and Kawaleka (who is a pastor in the larger Sinda area RCZ main congregation).  In case you were wondering how we all fit into the vehicle, since there were not enough seats, Alex and Kawaleka sat in the bed of the pickup (there's a canopy so they were sheltered) where we have an old mattress to provide a bit of padding and comfort as we lurch down the road.  They were most happy there and I think Alex even took a bit of a snooze on the way home!  :)

We headed down the road, and in the end it took closer to 40 minutes to get to Bartholomew's congregation, which is in a village about 10 minutes' drive beyond the tiny town of Sinda.  So we got there a few minutes past 10am.  But instead of directing us to the church (which was plainly evident at the roadside), Bartholomew directed us to his parents' house, which was about 100 yards away.  We parked the truck there and were introduced to his parents and ushered into their living room.  In the past we have been greeted and 'entertained' and offered drinks before a service started, so we thought perhaps that was what they intended.  No... they just wanted to visit.  There was no indication of the service starting anytime soon.  :)  This is where you learn to just be flexible, because you never know what a church visit will have in store!

So we were sitting in Bartholomew's parents' living room.  They actually had a good-size house by Zambian standards, a large living/dining area, and three smaller rooms, presumably bedrooms -- and a small kitchen room in the back.  They had two solar panels on the roof which powered two electric lights and a small television, on which they were watching an evangelistic service which was being broadcast from a HUGE pentecostal church somewhere else in Zambia. As we were sitting there, a few men came trickling in one and by one and greeted us - they were other elders from the church.  They sat down and still there was no sign of church starting.  :)  David asked Bartholomew a couple of times, 'When will the service start?' and was told, 'soon...'  :)  After another ten minutes David asked Bartholomew, 'Is the congregation just waiting for us?'  and Bartholomew said, 'Yes....'  :)  Hard to fathom sometimes what exactly is going on!?  Finally about 25 minutes after 10, Alex & Kawaleka said that they would walk to the church and find out what the plan was.  They came back in a few minutes saying that it was almost time to go over.  Within another few minutes, we heard singing, and to our surprise, a group from the church was walking the 100 yards to the house to greet us with singing and escort us to the church!  So we joined them and walked up the path to the church as they sang.  It was an experience we hadn't had before.  :)

the church building

The church itself was a very simple building made of bricks plastered with mud, and the roof was constructed of grasses and branches.  The floor, the benches on which the congregation sat, and the pulpit were all made of mud.  We were given two rickety wooden chairs next to the pulpit, at the front of the church.  There was a steady cold breeze blowing directly on us through the vent in the wall just behind our heads!  It was difficult to get the kids settled as there were no seats for them, and I couldn't balance myself on the chair very well with a child in my lap.  Elijah and Ketzia were distracted by the lovely mud benches which were just MADE to be climbed on, so the first part of the service was me trying to keep them from being too noisy and distracting while they insisted that they were going to 'sit' on the front bench and then climbed into the hollow between it and the next bench.  Sigh.

this gives you an idea of the inside of the church...

Anyway, the service started with singing - unlike most of the churches we've visited recently, the RCZ actually sings some hymns, not just praise choruses, so that was a nice change.  They sang a couple of hymns, and had a fairly basic liturgy: they repeated the Lord's prayer together, had an offering, repeated the Apostle's creed, sang a couple more hymns, and so on.  Eventually the choirs were called upon to perform.  There were 3 choirs in all: a mixed (men & women) choir which sang only two songs, then a women's choir, then a second women's choir.  The singing lasted for quite a while.

the first choir singing (from their seats)

Meanwhile I was wrestling with Ketzia who was so, so unhappy.  She was exhausted having not had a morning nap!  Normally she goes down for a nap a few minutes past 8am, no later than 8:30, and sleeps until close to 10am.  On Sunday mornings we always take a short walk with the kids, to help them get their wiggles out before church, and this particular morning our walk had been delayed slightly so we weren't back until late -- about 8:40am.  At that point I asked David for some advice, 'Should I go ahead and put Ketzia down for her nap, and at least she can sleep for 40 minutes before we have to wake her up and leave?'  And his advice was, 'No, keep her up, and she can sleep in the car on the way to church.'  My response was, 'Well, she doesn't always fall asleep in the car, so that might not work...' but I did what he told me to do.  And of course Ketzia did NOT sleep in the car.  So here she was at church, absolutely beside herself with tiredness and becoming crankier and crankier.  I was hoping that maybe I could convince her to just relax and fall asleep in church, while knowing that there was absolutely no chance -  she just doesn't sleep in church.  (For the record, that is the LAST time that I listen to David and intentionally skip her morning nap assuming she'll sleep in the car.  From now on, we are sticking to the schedule because it WORKS!)  Church is stressful enough without a screaming toddler!  :)

So, in the end, having already been out twice to help Elijah relieve himself, I had to take Ketzia out just as David was called into the pulpit for the reading and preaching of God's Word.  Both kids came with me and I sat them down outside the front church door, in the shade, hoping that I could get Ketzia calmed down. She was beside herself.  She is just at the stage where she can communicate only a little bit, and it's enough to frustrate her, so she's recently been just 'venting' by screaming about everything that she doesn't like, and sleep deprivation is something she doesn't like.  So she was just screaming.  So we were sitting on some bricks outside the church door and I could hear a little bit of the introduction to David's sermon -- he was preaching on being dead in sin from Ephesians 2 -- while distracting the kids with some munchies.  But Ketzia was just inconsolable, and as soon as one mouthful was finished she would be sobbing again.  I tried for a long time to get her soothed and calmed down, hoping maybe she would even just collapse on the chitenge (multi-purpose piece of cloth used here for carrying babies, blanket, as a shawl, etc.) and go to sleep, having worn herself out.  But nope, it wasn't going to happen.

After at least 15 minutes of wondering what on earth I was going to do, knowing I wasn't going to hear a word of the sermon but not knowing what I should do with Ketzia, Bartholomew's mother came out of the church and told me to come back to her house with Elijah and Ketzia.  I felt so bad that she might have left the service because of me -- but I was very grateful. So we went back to the house and sat back down in the living room.  Then I spent the next hour trying to keep Elijah from killing their VERY patient and long-suffering little cat with affection, and trying to keep the kids distracted from the fact that the clock was ticking and it was now 12:30pm and past lunchtime and getting VERY close to nap time.....  It was a long time to wait for the service to be over.  :)

Elijah and Ketzia 'loving' their very long suffering cat, Jane, to death

  Eventually David and the rest of the group rejoined us, to Elijah's great delight.  We then waited another 10 or 15 minutes before food was served to us -- the typical meal of nshima with chicken, greens, and what they call 'gravy' (a tomato sauce).  Bartholomew, Alex, Kawaleka, Bartholomew's parents, and the other 'section' elders all ate with us.  I was glad that Elijah and Ketzia ate their lunch even though they were both at the end of their rope.

Elijah was DELIGHTED to see his daddy coming back from church

 

Ketzia was delighted, too!

Afterwards, we greeted everyone - Bartholomew's wife and children (he has 4 children) live in the house just beyond his parents' house, where the cooking of the meal was done - and a group from church wandered over.  So they wanted their photo taken.  :)

the group from church... Bartholomew's father is on the far left and his mother is 4th from the right

I should mention that this was a REAL treat for Bartholomew to get to visit his home and family during the semester, because he cannot afford to come home during the term!  You think, he only lives about 40 minutes away, but it's too far for him to afford the cost of traveling.  So he is one of our 'weekend students' who boards at the College over the weekend, and he is very faithful about always doing jobs in order to earn a little bit of money, and always helps with the Children's Ministry (outreach program) on Saturday afternoons.  But imagine being separated from your family and only getting to see them twice a year - during the school holidays!  His kids were delighted to see him at home.

We left around 2pm for the drive home, and got home around 2:45.  The kids slept the whole way home and woke up when we arrived, so there was no rest for weary Mommy and Daddy.  :)  Just one of those days.  We really enjoyed visiting Bartholomew's church and the fellowship that we had with his parents who welcomed us into their home, and the other students and elders.  It is such a privilege to get to know our men a bit better this way.