African Church and the Nile

For almost 8 years now, I've been hearing from our friends how awesome church is in Africa!  Today, our whole team of 12 people got to compare what we know of church in Canada to this new experience.

So, forget the big bricked/wooden buildings, church here is outside under a tent/makeshift roof.  Ours was in what appeared to be someone's front yard.  There is a tarp and tin roof above many posts, with hundreds of plastic lawn chairs set up in rows.  As we approached the church, we could hear the music and singing from down the street.

They had a keyboard player and a sound system for the microphones.  They sang for an hour straight, various songs, and prayerful music.  The leader spoke and sang while someone else translated.

They then invited 3 testimonies from the crowd.  I was tempted, but kept my feet planted.  I was still in awe of this church.  LOL  Two people came from the crowd and spoke about how they came to God.  There were several "Amen's" from the crowd, and a few "Hallelujah's" too.

We were then invited to sit!  Yay!  I was tired!  LOL

The minister, Pastor Robert, then got up and delivered his sermon, which was another hour.  He invited the readings to be read from the previously designated reader.  The readings today were from Samuel, Isaiah and John.  The stories told of Jesus speaking to the woman at the well from Samaria, David leaping and dancing before the ark, and worshiping in spirit and truth, and there was also the story of the 3 boys who were captured in Greece (I think) and because they wouldn't worship the idol, they were put into the furnace, but didn't burn.

Pastor Robert was enigmatic and demonstrated the leaping and dancing that David did, and he pulled 4 boys from the audience to demonstrate that they were walking around in the furnace without being burned.  There were 4, because the story says that the Son of God was with the 3 boys in the furnace.

He also talked about not letting our pride get in the way of our worshiping.  We should lift our arms and hands to the sky when we worship, and not keep them close to our chests because we are CEO's or Bankers and are embarrassed by our desire to worship.  :)

After the next hour had gone by, he invited about half the congregation by name to the front of the church to identify them as the new leaders of the various programs at the church.  Lots of volunteers/voluntolds (lol) and so much love and appreciation from the rest of the congregation.

After these people were prayed for and held up to the church, they invited the guests of the church, (with a pointed look at us - the only Mzungus in the church) to stand up and tell us our name and where we were from.  We each took our turn, and when it came to me, I described how we have friends who have travelled to Africa several times over, to Ghana, Liberia and the Gambia, and how we had always wanted to travel to Africa, but due to money and small children, had not had the chance.  Then I explained how God had arranged for the money and people to watch our children, so that all would be well while we travelled to Uganda to be with them.  I think they were happy to hear that God had sent us!

We finished with a final prayer, and then the Mzungus were invited to the back of the church to buy various items from the women who attended church there, and who made jewellery and other things to sell to support their families.

We travelled back to our rooms, and then took the bus to a boat ride which took us across Lake Victoria (which is the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world - anyone know which one is the 1st?  Lake Superior in Canada of course!  And Lake Huron is the 3rd).  The boat then took us along the shoreline to the source of the Nile river, which runs North from Uganda.  We visited a shop that was built on a man-made island that was only about 100 yards long, specifically there to mark the "Source of the Nile" and of course, to sell things to the tourists...lol

The Source of the Nile is also one of the 5 places that Ghandi's ashes were spread, and so we also visited the monument that was erected in his honour. 

 

In addition to the monument, we saw lots of wildlife along the shoreline and around the monument.

 

Such a beautiful relaxing day - until next time!