Church in Africa

(Emily writing)

We had the amazing experience this morning of fellowshipping with a community of believers different from us in almost every external, and yet sharing the same spirit of God. It was awesome!

Our team visited a local Pentecostal congregation here - the largest Christian church in Zanzibar, from what I understand. As one might expect, the service was not short, nor did it have a precise beginning and ending time. We were blessed that they chose to have the message in both English and Swahili, so we could understand, more or less. The songs were unfamiliar, but we caught on to a few of the simpler choruses: "Wewe ni bwana" (You are the Lord) for instance. Embarrassingly enough, they requested that we all sit in the front few rows, and then "invited" all the visitors ("wageni") to come up to the front, introduce themselves, and talk a bit. Bill did us proud, even managing a few phrases in Swahili! We accidentally dumped all our funds in the FIRST offering of the day, not realizing there would be two more opportunities at the basket - oops! Also, apparently they request that you put your "tithes" in an envelope. But to get an envelope, you have to raise your hand and ask a deacon to come over and give you one. Scott raised his hand, and then the emcee ANNOUNCES "Ah, over here we have a mzungu who needs an envelope! Over here!" A bit different from the online giving tradition we're used to now!

We were heartily welcomed, and rejoiced to be with other believers, regardless of the surface differences in how we worship. It was an experience to remember!