I never know what to expect when I visit another church, especially one in a different country. However, even by Texas Baptist standards, this was a HUGE place. It is a Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Seating capacity is 7000, but probably only 5000 were present this morning. (Perhaps they knew an American was preaching!) Even though the building reminded me more of a concert hall than a place of worship, the congregation has outgrown its capacity for housing the 1000 children which regularly attend Sunday morning, so tents have been erected around the building.Several of our Interdev Partnership Associates (IPAers) were introduced and said a few words about how important it is for the global church to work together (definition of partnership!) Russ brought greetings from the Philippines, and Rene brought greetings from Senegal.
Headsets were used for translation of the announcements from Afrikaans to English. I joked that I could do the translation of the American sermon to English for my IPA seatmates--an Indonesian and a Brit.
2 comments:
Karen,
Sounds like all is going well! Wow--5000 in one service, that is hugh. I suspect that the singing was glorious! I was recalling our devotional book and thought how awesome God is in that on 01/30-01/31 the writer, Sarah shared her experience while being in Africa. I particularly think about how she said in the African congregations the pastor routinely says GOD is good and the people respond "All the time" and then the pastor says all the time and the people say God is good! Let us all say together -- GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! My prayers are with you.
Lorraine
Hey soon to be big D gal!
It would have been nice hearing that little ritual, but it didn't happen with a visiting pastor from America. He delivered a 1950-style evangelistic message which was compelling.
Unfortunately, I left my devotional book at home (read upcoming blog). I'll look forward to it when I return. Thanks for staying tuned and praying for my time in Africa.
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