Church!
Today we rose early to get to Walukuba Elim Pentecostal Church where we were to participate in the service. I was to preach and felt more nervous about this than anything so far - ironic, since it is the closest thing to what I spend my time doing back home.
In the event, we were a little late arriving for the first 8.30am service, but no matter - as the wonderfully smiley Pastor Frederick explained: "we are on African time now, hahaha!" He proceeded to show me a carefully timed programme for the the morning which, as far as I could see, was to be completely disregarded as the services went on!
Worship was in true Pentecostal style - something new for some of our team - with African Pentecostalism constituting something of a double whammy of novel church experience! The presence of the LORD was in our midst, although things were a little loud and shouty at times for me... we could have done with a bit more space possible. Warmth and passion were present in spades though, neither of which I would want to dispel.
The preach (a message based on one I have used before using Hosea 10:12 - 'break up your unploughed ground') went well in the first service, better in the second. The Pastor made encouraging smiles and noises and quite a few people said they were encouraged by the word. A great experience, although I have much to learn.
Between the two services, four of us went to lead the Sunday School, 3 of us to the youth group and Esther went to talk to the women of the church. I elected to give a hand with the children, and our worship song and teaching on the sheep and goats when down well. The kids loved singing and dancing and making sheep/goat noises! All of our team *shone* today - very proud of them all.
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| Teaching open air Sunday School |
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| Worshipping with the kids |
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| Sunday school kids goofing for the camera with their amazing painted classrooms behind |
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| All ages join in |
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| After Sunday School all the kids at once carry their chairs on their heads back inside the church - it was mayhem! |
The second service began with choirs and a performance from Joseph, our driver from TAIP who has a hidden talent for soulful singing! One man came to the church specifically to give his life to Christ this morning, and he was prayed for at the front as the worship went on. My sermon was shorter in this service, and as I said, better for it. Then came more worship, offerings, announcements and a visit from a gentleman called 'Apostle' Paul - a friend of the church who had some back story we couldn't quite work out but who wanted to repent and be accepted once again into the church. This was all very intense, but clearly God was on the move, even if it seemed bewildering for us (especially with only minimal interpretation!).
After the service, everyone was so kind - bringing us bananas and cold bottles of Coke and Fanta. We were able to chat to Pastor Frederick for 10 minutes or so and he explained how TAIP have helped the church to provide help for those living with HIV through a course addressing stigmatisation. He also gave us some info about Uganda, saying that 50% of Ugandans are under 15 years old - a staggering statistic, making it one of the most youthful populations in the world. He explained the utmost importance of reaching, discipling and equipping young people to live godly lives - so that another generation does not succumb to AIDS, and instead grows in the way of Jesus. How could one disagree?
After a total of five hours (!) of non-stop church, we headed back to the hotel for lunch about 2.30pm. By now we were ready to drop, so we had a chilled afternoon and evening. What a day!
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