My brother has had a few firsts on this mission trip to Uganda with Amy For Africa. He experienced another one Monday on a visit to a place the locals call “The Ghetto.”
It was his second trip to “The Gheto” but the first time preaching with chickens and goats and cows roaming around. Jinja Fellowship meets for Bible study in this outdoor setting every week. They bring out big speakers, two dozen blue plastic chairs and have church.As my brother reminded them, the “church” isn’t a building made of sticks and stones. The people are the church. They are the church. There was no inhibition with their praise and worship with songs played loud and bodies in motion. Well, not all bodies.
Neither me or my brother showed them any dance moves brought to them from the U.S. In fact, we may have been the only two there with two left feet and no rhythm. But no worries since no cellphone video was harmed by aiming it toward us. The beat went on and on and on. Ugandans love their music and it certainly puts you in a spirit of worship.
The contrast between the Sunday service at Victoria Baptist and the Monday service at Jinja Fellowship was stark. That’s not to say one was worse than the other. Victoria Baptist is more in the style of a Western world service and it was great. My brother preached at that one in a tie. It was a challenging sermon about reaching into the community and “storming the gates of hell” to rescue all we could. As Christians, we carry a big stick but too many times stay in our church houses instead of trying to rescue the perishing.
Then, a little more than 24 hours later, came an uplifting message in “The Ghetto” about trust. You may believe in God, but do you trust Him? We all learned more about trust and how to find it. Again, a moving message but in a completely different setting. And there was nothing wrong with either one.
One was more traditional with the way it is done in the U.S. and the other pure Ugandan, from the dancing and music to the outdoor setting. The music was different but uplifting at both churches and the message from the preacher – the same man at both churches – had power and challenges. Since the gospel is unchanging, he saw no need to change either.
Other firsts for my brother: Riding a boda (small motorcycle), sleeping in a house with a croaking frog and sharing some pulpit space with chickens and goats. And we will be here all week.
MARK MY WORDS 2 